View source for Religion:Folk religion

{{short description|Expressions of religion distinct from the official doctrines of organized religion}} {{For|religions sometimes described as "folk religions" or "ethnic religions"|Ethnic religion}}
In [[Religious studies|religious studies]] and folkloristics, '''folk religion''', '''popular religion''', '''traditional religion''' or '''vernacular religion''' comprises various forms and expressions of [[Religion:Religion|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 [[Philosophy:Popular belief|popular belief]], it consists of ethnic or regional [[Religion:Religion|religious]] customs under the umbrella of a [[Religion:Religion|religion]]; but outside official [[Philosophy:Doctrine|doctrine]] and practices.<ref name="Bowman">{{cite book |last=Bowman | first=Marion |editor-first=Steven| editor-last=Sutcliffe |title=Religion: empirical studies |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |year=2004 |pages=3–4 |chapter=Chapter 1: Phenomenology, Fieldwork, and Folk Religion |isbn=978-0-7546-4158-2 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BU2BSj4dcHMC&q=%22folk+religion%22&pg=PA3}}</ref>

The term "folk religion" is generally held to encompass two related but separate subjects.  The first is the religious dimension of folk culture, or the folk-cultural dimensions of religion. The second refers to the study of syncretisms between two cultures with different stages of formal expression, such as the melange of African folk beliefs and Roman Catholicism that led to the development of Vodun and [[Religion:Santería|Santería]], and similar mixtures of formal religions with folk cultures. In China, folk Protestantism had its origins with the Taiping Rebellion.<ref name="Dunn 2015 p. 117">{{cite book | last=Dunn | first=E. | title=Lightning from the East: Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China | publisher=Brill | series=Religion in Chinese Societies | year=2015 | isbn=978-90-04-29725-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SA15CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA117 | access-date=2023-03-01 | page=117 | archive-date=2023-03-01 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301034801/https://books.google.com/books?id=SA15CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA117 | url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Religion:Chinese folk religion|Chinese folk religion]], folk Christianity, folk [[Religion:Hinduism|Hinduism]], and folk [[Religion:Islam|Islam]] are examples of folk religion associated with major religions. The term is also used, especially by the [[Social:Clergy|clergy]] of the faiths involved, to describe the desire of people who otherwise infrequently attend religious worship, do not belong to a church or similar religious society, and who have not made a formal profession of [[Philosophy:Faith|faith]] in a particular [[Religion:Creed|creed]], to have religious weddings or funerals, or (among Christians) to have their children [[Religion:Baptism|baptised]].<ref name="Bowman"/>

==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."{{sfn|Bowker|2003}}

Don Yoder argued that there were five separate ways of defining folk religion.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=12}} The first was a perspective rooted in a cultural evolutionary framework which understood folk religion as representing the survivals of older forms of religion; in this, it would constitute "the survivals, in an official religious context, of beliefs and behavior inherited from earlier stages of the culture's development".{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=12}} This definition would view folk religion in Catholic Europe as the survivals of pre-Christian religion and the folk religion in Protestant Europe as the survivals of Medieval Catholicism.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=12}} The second definition identified by Yoder was the view that folk religion represented the mixture of an official religion with forms of [[Religion:Ethnic religion|ethnic religion]]; this was employed to explain the place of folk religion in the syncretic belief systems of the Americas, where Christianity had blended with the religions of indigenous American and African communities.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|pp=12–13}}

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 [[Unsolved:Superstition|superstition]].{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=13}} The fourth definition provided by Yoder stated that folk religion represented the "folk interpretation and expression of religion". Noting that this definition would not encompass beliefs that were largely unconnected from organised religion, such as in [[Social:Witchcraft|witchcraft]], he therefore altered this definition by including the concept of "folk [[Religion:Religiosity|religiosity]]", thereby defining folk religion as "the deposit in culture of folk religiosity, the full range of folk attitudes to religion".{{sfn|Yoder|1974|pp=13–14}} His fifth and final definition represented a "practical working definition" that combined elements from these various other definitions. Thus, he summarized folk religion as "the totality of all those views and practices of religion that exist among the people apart from and alongside the strictly theological and liturgical forms of the official religion".{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=14}}

Yoder described "folk religion" as existing "in a complex society in relation to and in tension with the organized religion(s) of that society. Its relatively unorganized character differentiates it from organized religion".{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=11}}

Alternately, the sociologist of religion Matthias Zic Varul defined "folk religion" as "the relatively un-reflected aspect of ordinary practices and beliefs that are oriented towards, or productive of, something beyond the immediate here-and-now: everyday transcendence".{{sfn|Varul|2015|p=449}}

In sociology, folk religion is often contrasted with elite religion. Folk religion is defined as the beliefs, practices, rituals and symbols originating from sources other than the religion's leadership. Folk religion in many instances is tolerated by the religion's leadership, although they may consider it an error.<ref>Leibman, Charles. "The Religion of the American Jew". ''The Ambivalent American Jew''. Jewish Publication Society. 1975.</ref> A similar concept is [[Religion:Lived religion|lived religion]], the study of religion as practiced by believers.

===Historical development===

In Europe the study of "folk religion" emerged from the study of ''religiöse Volkskunde'', a German term which was used in reference to "the religious dimension of folk-culture, or the folk-cultural dimension of religion".{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=2}} This term was first employed by a German [[Religion:Lutheranism|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.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|pp=2–3}} Although developing within a religious environment, the term came to be adopted by German academics in the field of folkloristics.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=3}} During the 1920s and 1930s, theoretical studies of ''religiöse Volkskunde'' had been produced by the folklorists Josef Weigert, Werner Boette, and Max Rumpf, all of whom had focused on religiosity within German peasant communities.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=3}} Over the coming decades, Georg Schreiber established an Institut für religiöse Volkskund in [[Place:Munich|Munich]] while a similar department was established in [[Place:Salzburg|Salzburg]] by Hanns Koren.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|pp=3–4}} 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.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|pp=3–4}} 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.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=3}}

In the Americas, the study of folk religion developed among [[Social:Cultural anthropology|cultural anthropologists]] studying the syncretistic cultures of the Caribbean and Latin America.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=5}} 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.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=5}} 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''.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=5}} 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''.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=5}} 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''.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=5}} Courses on the study of folk religion came to be taught at various universities in the United States, such as John Messenger's at [[Organization:Indiana University|Indiana University]] and Don Yoder's at the [[Organization:University of Pennsylvania|University of Pennsylvania]].{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=5}}
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 [[Religion:Theology|theology]] and institutionalised religion; he contrasted this with the situation in Europe, where historians of religion had devoted much time to studying folk religiosity.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=6}} 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.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=9}}

The term "folk religion" came to be increasingly rejected in the 1990s and 2000s by scholars seeking more precise terminology.{{sfn|Kapaló|2013|p=4}}

===Problems and critique===

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.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=10}} He highlighted the example of the prominent sociologist of religion [[Biography:Émile Durkheim|Émile Durkheim]], who insisted that "religion" was organized in order to contrast it with "magic".{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=10}} Yoder noted that scholars adopting these perspectives often preferred the term "[[Philosophy:Folk belief|folk belief]]" over "folk religion".{{sfn|Yoder|1974|p=10}}

A second problem with the use of "folk religion" that Yoder highlighted was that some scholars, particularly those operating in the sociology of religion, used the term as a synonym for ethnic religion (which is alternately known as national religion or tribal religion), meaning a religion closely tied to a particular ethnic or national group and is thus contrasted with a "universal religion" which cuts across ethnic and national boundaries.{{sfn|Yoder|1974|pp=10–11}} Among the scholars to have adopted this use of terminology are E. Wilbur Bock.{{sfn|Bock|1966|p=204}}

The folklorist Leonard Norman Primiano argued that the use of "folk religion", as well as related terms like "popular religion" and "unofficial religion", by scholars, does "an extreme disservice" to the forms of religiosity that scholars are examining, because – in his opinion – such terms are "residualistic, [and] derogatory".{{sfn|Primiano|1995|p=38}} He argued that using such terminology implies that there is "a pure element" to religion "which is in some way transformed, even contaminated, by its exposure to human communities".{{sfn|Primiano|1995|p=39}} As a corrective, he suggested that scholars use "vernacular religion" as an alternative.{{sfn|Primiano|1995|pp=41–42}} Defining this term, Primiano stated that "vernacular religion" is, "by definition, religion as it is lived: as human beings encounter, understand, interpret, and practice it. Since religion inherently involves interpretation, it is impossible for the religion of an individual not to be vernacular".{{sfn|Primiano|1995|p=44}}

Kapaló was critical of this approach, deeming it "mistaken" and arguing that switching from "folk religion" to "vernacular religion" results in the scholar "picking up a different selection of things from the world".{{sfn|Kapaló|2013|p=9}} He cautioned that both terms carried an "ideological and semantic load" and warned scholars to pay attention to the associations that each word had.{{sfn|Kapaló|2013|pp=15–16}}

==Chinese folk religion==
[[Religion:Chinese folk religion|Chinese folk religion]] is one of the labels used to describe the collection of [[Religion:Ethnic religion|ethnic religious]] traditions which have historically comprised the predominant belief system in {{wipe|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 well as spirits and gods. Worship is devoted to a [[Religion:Chinese gods and immortals|hierarchy of gods and immortals]] ({{lang-zh|t=神|p=shén}} ), who can be [[Religion:Shen (Chinese religion)|deities]] of phenomena, of human behaviour, or [[Social:Progenitor|progenitor]]s of lineages. Stories regarding some of these gods are collected into the body of Chinese mythology. By the 11th century (Song period), these practices had been blended with Buddhist ideas of [[Philosophy:Karma|karma]] (one's own doing) and rebirth, and [[Philosophy:Taoism|Taoist]] teachings about hierarchies of deities, to form the popular religious system which has lasted in many ways until the present day.<ref>{{cite book |title=Religions of China: The World as a Living System|author=Overmyer, Daniel L.|pages=51 |date=1986|publisher=New York: Harper & Row |isbn=9781478609896}}</ref>

<!--These removed references do not define "Shenism" as the classical form <ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GBdX2ELnkXQC&pg=PA21 |title= Reinventing Chinese Syncretic Religion: Shenism |date = 2007-02-23 |access-date= 2011-11-20|isbn= 9789812308658 |last1= Kuah-Pearce |first1= Khun Eng }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://blogs.straitstimes.com/2009/9/7/how-we-came-to-pai-shen | title = How we came to 'pai shen' | publisher = Straits times | date = 2009-09-07 | access-date = 2011-11-20 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111207225051/http://blogs.straitstimes.com/2009/9/7/how-we-came-to-pai-shen/ | archive-date = 2011-12-07 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9MmNaNebFD8C&pg=PA198 |title = Religious Diversity in Singapore |date = 2001-09-11 | access-date =2011-11-20|isbn = 9789812307545 |last1 = Eng |first1 = Lai Ah }}</ref> -->
Chinese folk religion is sometimes categorized with [[Philosophy:Taoism|Taoism]], since over the centuries institutional Taoism has been attempting to assimilate or administer local religions. More accurately, Taoism emerged from and overlaps with folk religion and [[Philosophy:Chinese philosophy|Chinese philosophy]]. Chinese folk religion is sometimes seen as a constituent part of Chinese traditional religion, but more often, the two are regarded as synonymous. With around 454 million adherents, or about 6.6% of the world population,<ref>{{Citation | contribution = Religion | year = 2011 | title = Encyclopædia Britannica| title-link = Encyclopædia Britannica }}.</ref> Chinese folk religion is one of the major religious traditions in the world. In the People's Republic of China, more than 30% of the population follows [[Religion:Chinese folk religion|Chinese popular religion]] or Taoism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chartsbin.com/view/sgx |title=Chinese Folk Religion Adherents by Country |publisher=Charts bin |date=2009-09-16 |access-date=2011-11-20 |archive-date=2011-08-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813113114/http://chartsbin.com/view/sgx |url-status=live }}</ref>

Despite being heavily suppressed during the last two centuries, from the Taiping Rebellion to the Cultural Revolution, it is currently experiencing a modern revival in both Mainland China and Taiwan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/hearings/109h/21814.pdf |title=Roundtable before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China |access-date=2011-11-20 |archive-date=2011-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116173747/http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/hearings/109h/21814.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Madsen-21-4.pdf |title=The Upsurge of Religion in China |access-date=2011-11-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101113151/http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Madsen-21-4.pdf |archive-date=2013-11-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Various forms have received support by the Government of the People's Republic of China, such as Mazuism in Southern China (officially about 160 million Chinese are Mazuists),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128672542&sc=tw |title=China's Leaders Harness Folk Religion For Their Aims |publisher=Npr.org |date=2010-07-23 |access-date=2011-11-20}}</ref> Huangdi worship,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Apr/164216.htm |title=Over 10,000 Chinese Worship Huangdi in Henan |publisher=China.org.cn |date=2006-04-01 |access-date=2011-11-20 |archive-date=2012-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010173004/http://www.china.org.cn/english/2006/Apr/164216.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://china.chinaa2z.com/china/html/tourism/2008/20081021/20081021150925852894/20081021151018945161.html Compatriots across the strait honor their ancestry] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720151059/http://china.chinaa2z.com/china/html/tourism/2008/20081021/20081021150925852894/20081021151018945161.html |date=2010-07-20 }}</ref> [[Unsolved:Chinese dragon#Dragon worship|Black Dragon]] worship in Shaanxi,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wwrn.org/articles/13093/?&place=china/taiwan&section=native-religions |title=Return to folk religions brings about renewal in rural China |publisher=Wwrn.org |date=2001-09-14 |access-date=2011-11-20 |archive-date=2011-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930044610/http://wwrn.org/articles/13093/?&place=china/taiwan&section=native-religions |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/pss/20062608 |title=The Policy of Legitimation and the Revival of Popular Religion in Shaanbei, North-Central China |jstor=20062608 |access-date=2017-08-31 |archive-date=2019-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428115000/https://www.jstor.org/stable/20062608 |url-status=live |last1=Chau |first1=Adam Yuet |journal=Modern China |date=2005 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=236–278 |doi=10.1177/0097700404274038 |s2cid=144130739 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KSpDTsSkuVoC&q=%22black+dragon%22+temple+shaanxi&pg=PA77 |title=Miraculous response: doing popular religion in contemporary China |access-date=2011-11-20 |isbn=9780804767651 |date=2008-07-21 |last1=Chau |first1=Adam Yuet |publisher=Stanford University Press |archive-date=2023-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510085708/https://books.google.com/books?id=KSpDTsSkuVoC&q=%22black+dragon%22+temple+shaanxi&pg=PA77 |url-status=live }}</ref> and Cai Shen worship.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.voc.com.cn/blog.php?do=showone&type=blog&cid=104&itemid=624736 |title=苍南金乡玄坛庙成华夏第八财神庙 |publisher=Blog.voc.com.cn |access-date=2011-11-20 |archive-date=2011-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707023046/http://blog.voc.com.cn/blog.php?do=showone&type=blog&cid=104&itemid=624736 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The term ''Shenism'' was first published by AJA Elliot in 1955 to describe Chinese folk religion in Southeast Asia.<ref>{{Citation | title = State, Society and Religious Engineering: Towards a Reformist Buddhism in Singapore. (Book Review)|journal = Sojourn Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia|date= October 1, 2004 |author= Tan, Beng Sin (Piya Tan) | url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-126163460.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121105195636/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-126163460.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2012-11-05}}.</ref>

==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 [[Philosophy:Animism|animism]]. Generally, these indigenous folk religions are referred to as ''Anitism'' or ''Bathalism''.<ref name="Almocera2005">Almocera, Ruel A., (2005) Popular Filipino Spiritual Beliefs with a proposed Theological Response. in Doing Theology in the Philippines. Suk, John., Ed. Mandaluyong: OMF Literature Inc. Pp 78–98</ref> Some of these beliefs stem from pre-Christian religions that were especially influenced by [[Religion:Hinduism|Hinduism]] and were regarded by the Spanish as "myths" and "superstitions" in an effort to de-legitimize legitimate precolonial beliefs by forcefully replacing those native beliefs with colonial Catholic Christian myths and superstitions. Today, some of these precolonial beliefs are still held by Filipinos, especially in the provinces.

==Folk Christianity==
[[File:Botanica.jpg|right|333px|thumb|[[Unsolved:Botánica|Botánica]]s such as this one in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, {{wipe|United States}}, sell religious goods, such as statues of saints and candles decorated with prayers, alongside folk medicine and amulets.]]
Folk Christianity is defined differently by various scholars. Christianity as most people live it – a term used to "overcome the division of beliefs into [[Religion:Christian theology|Orthodox]] and [[Religion:Heterodoxy|unorthodox]]",<ref>Rock, Stella (2007). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dNpcEtoAk4YC&pg=PA11 Popular religion in Russia].'' Routledge {{ISBN|0-415-31771-1}}, p. 11. Last accessed July 2009.</ref> Christianity as impacted by superstition as practiced by certain geographical Christian groups,<ref>Snape, Michael Francis (2003). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hl4EiL6CeVgC&pg=PA45 The Church of England in industrialising society]. Boydell Press, {{ISBN|1-84383-014-0}}, p. 45. Last accessed July 2009</ref> and Christianity defined "in cultural terms without reference to the [[Religion:Theology|theologies]] and histories."<ref>Corduan, Winfried (1998). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pZW6nwbyW5kC&pg=PA37&dq Neighboring faiths: a Christian introduction to world religions].'' InterVarsity Press, {{ISBN|0-8308-1524-4}}, p. 37. Last accessed July 2009.</ref>

==Folk Islam==
Folk Islam is an umbrella term used to collectively describe forms of [[Religion:Islam|Islam]] that incorporate native folk beliefs and practices.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cook|first= Chris|title = Spirituality and Psychiatry| publisher= RCPsych Publications | year = 2009 | page = 242 | isbn = 978-1-904671-71-8}}</ref> Folk Islam has been described as the Islam of the "urban poor, country people, and tribes",<ref>{{cite book | last = Ridgeon | first = Lloyd | title =Major World Religions: From Their Origins To The Present | publisher =[[Company:Routledge|Routledge]]|year=2003|page=280|isbn = 978-0-415-29796-7}}</ref> in contrast to [[Religion:Orthodoxy|orthodox]] or "High" Islam (Gellner, 1992).<ref>{{cite book |  last= Malešević| first = Siniša | title = Ernest Gellner and Contemporary Social Thought|publisher = {{wipe|Cambridge University Press}}|year=2007|page=189|isbn = 978-0-521-70941-5|display-authors=0}}</ref> [[Religion:Sufism|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 the following:
* belief in traditional magic systems and [[Unsolved:Religious ecstasy|ecstatic]] rituals<ref>{{cite book |last= Masud| first= Muhammad Khalid |title = Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates| publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year= 2009 | page = 138 | isbn = 978-0-7486-3793-5|display-authors=0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Makris | first =JP |title= Islam in the Middle East: A Living Tradition |publisher=[[Company:Wiley-Blackwell|Wiley-Blackwell]]|year=2006|page=49|isbn = 978-1-4051-1603-9}}</ref>
* the use of shrines and amulets<ref>{{cite book|last=Chelkowski|first=Peter J|title=Ideology and Power in the Middle East: Studies in Honor of George Lenczowski|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1988|page=[https://archive.org/details/ideologypowerinm0000unse/page/286 286]|isbn=978-0-8223-0781-5|display-authors=0|url=https://archive.org/details/ideologypowerinm0000unse/page/286}}</ref>
* veneration of [[Religion:Wali|saint]]s  or [[Religion:Jinn|jinn]], as in the Gnawa cult<ref>{{cite book |last= Hinde| first = Robert | title= Why Gods Persist: A Scientific Approach to Religion | publisher =[[Company:Routledge|Routledge]]|year=2009|page=99|isbn = 978-0-415-49761-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Hefner| first = Robert W |title = Islam In an Era of Nation-States: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia | publisher =University of Hawaii Press|year=1997|page=20|isbn = 978-0-8248-1957-6|display-authors=0}}</ref>
* incorporation of [[Philosophy:Animism|animistic]] beliefs<ref>{{cite book | last =Khan|first=IK |title=Islam in Modern Asia|publisher= MD Publications |year=2006|page=281|isbn= 978-81-7533-094-8}}</ref>

==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.<ref>''Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion'', Joshua Trachtenberg, 1939, Forgotten Books, Preface, pg xxvii</ref> This included unorthodox beliefs about demons and angels, and magical practices.

Later studies have emphasized the significance of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem to the many Jewish folk customs linked to mourning and in particular to the belief in ''hibbut ha-qever''  (torture of the grave) a belief that the dead are tortured in their grave for three days after burial by demons until they remember their names. This idea began with early eschatological [[Religion:Aggadah|aggadah]] and was then further developed by the kabbalists.<ref>''The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion'', Edited by Adele Berlin,  Oxford University Press, 2011, pg 344,</ref>

Raphael Patai has been acknowledged as one of the first to utilize anthropology to study Jewish folk religion.<ref>''Fields of Offerings: Studies in Honor of Raphael Patai'',
by Victor D. Sanua, pg 28</ref> In particular he has drawn attention to the important role of the female divine element,<ref>''Fields of Offerings: Studies in Honor of Raphael Patai'', by Victor D. Sanua, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1983, pg 27</ref> which he sees in the goddess Asherah, the [[Religion:Shekhinah|Shekhinah]], the Matronit, and [[Biography:Lilith|Lilith]].<ref>''Fields of Offerings: Studies in Honor of Raphael Patai'', by Victor D. Sanua, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1983, pg 2</ref>

Writer Stephen Sharot has stated that Jewish popular religion in common with other forms of folk religion, has a focus on the [[Social:Apotropaic magic|apotropaic]], or [[Unsolved:Thaumaturgy|thaumaturgical]], i.e. it is used to assist in protecting the individual from sickness, and misfortune.  He emphasizes that while Rabbinical Judaism dealt with orthodox Jewish ritual, and halakah, magicians claimed to use unorthodox magical rituals to help people in everyday life.  He points to the example of a relatively professionalised type of magician being the [[Religion:Baal Shem|ba'alei shem]] of Poland, who beginning in the 16th century thrived with the popularity of [[Religion:Practical Kabbalah|practical Kabbalah]] in the 18th century.  These ba'alei shem promised to use their knowledge of the names of god, and the angels, along with exorcism, chiromancy, and [[Medicine:Herbal medicine|herbal medicine]] to bring harm to enemies, and  success in areas of social life such as marriage, and childbirth.<ref>''Comparative Perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish Identities'', By Stephen Sharot, Wayne State University Press, 2011, pg 58</ref>

Charles Liebman has written that the essence of the folk religion of American Jews is their social ties to one another, illustrated by the finding  that religious practices that would prevent [[Social:Social integration|social integration]] – such as a strict interpretation of dietary laws and the [[History:Shabbat|Sabbath]] – have been abandoned, whilst the practices that are followed – such as the Passover Seder, social rites of passage, and the High Holy Days- are ones that strengthen Jewish family and community integration.<ref>''Comparative Perspectives on Judaisms and Jewish Identities'', By Stephen Sharot, Wayne State University Press, 2011, pg 152</ref> Liebman described the rituals and beliefs of contemporary Jewish folk religion in his works, ''The Ambivalent American Jew'' (1973) and ''American Jewry: Identity and Affiliation''.

==Folk Hinduism==
June McDaniel (2007) classifies [[Religion:Hinduism|Hinduism]] into six major kinds and numerous minor kinds, in order to understand the expression of emotions among the Hindus.<ref name=junemcdaniel6>June McDaniel "Hinduism", in John Corrigan, ''The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Emotion'', (2007) Oxford University Press, 544 pages, pp. 52–53 {{ISBN|0-19-517021-0}}</ref> 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.<ref name=junemcdaniel6/> Folk Hinduism involves worship of deities which are not found in Hindu scriptures. It involves worship of [[Religion:Gramadevata|Gramadevata]] (village deity), Kuladevata (household deity) and local deities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sociology.iresearchnet.com/sociology-of-religion/folk-hinduism/|title=Folk Hinduism|website=sociology.iresearchnet|access-date=2020-02-07|archive-date=2019-09-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914123133/http://sociology.iresearchnet.com/sociology-of-religion/folk-hinduism/|url-status=live}}</ref> It is a folk religion, polytheist and animistic belief based on locality. These religions have their own priests, who worship regional deities.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jID3TuoiOMQC&pg=PA22|title=Hinduism: Past and Present|via=books.google|isbn=0691089523|last1=Michaels|first1=Axel|year=2004|publisher=Princeton University Press |access-date=2022-08-01|archive-date=2021-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112202117/https://books.google.com/books?id=jID3TuoiOMQC&pg=PA22|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the 19th century, scholars had divided Hinduism and Brahmanism. Brahmanism was referred to as an intellectual, classical tradition based on [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] scriptures, while Hinduism was associated with superstitious folk tradition. The folk tradition refers to the aspects of the Hindu tradition that exist in tension with the Sanskritic tradition based on textual authority.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0041.xml|title=Popular and Folk Hinduism|publisher=oxfordbibliographies|date=28 April 2017|access-date=21 April 2022|archive-date=11 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811020817/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0041.xml|url-status=live}}</ref> According to M. N. Srinivas (1976), folk Hinduism is relevant in the urban context, but it is neglected in ethnographic studies due to its negative connotations with folk (rural masses, illiterate).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sfrDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14|title=Religion, Heritage and the Sustainable City: Hinduism and urbanisation in Jaipur|publisher=Routledge|first=Yamini|last=Narayanan|page=14|year=2014|isbn=978-1135012694|access-date=2023-01-04|archive-date=2023-01-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131120649/https://books.google.com/books?id=sfrDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Chris Fuller (1994), popular Hinduism is not degenerate textual Hinduism in light of ethnographic evidence, although the category of folk Hinduism remains tenuous.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MtuhClbfL7EC&pg=PA209|title=Hinduism and Law: An Introduction|publisher=Cambridge University Press|first1=Timothy|last1=Lubin|first2=Donald R. Jr.|last2=Davis|first3=Jayanth K.|last3=Krishnan|page=209|year=2010|isbn=978-1139493581|access-date=2023-01-04|archive-date=2023-01-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230131120655/https://books.google.com/books?id=MtuhClbfL7EC&pg=PA209|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Michael Witzel (1998), the folk religion is the religion of [[Social:Prakrit|Prakrit]] speaking and [[Social:Dravidian languages|Dravidian]] speaking lower caste while the [[Religion:Historical Vedic religion|Vedic Hinduism]] which comprises [[Religion:Vedas|Vedas]] and [[Religion:Upanishads|Upanishads]] is the religion of [[Social:Sanskrit|Sanskrit]] speaking upper caste. According to Asko Parpola (2015), the folk village Hinduism is surviving from pre-rig vedic Indo-Aryan times and  Indus valley culture.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326357016|title=The Aryan Controversy Decided? Ancient India between the Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization (Review Essay on Asko Parpola's The Roots of Hinduism)|website=research gate|first=Eric d.|last=Meyer|page=6|date=June 2018|access-date=26 November 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bock |first=E. Wilbur |year=1966 |title=Symbols in Conflict: Official versus Folk Religion |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=204–212 |jstor=1384846 |doi=10.2307/1384846}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |first=John |last=Bowker |year=2003 |orig-year=2000 |contribution=Folk religion |title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions |isbn=9780191727221 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}
* {{cite journal |last=Kapaló |first=James A. |year=2013 |title=Folk Religion in Discourse and Practice |journal=Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |volume=1 |number=1 |pages=3–18 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Primiano |first=Leonard Norman |year=1995 |title=Vernacular Religion and the Search for Method in Religious Folklife |journal=Western Folklore |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=37–56 |jstor=1499910 |doi=10.2307/1499910}}
* {{cite journal |last=Varul |first=Matthias Zick |title=Consumerism as Folk Religion: Transcendence, Probation and Dissatisfaction with Capitalism |journal=Studies in Christian Ethics |year=2015  |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages= 447–460  |doi=10.1177/0953946814565984|s2cid=148255400 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Yoder |first=Don |year=1974 |title=Toward a Definition of Folk Religion |journal=Western Folklore |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.2307/1498248 |jstor=1498248 |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/fe/issue/68154/1016755 |access-date=2022-04-12 |archive-date=2022-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220429174146/https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/fe/issue/68154/1016755 |url-status=live }}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* Allen, Catherine. ''The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community.'' Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989; second edition, 2002.
* Badone, Ellen, ed. ''Religious Orthodoxy and Popular Faith in European Society.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
* Bastide, Roger. ''The African Religions of Brazil: Toward a Sociology of the Interpenetration of Civilizations.'' Trans. by Helen Sebba. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.
* Blackburn, Stuart H. ''Death and Deification: Folk Cults in Hinduism'', History of Religions  (1985).
* Brintnal, Douglas. ''Revolt against the Dead: The Modernization of a Mayan Community in the Highlands of Guatemala.'' New York: Gordon and Breach, 1979.
* Christian, William A., Jr. ''Apparitions in Late Medieval and Renaissance Spain.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981.
* Gellner, David N. ''Hinduism. None, one or many?'', Social Anthropology  (2004), 12: 367–371 Cambridge University* Johnson, Paul Christopher. ''Secrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomblé.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
* Gorshunova, Olga V. (2008). ''Svjashennye derevja Khodzhi Barora…'', ('' Sacred Trees of Khodzhi Baror: Phytolatry and the Cult of Female Deity in Central Asia'') in Etnoragraficheskoe Obozrenie,  No. 1, pp.&nbsp;71–82. ISSN 0869-5415. {{in lang|ru}}.
* [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00085006.2018.1446242 Kononenko, Natalie "Vernacular religion on the prairies: negotiating a place for the unquiet dead,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420023242/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00085006.2018.1446242 |date=2021-04-20 }} Canadian Slavonic Papers 60, no. 1-2 (2018)
* {{Cite book |last= Nepstad |first= Sharon Erickson |year= 1996 |chapter= Popular Religion, Protest, and Revolt: The Emergence of Political Insurgency in the Nicaraguan and Salvadoran Churches of the 1960s–80s |title= Disruptive Religion: The Force of Faith in Social Movement Activism |editor-first= Christian |editor-last= Smith |location= New York |publisher= Routledge |pages= 105–124 |isbn= 978-0-415-91405-5 }}
* {{Cite book |last= Nash |first= June |year= 1996 |chapter= Religious Rituals of Resistance and Class Consciousness in Bolivian Tin-Mining Communities |title= Disruptive Religion: The Force of Faith in Social Movement Activism |editor-first=Christian |editor-last= Smith |location= New York |publisher= Routledge |pages= 87–104 |isbn= 978-0-415-91405-5 }}
* Nutini, Hugo. ''Ritual Kinship: Ideological and Structural Integration of the Compadrazgo System in Rural Tlaxcala.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
* Nutini, Hugo. ''Todos Santos in Rural Tlaxcala: A Syncretic, Expressive, and Symbolic Analysis of the Cult of the Dead.'' Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.
* Panchenko, Aleksandr. ''[https://www.academia.edu/8684508/Popular_Orthodoxy_and_identity_in_Soviet_and_post-Soviet_Russia_Soviet_and_Post-Soviet_Identities._Ed._by_Mark_Bassin_and_Catriona_Kelly._Cambridge_2012._P._321–340 ‘Popular Orthodoxy’ and identity in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418052353/https://www.academia.edu/8684508/Popular_Orthodoxy_and_identity_in_Soviet_and_post-Soviet_Russia_Soviet_and_Post-Soviet_Identities._Ed._by_Mark_Bassin_and_Catriona_Kelly._Cambridge_2012._P._321%E2%80%93340 |date=2023-04-18 }},'' Soviet and Post-Soviet Identities. Ed. by Mark Bassin and Catriona Kelly. Cambridge, 2012, pp.&nbsp;321–340
* Sinha, Vineeta. ''Problematizing Received Categories: Revisiting ‘Folk Hinduism’ and ‘Sanskritization’'', Current Sociology, Vol. 54, No. 1, 98–111 (2006)
* Sinha, Vineeta. ''Persistence of ‘Folk Hinduism’ in Malaysia and Singapore'', Australian Religion Studies Review Vol. 18 No. 2 (Nov 2005):211–234
* Stuart H. Blackburn, ''Inside the Drama-House: Rama Stories and Shadow Puppets in South India'', UCP (1996), ch. 3: " Ambivalent Accommodations: Bhakti and Folk Hinduism".
* Taylor, Lawrence J. ''Occasions of Faith: An Anthropology of Irish Catholics.'' Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995.
* {{Cite book |last= Thomas |first= Keith |title= Religion and the Decline of Magic. Studies in popular beliefs in sixteenth and seventeenth century England |location= London |publisher= Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year= 1971 |isbn= 978-0-297-00220-8 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://www.asiasociety.org/countries-history/religions-philosophies/religion-philippines Folk Christianity in the Philippines]
* [http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1997-06-05/news/myths-over-miami/ "Myths over Miami"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103080650/http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1997-06-05/news/myths-over-miami/ |date=2013-11-03 }}: an account of the folk religion of children living in homeless shelters in Miami, circa 1997.

{{Folklore genres}}
{{Folk religion}}{{Religion topics}}
{{Ethnicity}}


[[Category:Folk religion| ]]
[[Category:Anthropology of religion]]

{{Sourceattribution|Folk religion}}