Matthew 15:1-8 "Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”
Traditions are good for remembering how to worship the Creator but can never supplant His Word. Rely on what is written in scripture and you can never go wrong. Rely on man and you will almost invariably fail.
Psalm 118:8 "It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man."
Before one word was written down man believed in God and worshipped God. It came from stories passed down though the centuries. In other words Oral Tradition.