Folk religion consists of
ethnic or regional
religious customs under the umbrella of an
organized religion, but outside of official
doctrine and practices. Don Yoder has defined "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."
[Yoder, Don, 'Toward a Definition of Folk Religion', Western Folklore 33.1 (January 1974): 1-15.]Folk religion includes the
syncretic blending of indigenous religion with organised religion.
Folk Christianity,
Folk Hinduism, and
Folk Islam are examples of folk religion associated with major religions.
There is sometimes tension between the practice of folk religion and the formally taught doctrines and teachings of a faith. In other cases, practices that originated in folk religion are adopted as part of the official religion.
The term is also used, especially by the
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
faith in a particular
creed, to have religious
weddings or
funerals, or (among Christians) to have their children
baptised.
Examples of folk religion
Appearances of religious figures
Popular
theophanies, and similar phenomena like
Marian apparitions, originating outside the formal liturgy and hierarchy of the faiths in question.
Protective objects
Protective qualities ascribed to religious objects like the
Bible or a
crucifix;
hex signs
Magic
Faith healing
See also
