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I have a theory that they originally retained some memory of their old culture through the stories. These might well have been handed down over the generations. When they arrived in the Dales, they discovered various ruins and some of what they found there seemed to fit with the stories. Then, as stated above, the Keepers reinterpreted the stories to reinforce their current life style. It may also be possible that some of them did what Solas can apparently do, lay down on the site of an ancient elven settlement and saw the memories of people who lived there. As PW says, these will not be a totally accurate depiction of history, but simply the memory of a particular "witness".
This might explain the assertion that all elves were magical at one time. It could be true but if you think that the people most likely to leave listening memories in the Fade would be mages, then if you only come across the memories of mages, you might think that everybody was one. It might also explain why mages ended up being the Keepers (leaders) of the clan, if it was perceived that they were closest to what the "ideal" ancient elf would be.
One thing that I am increasingly starting to question is what happened between when the elves first were given the Dales and the Exalted March against them some 300 years later. Shartan was not a mage, that seems pretty certain since Andraste gave him a magical sword to use. Neither were the majority of elves who assisted in the fight against Tevinter since the main thing that is recorded is the arrows they fired, so clearly archers were the predominate class. Mage children would have been removed from their families at an early age by the Magisters even if they were going to keep them as slaves because they would know the danger of leaving them with their elf communities, so it seems likely that there would have been few if any mages among the slaves who took the long walk to their new homeland. One would also have thought that the elves, like their human counterparts, would have a rather jaded view of mages.
Yet among the Dalish we have mages leading their communities. Also the banners that fly above the aravals are meant to indicate noble houses. This would suggest that either the Dalish have adopted these since becoming nomads or that there had already formed a ruling elite at the time of the fall of the Dales and it was most probably comprised of mages. Thus the Keepers are their descendants and the rest of the clan either non-mage children born from mages or the servants in noble houses. It makes me wonder if the real objection of the over zealous missionaries was the fact that the elves had mages leading their communities at a time when, even in Tevinter, it was outlawed. When the Dalish leaders (mages) responded by attacking Orlais, it is small wonder they responded as they did.
Another thing I have observed. Shartan was a genuine elven hero, who had done far more for his people than the Creators, who by the lore keepers' own admission, abandoned them before the fall of Arlathan. Yet the Dalish are devoted to following their elven gods and scarcely given Shartan more than a passing mention. Apparently Shartan definitely adopted the faith in the Maker from Andraste and therefore you could argue that the elves owed the restoration of their homeland to the Maker if any god. Clearly the Keepers view Shartan as an embarrassment, just as the Chantry do. Not only did he worship the Maker but he also worked in co-operation with humans. May be he never intended the elves to become isolationists once they had their homeland.
Why then did they return to their virtually forgotten gods who had abandoned them? Perhaps because the real hope of the Dalish is a return to the time when the elves themselves had an empire. That is what their believe symbolises and why they say that when we remember what it is to be elves, the Creators will return to them. Before the fall of the Dales, they were working towards that in trying to reinvent the past and isolating themselves from their human neighbours. Now they just live in hope that the humans will eventually kill each other off and leave the elves to inherit what remains.
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