What is meant by folk religion?
In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. The precise definition of folk religion varies among scholars. Sometimes also termed popular belief, it consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of a religion, but outside official doctrine and practices. The term "folk religion" is generally
What are some examples of folk beliefs?
Folk belief takes on a regional flavor through the response of people to their immediate natural world. For instance, weather signs and omens form a vital part of folk belief within the Plains. Examples include "Rain follows the plow," "Heavy fur on animals means a severe winter," and "A tornado never hits the junction of two rivers."
What are folk beliefs?
folk belief People often use "folk belief" to refer to superstitions, old wives' tales, and unorthodox religious and medical practices. This view of folk belief reinforces a perception of already marginalized people as more exotic and backward than previously imagined.
What is folk Christianity?
Folk religion is the religion of the “folk” — real people struggling with the realities of life. Folk Christianity emphasizes the experiences of Christian folk as they seek to connect their religious experience, as expressed in the Bible and the church, to the reality of their lives. In the process, people tend to rely on their understanding of who God is and what God can do for them.
Is Buddhism a folk religion?
Buddhism has had a folk or popular dimension since its earliest days and it has persisted in different forms to the present times. In fact, the earliest Buddhist communities continued with many of their pre-Buddhist practices even after they came within the fold of Buddhism.
What country is folk religion?
ChinaChina, home to the largest folk religion population, is expected to have 14% of the world's population in 2050, down from 20% in 2010.
Who was the founder of folk religion?
Folk religions have no founder or sacred texts. Folk religions often combine with major religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.
What is folk religion in Christianity?
Abstract. Folk religion is the religion of the “folk” — real people struggling with the realities of life. Folk Christianity emphasizes the experiences of Christian folk as they seek to connect their religious experience, as expressed in the Bible and the church, to the reality of their lives.
How many folk religions are there in the world?
According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, which at some point in the future will be countless.
What's the oldest religion?
The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit.
Which religion is most in India?
According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the population of India practices Hinduism, 14.2% adheres to Islam, 2.3% adheres to Christianity, 1.7% adheres to Sikhism, 0.7% adheres to Buddhism and 0.4% adheres to Jainism.
What is China's main religion?
BuddhismChina has the world's largest Buddhist population, with an estimated 185–250 million practitioners, according to Freedom House. Though Buddhism originated in India, it has a long history and tradition in China and today is the country's largest institutionalized religion.
Is Chinese folk religion a religion?
Another factor is that folk religion lacks official recognition in China and thus most people do not regard it as a “religion”. Thus, while folk religion adherents can identify as adherents of “other religions”, this is complicated by the fact that folk religion had not been regarded as a religion since imperial China.
When was folk religion founded?
1901The term “folk religion” is relatively new, dating back only to 1901, when a Lutheran theologian and pastor, Paul Drews, penned the German Religiöse Volkskunde, or folk religion.
What are the 10 types of religion?
Religion Table of ContentsAtheism/Agnosticism.Bahá'íBuddhism.Christianity.Confucianism.Druze.Gnosticism.Hinduism.More items...•
How many religions are there?
It may surprise you to know that there are over 4,000 recognized religions in the world. These religions consist of churches, congregations, faith groups, tribes, cultures, and movements. Even though there are so many, three-quarters of the world's population practice one of the five major religions.
What is the top 3 common religion in the Philippines?
Roman Catholicism (79.5%)Iglesia ni Cristo (2.6%)Evangelical Christianity (2.4%)Other Protestant (1.1%)Seventh-day Adventism (0.9%)Aglipayan (0.8%)Bible Baptist Church (0.6%)United Church of Christ in the Philippines (0.4%)More items...
What religion are the Chinese?
Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are considered the “three pillars” of ancient Chinese society. As philosophies and religions, they not only influenced spirituality, but also government, science, the arts, and social structure.
What is the ancient religion of China?
Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and the early folk religion combined to form the basis of Chinese culture.
What is the majority religion in China?
China has the world's largest Buddhist population, with an estimated 185–250 million practitioners, according to Freedom House. Though Buddhism originated in India, it has a long history and tradition in China and today is the country's largest institutionalized religion.
What is a folk religion?
Folk religion is basically made up of certain ethnic or regional religious traditions that practice under the guise of an established religion, but is outside the boundaries of official doctrine and practices.
What are some examples of folk religion?
Here are some examples that can be considered aspects of folk religion doctrine: • belief in the Evil Eye. • rituals to ward off evil, curses, demons, witchcraft. • blessing of animals, crops, beer, wine, cheese. • fertility rites. • belief in traditional magic systems.
What is the belief that like forces influence like forces?
Folk religion is heavily infused with magic and superstition, in particular what is called “sympathetic” magic—the belief that like forces influence like forces. This holds true even if they are not causally linked in any way directly or even obviously. An example of sympathetic magic is the idea that the movements of the stars ...
Which religion has the most followers?
The largest folk religion in the world is the Chinese folk religion which has an estimated 400 million followers worldwide or about 6.6 percent of the world’s population. All folk religions combined have more followers than Buddhism or Judaism, claiming about 10 percent of the world population in total. Only Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism have more followers.
Is folk religion a mega religion?
Folk religion is employed also by combining some of its practices with those of mega religions. And in so doing, these practices are labeled as “folk Christianity” among Christian countries and “folk Islam” in those of Islamic nations. Without question, folk religion is considered a distorted, if not meaningless, practice of religion by lay people outside of the control of clergy or the supervision of theologians. As one would imagine, there is a certain amount of acrimony between the two.
What is the meaning of "folk religion"?
In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion.
What is the study of folk religion?
In Europe the study of "folk religion" emerged from the study of religiöse Volkskund, a German term which was used in reference to "the religious dimension of folk-culture, or the folk-cultural dimension of religion". This term was first employed by a German Lutheran preacher, Paul Drews, in a 1901 article that he published which was titled " Religiöse Volkskunde, eine Aufgabe der praktischen Theologie ". This article was designed to be read by young Lutheran preachers leaving the seminary, to equip them for the popular variants of Lutheranism that they would encounter among their congregations and which would differ from the official, doctrinal Lutheranism that they had been accustomed to. Although developing within a religious environment, the term came to be adopted by German academics in the field of folkloristics. During the 1920s and 1930s, theoretical studies of religiöse Volkskund had been produced by the folklorists Josef Weigert, Werner Boette, and Max Rumpf, all of whom had focused on religiosity within German peasant communities. Over the coming decades, Georg Schreiber established an Institut für religiöse Volkskund in Munich while a similar department was established in Salzburg by Hanns Koren. Other prominent academics involved in the study of the phenomenon were Heinrich Schauert and Rudolf Kriss, the latter of whom collected one of the largest collections of folk-religious art and material culture in Europe, later housed in Munich's Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. Throughout the 20th century, many studies were made of folk religion in Europe, paying particular attention to such subjects as pilgrimage and the use of shrines.
What is the problem with the use of the term "folk religion"?
Yoder noted that one problem with the use of the term "folk religion" was that it did not fit into the work of those scholars who used the term "religion" in reference solely to organized religion. He highlighted the example of the prominent sociologist of religion Émile Durkheim, who insisted that "religion" was organized in order to contrast it with " magic ". Yoder noted that scholars adopting these perspectives often preferred the term "folk belief" over "folk religion".
What is Yoder's third definition of folk religion?
Yoder's third definition was that often employed within folkloristics, which held that folk religion was "the interaction of belief, ritual, custom, and mythology in traditional societies", representing that which was often pejoratively characterised as superstition.
How many people follow Chinese folk religion?
In China, there are more than 30% of the population follows Chinese popular religion or Taoism.
Why did folklorists neglect religion?
He also lamented that many U.S.-based folklorists also neglected the subject of religion because it did not fit within the standard genre-based system for cataloguing folklore. The term "folk religion" came to be increasingly rejected in the 1990s and 2000s by scholars seeking more precise terminology.
Where did folk religion originate?
In the Americas, the study of folk religion developed among cultural anthropologists studying the syncretistic cultures of the Caribbean and Latin America. The pioneer in this field was Robert Redfield, whose 1930 book Tepoztlán: A Mexican Village contrasted and examined the relationship between "folk religion" and "official religion" in a peasant community. Yoder later noted that although the earliest known usage of the term "folk religion" in the English language was unknown, it probably developed as a translation of the German Volksreligion. One of the earliest prominent usages of the term was in the title of Joshua Trachtenberg 's 1939 work Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion. The term also gained increasing usage within the academic field of comparative religion, appearing in the titles of Ichiro Hori 's Folk Religion in Japan, Martin Nilsson 's Greek Folk Religion, and Charles Leslie 's reader, the Anthropology of Folk Religion. Courses on the study of folk religion came to be taught at various universities in the United States, such as John Messenger 's at Indiana University and Don Yoder 's at the University of Pennsylvania. Although the subject of folk religion fell within the remit of scholars operating in both folkloristics and religious studies, by 1974 Yoder noted that U.S.-based academics in the latter continued to largely ignore it, instead focusing on the study of theology and institutionalised religion; he contrasted this with the situation in Europe, where historians of religion had devoted much time to studying folk religiosity. He also lamented that many U.S.-based folklorists also neglected the subject of religion because it did not fit within the standard genre-based system for cataloguing folklore.
See Also
Domestic Observances, article on Muslim Practices; Islamic Religious Year; Oral Tradition; Rites of Passage, article on Muslim Rites.
Bibliography
Ben-Ami, Issachar. "Relations Between Jews and Muslims in the Veneration of Folk-Saints in Morocco." International Folklore Review 3 (1983): 93 – 105.
What is folk religion?
The term folk, implying informality, lack of sophistication, and lack of skill, is, quite rightfully, contested by scholars sensitive to conventional constructions of the beliefs and practices of women and lower status men. The terms folk religion, common religion, popular religion, customary religion, practical religion, domestic religion, peasant religion, local religion, and the "little tradition" are all used, sometimes interchangeably, often ambiguously, by anthropologists and historians of religion. The literature suggests no consensus about who the folk of folk religion are. For example, William Christian stresses the agricultural identities of those who engage in folk religion; anthropologist George Foster defines folk religion as an urban phenomenon; and for fellow anthropologist Robert Redfield the folk of the little tradition are the unreflective masses. Nor is there consensus regarding the content of folk beliefs and practices. Anthropologist Edmund Leach, for example, stresses concern with the life here and now. Social scientists Michael Hornsby-Smith, Raymond Lee, and Peter Reilly describe the magical or superstitious nature of folk practices, and anthropologist Eric Wolf sees folk beliefs as utilitarian and moralistic but not ethical or questioning.
Why are folk beliefs and rituals so powerful?
Folk beliefs and rituals are particularly potent shapers of gender and sexuality because they are understood or experienced as "authentic": traditional, timeless, organic, and heart-felt. Part of the power of folk practices is that they are not perceived as invented or imposed (even if actually they are). Thus, they tend not to be easily resisted or contested, but rather taken-for-granted as simply "our way of doing things."
What are the core beliefs of male society?
It seems that the core beliefs underlying these practices are that male society is hierarchical, that subordinate men are female-like, that harsh physical treatment is necessary to turn boys into men, and that adult (initiated) men must be prepared to keep men's secrets and pass on gender expectations to the next crop of initiands.
What is the purpose of folk practices?
Folk practices at birth and during infancy generally aim at safeguarding the life and health of the newborn, clarifying the infant's gender identity, and constructing the infant as a socially appropriate member of the family and community.
What is the least gendered ritual?
Death tends to be the least gendered ritual sequence, and folk beliefs regarding deaths and funeral practices tend to emphasize concerns other than gender and sexuality. In death gender roles and sexual behavior often recede in importance.
Overview
In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized religion. The precise definition of folk religion varies among scholars. Sometimes also termed popular belief, it consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of a religion, but outside official doctrine and practices.
Definition
In The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, John Bowker characterized "folk religion" as either "religion which occurs in small, local communities which does not adhere to the norms of large systems" or "the appropriation of religious beliefs and practices at a popular level."
Don Yoder argued that there were five separate ways of defining folk religion. The first was a perspective rooted in a cultural evolutionary framework which understood folk religion as represe…
Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion is one of the labels used to describe the collection of ethnic religious traditions which have historically comprised the predominant belief system in China and among Han Chinese ethnic groups up to the present day. The devotion includes the veneration of forces of nature and ancestors, exorcism of demonic forces, and a belief in the rational order of nature, balance in the universe and reality that can be influenced by human beings and their rulers, as w…
Indigenous Philippine folk religions
Indigenous Philippine folk religions are the distinct native religions of various ethnic groups in the Philippines, where most follow belief systems in line with animism. Generally, these indigenous folk religions are referred to as Anitism or Bathalism. Some of these beliefs stem from pre-Christian religions that were especially influenced by Hinduism and were regarded by the Spanish as "myths" and "superstitions" in an effort to de-legitimize legitimate precolonial beliefs by forcef…
Folk Christianity
Folk Christianity is defined differently by various scholars. Christianity as most people live it – a term used to "overcome the division of beliefs into Orthodox and unorthodox", Christianity as impacted by superstition as practiced by certain geographical Christian groups, and Christianity defined "in cultural terms without reference to the theologies and histories."
Folk Islam
Folk Islam is an umbrella term used to collectively describe forms of Islam that incorporate native folk beliefs and practices. Folk Islam has been described as the Islam of the "urban poor, country people, and tribes", in contrast to orthodox or "High" Islam (Gellner, 1992). Sufism and Sufi concepts are often integrated into Folk Islam.
Various practices and beliefs have been identified with the concept of "folk Islam". They include …
Folk Judaism
In one of the first major academic works on the subject, titled Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion, Joshua Trachtenberg provided a definition of Jewish folk religion as consisting of ideas and practices that whilst not meeting with the approval of religious leaders enjoyed wide popularity such that they must be included in what he termed the field of religion. This included unorthodox beliefs about demons and angels, and magical practices.
Folk Hinduism
McDaniel (2007) classifies Hinduism into six major kinds and numerous minor kinds, in order to understand expression of emotions among the Hindus. According to McDaniel, one of the major kinds is Folk Hinduism, based on local ethnic traditions and tribal cults of local deities and is the oldest, non-literate system of Indian religions. Folk Hinduism involves worship of deities which are not found in Hindu scriptures. It involves worship of Gramadevata (village deity), Kuladevata (hous…