The Encyclopedia of World Religions

folk religion S 153

modern world many of its characteristics can be found among working-class and other ordinary people in urban societies. Here it is often called popular religion. Two fundamental features of folk religion are, first, that it is primarily “cosmic” rather than his torical in perspective, and second, that it is chiefly passed on orally, through the words and examples of family, community members, and local-level spiritual leaders, whether shamans, evangelists, priests, or others. Cosmic orientation means that folk religionists generally have little sense of history beyond living memory save as it is encoded in myth, but think more of how religion fits into their seasonal cycles and local geography. If they are agriculturists, fes tivals of planting and harvest are important. For all people in temperate climates spring and midwinter celebrations are very common. Even if the people officially belong to a religion with a historical ori entation, like J UDAISM or C HRISTIANITY , the seasonal aspects of festivals with a theoretically historical origin, like P ASSOVER , C HRISTMAS , Mardi Gras, and C ARNIVAL , or E ASTER , and the timeless aspects of the occasion, are likely to become central in practice. (This is why the snow and Santa Claus features of Christmas, and the rabbit and spring elements of Easter—a Christian holiday named after an Anglo Saxon GODDESS of spring—are so prominent in folk or popular Christianity.) The geographical bear ing of folk religion is perhaps more pronounced in some traditions than others; it means a tendency toward venerated holy places, like sacred moun tains, trees, waterfalls, shrines, and PILGRIMAGE places that are accessible to ordinary people—like Mount Fuji in Japan or the famous grotto at the shrine of the Blessed Virgin M ARY at Lourdes in France. A related characteristic of folk and popular religion is emphasis on religious marking of the individual’s life cycle. BAPTISMS , confirmations, BAR / BAT MITZVAHS , weddings, childbirths, personal SAINTS ’ days, and funerals, or the equivalents in various traditions, are likely to be extremely sig nificant family or even community events, entail ing perhaps great preparation and expense. The key

a raft. Unlike the versions already recounted, in the Indian version no woman is saved. As a result, Manu must first create a daughter, Ila. With her he repopulates the Earth. It seems likely that the Greek story derives from Mesopotamian roots. It is more doubtful that the Indian story does. Indian mythology tells of several successive universes that are each over whelmed by primal waters. But flood stories are certainly not limited to the region stretching from Greece to India and through the Near East. Indeed, they are found on almost every continent. For example, the Maya people of Mesoamerica ( see M AYA RELIGION ) tell an EPIC story known as the Popol Vuh. It begins with successive attempts to create human beings. In one attempt the creators fashion manikins. These prove unsatisfactory and are destroyed by a flood. The Aztec Legend of the Suns ( see A ZTEC RELIGION ) talks not about succes sive attempts to create human beings but about successive suns or universes. During the fourth sun, called 4 Water, people lived 676 years. Then a sudden flood rushed upon them, destroying their world and changing them into fish. Some people take flood stories as history. Oth ers take the view that the stories were written to convey religious messages. Their concern is to identify what those messages are. For some, such as the scholar Mircea E LIADE , flood stories fit a uni versal mythological model. Water is both chaotic and creative. The flood represents a reversion to the primal chaos, but also the possibility that a new, fresh, pure creation will emerge. Rather than fit every myth into a single stereotype, it seems better to take each myth on its own terms and use more general interpretations only to the extent that the specific cultural context supports them. folk religion The religious life of ordinary peo ple who are not primarily oriented toward their religion as it is presented by its formal history, but who know and practice it as it is communicated and performed on family, village, or popular lev els. In traditional societies, folk religion is gener ally associated with peasant societies, but in the