Expressions of religion distinct from the official doctrines of organized religion
For religions sometimes described as "folk religions" or "ethnic religions", see Ethnic religion.
In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, traditional 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.[1]
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 Santería, and similar mixtures of formal religions with folk cultures. In China, folk Protestantism had its origins with the Taiping Rebellion.[2]
Chinese folk religion, folk Christianity, folk Hinduism, and folk Islam are examples of folk religion associated with major religions. 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.[1]
^ abBowman, Marion (2004). "Chapter 1: Phenomenology, Fieldwork, and Folk Religion". In Sutcliffe, Steven (ed.). Religion: empirical studies. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0-7546-4158-2.
^Dunn, E. (2015). Lightning from the East: Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China. Religion in Chinese Societies. Brill. p. 117. ISBN 978-90-04-29725-8. Archived from the original on 2023-03-01. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
folkloristics, folkreligion, popular religion, traditional religion, or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct...
Chinese folkreligion, also known as Chinese popular religion, comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese...
Vietnamese folkreligion (Vietnamese: tín ngưỡng dân gian Việt Nam, sometimes just called đạo lương, Chữ Hán: 道良) is a group of spiritual beliefs and...
identified with Matrikas. Wilder Theodre Elmore comments that the Dravidian folkreligions are not a simple form of animism, but exhibit complex metaphysical concepts...
Tai folkreligion, Satsana Phi or Ban Phi is the ancient native ethnic religion of Tai people still practiced by various Tai groups. Tai folkreligion was...
Malaysian folkreligion refers to the animistic and polytheistic beliefs and practices that are still held by many in the Islamic-majority country of...
Burmese folkreligion refers to the animistic and polytheistic religious worship of nats (deities of local and Hindu origin) and ancestors in Myanmar...
Chinese folkreligion. The People's Republic of China is officially an atheist state, but the government formally recognizes five religions: Buddhism...
others are arguably less so, in particular folkreligions, indigenous religions, and some Eastern religions. A portion of the world's population are members...
Yao folkreligion is the ethnic religion of the Yao people, a non-Sinitic ethnic group who reside in the Guangxi, Hunan and surrounding provinces of China...
Nuo folkreligion, or extendedly, Chinese popular exorcistic religion, is a variant of Chinese folkreligion with its own system of temples, rituals, orders...
Qiang folkreligion is the indigenous religion of the majority of the Qiang people, an ethnic group of Sichuan (China) tightly related to the Han Chinese...
Kev Dab Kev Qhuas (Hmong folk spirituality or Miao folk spirituality) is the common ethnic religion of the Miao people, best translated as the "practice...
religion centered around the belief that Kamuy (spirits or gods) live in everything. Most Chinese people in Japan practice the Chinese folkreligion (Chinese:...
fusion that resulted from incorporating the tribal cultures, tribal and folkreligions, and tribal deities, Its principles like karma, moksha, rebirth, reincarnation...
with a Confucian worldview, which is collectively termed as Chinese folkreligion. Many statistical analyses try to distinguish between Buddhism and Taoism...
other people, especially among the Isan ethnic group, practise Tai folkreligions. A significant minority Muslim population, mostly constituted by Thai...
Indigenous Philippine folkreligions are the distinct native religions of various ethnic groups in the Philippines, where most follow belief systems in...
Vietnamese do not follow any organized religion, instead participating in one or more practices of folkreligions, such as venerating ancestors, or praying...
Chinese folkreligion plays a dynamic role in the lives of the overseas Chinese who have settled in the countries of this geographic region, particularly...
been used instead of ethnic religion. Another term that is often used is folkreligion. While ethnic religion and folkreligion have overlapping uses, the...
They include many Chinese folkreligions, Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese religions, which are influenced by Chinese...
tutelary deity. Dakini is the patron of those who seek knowledge. Chinese folkreligion, both past and present, includes myriad tutelary deities. Exceptional...
religions. This includes the East Asian religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folkreligion, Shinto, and Korean Shamanism; Indian religions...
Northeast China folkreligion is the variety of Chinese folkreligion of northeast China, characterised by distinctive cults original to Hebei and Shandong...
not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese FolkReligions, is really so, or whether the apparent different objects...
Folk Catholicism can be broadly described as various ethnic expressions and practices of Catholicism intermingled with aspects of folkreligion. Practices...
broadly called the Mongolian folkreligion, or occasionally Tengerism, refers to the animistic and shamanic ethnic religion that has been practiced in Mongolia...
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