Folk Religion Research Articles

미륵, 개벽, 요나오시: 동아시아 종교사에서의 위기와 혁세 인식

Religion in a crisis works as a system of imagination and techniques to manage the difficulties. In such conditions, existing religious symbols and concepts are reorganized into new meanings. This article deals with the transformation of religious symbols during socio-economic crises in early modern East Asia. (1) Maitreya, the future Buddha, had been a deity to prayer for reincarnation into paradise and good fortune in Buddhism and folk religions. However, rebels in premodern China and Korea, who resisted state power, imagined that Maitreya would immediately appear and bring an end to the world. (2) In classical literature, Kaebyŏk was a concept to describe the creation of the world. Kaebyŏk as a radical cosmological transformation in the future, which have been generally accepted by new religions in Korea until the present, gradually emerged during political crises after the 18th century. (3) The concept of Yonaoshi, which had initially meant to pray for the abundance of agriculture, extended its meaning to demanding a radical renewal of the existing world in the period of natural disasters and political upheaval in the 19th century.

Magic in healing practice: a case study in Vietnam and its philosophical assessment

The use of magic and religion in healing practices in Vietnam is relatively popular. In the folklore and folk religion of Vietnam, it is often said that “In case of sickness, follow any feasible cures [co benh thi vai tu phuong]” in the sense that all means, including using religious beliefs and rituals, will be used to get healing for oneself or one’s relatives. When people or their relatives get sick, besides going to medical facilities, they will look for a shaman, necromancer, monks, even priests, bishops, and pastors to cure the illness they or their relatives are suffering from. Based on Mircea Eliade’s theory published in The Sacred and the Profane (Eliade, 2016), the article has the ambition to offer a different perspective on the use of magic (sometimes considered as a religious ritual by the subject) to cure disease. We employ both the comparative and analytical methods of study as we explore concrete cases of treatment of patients with different religious beliefs (Ms. T’s case of treatment, following Buddhist practices in comparison with the healing cases of the Mother Goddess Worship and the Catholic Church). The authors propose that a uniquely Vietnamese philosophy of life (Life-philosophy) serves as a constitutive basis for the adaptation of magic in healing practices, being itself formed and influenced by these practices.

The materiality of the representation of the owl in the Mari ways of speaking

Abstract This article shows how language materiality is conceptualized through an ethnolinguistic analysis of the representation of the owl as an indication of human-bird relationships. This approach enables addressing the multiple relations between birds and speakers and their perception of the environment as these are reflected in language, folklore and rituals. This research is related to such discourses as “language”, “materiality” and “environment” and is based on a case study of the Mari, a Finno-Ugric people who live in central Russia and still adhere to their folk religion. First, it sets out the Mari names which are used for birds of the owl family, then it shows how the terminology has changed due to the emotional side of humanity, and how terms express things in metaphorical way. Next, the article focuses on how the bird (owl) can be a source of positive or negative information with regard to auguring the future and how the symbolic use of birds in rituals and magical actions contributes to co-creating landscapes between human and non-human agencies. This study is based on extensive linguistic, folklore and ethnographic material, including my own field material.

Hope and anxiety: The study of female embodied experience with assisted reproductive technology

Assisted reproductive technology (ART) is hailed as “the holy grail” for infertile patients in the mainstream narrative. The existing studies have clearly demonstrated how external social factors shape how ART is to be used, but they ignore the recipients of the technologies, and especially the experiences of women. Based on an investigation conducted in Z hospital’s reproductive center, this article regards embodiment as the methodological orientation for integrating socio-cultural context with female embodied experience in order to show their bio-social entanglement. As fieldwork evidence indicates, ART in practice is far from simple “hope technology”; instead, it throws women into a paradoxical world in which hope and anxiety coexist. Embodied experience, hope, and anxiety are transmitted through the bodies of women, which reveals the inscription of social-cultural context and technical uncertainty on the female body and, meanwhile, women actively learn strategies by which to cope with the technical uncertainty and moral pressures from local culture (including healing the body, folk religion, etc.), so as to hold onto infertility treatment with hope.

웹툰 ｢어둠이 걷힌 자리엔｣의 민간신앙 활용 양상과 그 의미

「어둠이 걷힌 자리엔」은 젤리빈 작가가 민간신앙을 활용한 두 번째 작품이다. 기존의 웹툰에서는 민간신앙 중 무속 신화와 무속신앙을 주요 활용 대상으로 삼았다면, 「어둠이 걷힌 자리엔」은 신화가 아닌 민간신앙 속 다양한 요소를 활용한 점이 특징적이다. 신화를 위시로한 민간신앙을 활용한 콘텐츠가 지속적으로 창작되고 있는 바, 「어둠이 걷힌 자리엔」과 같은 종합적 활용은 앞으로도 지속될 것으로 보인다. 이에 본고에서는 「어둠이 걷힌 자리엔」 속 민간신앙의 활용 양상을 구체적으로 살펴보고 그 의미를 논의하고자 한다. 2장에서는 「어둠이 걷힌 자리엔」의 민간신앙 활용 양상에 대해 살펴봤다. 첫째 주인공 두겸의 역할이 사회적 약자를 위무하는 무당의 역할과 유사하다. 신과 귀신에게 사람의 목소리를 전달하고 또 사람에게 신과 귀신의 말을 전달하는 두겸의 역할은 매개자로서의 무당의 성격과 동일하며, 사회적 약자의 사연에 귀 기울이고 그들을 돕는 두겸의 면모 또한 뒷전거리에서 소외당한 존재를 위무하는 무당의 역할과 유사하다. 둘째, 본 작품은 신과 영물을 통해 특별하지 않은 사람들의 목소리를 전했다. 작품 속 신과 영물은 민간신앙 속 모습을 바탕으로 하여 창작되었으며, 작가의 상상력을 통해 사고의 전환기에 각기 다른 방식으로 적응해나가는 모습이 그려진다. 그리고 영물과 작은 신과의 관계를 통해 특별하지 않은 사람들의 삶과 목소리를 전하고 있다. 셋째, 문제제기 주체로서 원귀를 형상화했다. 이는 원혼 설화 속 원귀의 문제 고발 주체로서의 성격을 활용한 것이다. 성별, 장애, 사회적 신분으로 인한 차별, 가정폭력에 의해 희생당한 사람이 원귀가 되어 자신이 입은 피해와 고통을 호소한다. 본 작품은 원귀의 공포성을 강조하기보다는 이들의 목소리에 귀 기울이고, 원귀가 적극적으로 문제를 제기하는 모습을 그려냄으로써 원혼을 문제 제기의 주체로 형상화했다. 3장에서는 민간신앙의 활용의 의미에 대해 살펴보았다. 「어둠이 걷힌 자리엔」은 민간신앙의 구성 요소와 세계관을 보여주는 한편 민간신앙 속 존재들을 통해 사회 문제를 비판하고 있다. 그리고 피해에 공감하고 연대하는 모습 또한 보여주고 있으며, 사람, 영물 그리고 신이 서로를 이해하고 함께 살아가는 방법을 모색하는 과정을 통해 공생에 대해서도 이야기한다. 「어둠이 걷힌 자리엔」은 민간신앙의 요소를 활용하여 현대사회에 대한 비판적인 시각을 제시하는 동시에 연대와 공생을 이야기함으로써 사회의 변화에 대한 희망적인 시각을 그려내고 있다.

Jizō in Action: The Role of Jizō Statues in Temple Atmosphere, Seen through the Eyes of Sendai Temple Abbots

This article shows how abbots at four Buddhist temples in Japan interpret the image and role of the Bodhisattva Jizō – the most popular folk deity in Japan. Statues of Jizō can be found in almost every Japanese Buddhist temple, but their roles differ significantly due to the folk character of this Bodhisattva and the wide range of its functions. Jizō was granted the role of universal saviour in Japanese folk religion, with more and more functions added throughout the centuries. The author attempts to show that abbots see Jizō statues very differently, and that sometimes the Jizō statues of one temple can be interpreted differently by the abbots of different temples.

Instead of Introduction: How Old Is Sacredness?

It is customary that references to history are used to legitimise one’s ideological and religious statements. This method is particularly visible in contemporary pagan and spiritual movements, in which history has a crucial position not only in justifications of religious claims but also in searching inspiration for contemporary beliefs and for providing a structural framework for (re)constructing past religions. The commonest explanation for using history in arguments and rhetoric in religion is to add credibility to one’s claims. Examples can be found in traditional institutional religious organisations, in contemporary spiritual movements, but also in the rhetoric of individual charismatic leaders. Such rhetorical manner is not common to contemporary religions only but can also be followed in historical folk religion (see, e.g., Johanson 2018). For instance, in a record of a heavily worn eighteenth-century copper coin, used for healing magic in the early twentieth century, the old age of the coin is specifically valued.

NOTES ON SACRED SITES WORSHIPING IN KRASNODAR KRAI IN 1940-1960s: PILGRIMAGE AND ETHNICITY

The paper presents an analysis of documents describing the history of holy sites worshipping in Krasnodar Krai in the Soviet era. The research aims to shed light on the little-known episodes of the history of pilgrimages in Soviet times North-West Caucasus from the perspective of relationships between Soviet authorities and ethnic minorities. Sources chosen for this work are archive documents of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church.
 The pilgrimage had been prohibited by Soviet authorities, and the Orthodox clergy avoided supporting such practices as well. However, worshipping sacred sites was significant for folk religion all across the country. “Holy Hand” is an example of a place a visit to which was and remains an act of solidarization of Pontic Greeks communities in Krasnodar krai. This case demonstrates that the reason of why people kept maintaining pilgrims’ practices is the lack of other ways to support ethnicity. Pontic Greeks had certain support and political promotion in early Soviet nation-building project but was repressed afterward. As a result, pilgrimage turned out to be one of a few public dimensions of ethnic tradition.
 Representatives of the Council for the Affairs of Russian Orthodox Church visited Holy Hands many times and tried not only prevent pilgrimage but understand social background of such activities for more effective struggle against religion. Bureaucrats realized that pilgrimage is not only religious practice but also a place for keeping folk traditions alive. Folk traditions were positive phenomena for the social imagination of that time, and they weren’t necessary associated with religion. However, this didn’t help much in Council fight against pilgrimage, Soviet authorities could stop holy springs worshipping only through enforcement.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Agricultural climate change and rural animation film application based on remote sensing images

Folk art is an important aspect of the Chinese nation’s traditional culture. With the growth of culture and the constant progress of urbanization, the role of folk art in modern society is becoming lower and lower, and people’s perception of folk art is becoming increasingly shallow. Folk art is not only an art form; it contains the history and culture of the Chinese folk religion for 5000 years. It is our origin and an important part of the Chinese nation’s traditional culture. Global traditional culture plays an important role in building China’s soft power and promoting national self-confidence and pride. This requires us to consciously encourage folk art in such a way that folk art can radiate new energy in contemporary society. Folk art is an art form focused on rural life, and the development of agricultural ecology has a huge influence on rural life. With changes in the global climate and the natural system, the ecological agricultural environment has also experienced earth-shaking changes. Remote sensing technology is therefore used to investigate the effects of agricultural climate change and the impact of rural art and culture. Firstly, the study of the basic operating methods and methods of remote sensing technology and the selection of the most effective monitoring model—the CWSI model, based on the characteristics of the remote sensing device combined with meteorological information. This model can conduct a detailed analysis of meteorological factors affecting agricultural ecology, conduct a full discussion of agricultural climate change and its impact on agricultural ecology, and provide a theoretical basis for the impact of agricultural climate on rural animation films.

"Jesus is a Fine Boy!": Exploring Modern-day Christologies among the Christian Youth in Enugu State, Nigeria

This article studies Christological titles as used among the Christian youth in Enugu state, Nigeria. The article adopts both oral interview and participant observation as its methodologies. It aims at discussing these modern-day Christologies among the Christian youth in Enugu state in the context of the reason for such a shift in the categorization of Jesus. Its findings show that, partly, this development among the youth can be located within their desire to key Jesus into modern-day youth language. More broadly, however, the article locates this Christological development among the youth of the state within folk religion, typified by the ever-evolving and contested nature of African Christology determined by changing contexts in which African Christians find themselves.

From “Folk Religion” to What?

From “Folk Religion” to What?

Tao 道 and Fa 法 in the Taoist Cult of Marīci 摩利支天大聖 and a Coastal Cult in Present-Day Northern Taiwan. Basic Aspects of the Study of Taoist Religion and Folk Religion

<em>Tao</em> 道 and <em>Fa</em> 法 in the Taoist Cult of Marīci 摩利支天大聖 and a Coastal Cult in Present-Day Northern Taiwan. Basic Aspects of the Study of Taoist Religion and Folk Religion

Transitions of Folk Religion Accompanying Boat People’s Movement to the Land in Gaozhou

Transitions of Folk Religion Accompanying Boat People’s Movement to the Land in Gaozhou

СВЯТЫЕ ИСТОЧНИКИ И НАРОДНАЯ РЕЛИГИОЗНОСТЬ ПРАВОСЛАВНОГО НАСЕЛЕНИЯ УРАЛА В 1954–1964 ГОДАХ

The tradition of attributing mythological and religious meanings to natural phenomena, the formation of a ritual culture associated with trees, stones, water sources, atmospheric phenomena, etc., refers to the most ancient sacred practices of human communities. This stimulated philosophical, cultural, and anthropological studies of this phenomenon in the context of Orthodox culture, aimed at identifying the relations between pagan and Christian symbols and rituals and analyzing the problem of dual faith among the Orthodox population of Russia. Historical studies of the manifestations of folk religiosity are still at the stage of generalizing empirical material. The subject of the article is a study of folk religious practices in the historical context of Khrushchev’s anti-religious campaign. The focus of the study is on the Orthodox traditions of venerating water sources. The specificity of the approach is the analysis of the elements of folk religiosity (using the example of the veneration of “holy sources”) as a manifestation of everyday practices of adaptation and survival of believers in the USSR. Despite the banishment of religion from public space in the era of Nikita Khrushchev, belief in miracles and miraculous healings and visits to holy places were common not only among Orthodox Soviet people, but also among those who were considered “atheists”. Regional features of folk religion in the Urals were the redefinition of holy places in the multi-ethnic space of the region and the use of water sources for folk medicine in an underdeveloped health care system. For certain categories of Soviet citizens (former priests, monks and nuns, marginalized elements, etc.), the sphere of folk religiosity was a space for the realization of subjectivity, different from the “normative” one. As a result of a comparative-historical approach, it is shown that the practices of venerating holy sources in the Urals fit into the all-union framework of the phenomenon.

ЕВРОПЕЕЦ ВО ВЬЕТНАМСКОМ ПАНТЕОНЕ: КУЛЬТ БАКТЕРИОЛОГА АЛЕКСАНДРА ЙЕРСЕНА (1863–1943) В СОВРЕМЕННОМ ВЬЕТНАМЕ

The article examines the cult of the bacteriologist, the discoverer of the plague bacillus Alexandre Yersin (1863–1943) in modern Vietnam. The cult of Yersin developed in the place of his burial near the city of Nha Trang in the south of Vietnam, and Yersin is worshiped there both as a rural guardian spirit in the Vietnamese folk religion (thành hoàng), and as a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, although he was not a Buddhist. One of the Buddhist temples in which he is worshiped was previously his office. Meanwhile, Buddhist cult is closely related to the popular veneration of the scientist. Worship of Yersin as a guardian spirit takes place at his grave. An important feature of the cult is that the popular veneration of Yersin was supported by the state: in 2013, a biography of Yersin was published in which his merits are referred as a basis for honoring him as the patron spirit of the area. In addition, secular ceremonies in honor of Yersin contain elements of religious practices rooted in the Vietnamese belief in the existence of the spirits of the dead and their active influence on the daily life of living people. I consider the veneration of Yersin as a new syncretic cult of post-secular Vietnam which give evidence of the vitality of traditional beliefs and their ability to develop in changing social conditions.

Nationalism, Science and Religion: Folk Religion in National Society Imagination of Turkish Nationalism M

AbstractSolidarity, established strongly between power and science, showed once again in the 19th and20th centuries to create national states and societies. Nationalist powers to build their own nationalsocieties as a homogeneous totality benefited from science excessively. This study, which examinesin the context of services provided by science in the process of building a national Turkish society,discusses how Turkish nationalist elites use the scientific paradigms to make the folk religionnonfunctional. The study, which attempts to show that this is made possible by the manipulation,over-interpretation and ignoring the most vital points of scientific theories by French SociologistEmile Durkheim, focuses on the works of two nationalist thinkers as Ziya Gokalp and MehmetFuad Koprulu intensively influenced by Durkheim. This study aims to reveal a series of scientificmanipulations towards religion and religious culture in the creation of a nationalist society, byanalyzing the works of these nationalist intellectuals with the method of context analysis. In thefirst part of the study plan, the relationship of power with science will be discussed and the role ofintellectuals in this process will be highlighted. In the following section, it will discuss how ideas ofnationalist thinkers at issue intertwine with science by analyzing the relation between science andpower in Turkish political life. In the third and last part, it will be shown how the manipulation andover-interpretation in the process of interpretation of Durkheim’s theoretical explanations make folkreligion and religious folk culture nonfunctional.Keywords: Folk Religion, Nationalism, Scientific Manipulation, Ziya Gokalp, Mehmet FuadKoprulu.

Doctrinal and Physical Marginality in Christian Death: The Burial of Unbaptized Infants in Medieval Italy

The burial of unbaptized fetuses and infants, as seen through texts and archaeology, exposes friction between the institutional Church and medieval Italy’s laity. The Church’s theology of Original Sin, baptism, and salvation left the youngest children especially vulnerable to dying unbaptized and subsequently being denied a Christian burial in consecrated grounds. We here present textual and archaeological evidence from medieval Italy regarding the tensions between canon law and parental concern for the eternal salvation of their infants’ souls. We begin with an analysis of medieval texts from Italy. These reveal that, in addition to utilizing orthodox measures of appealing for divine help through the saints, laypeople of the Middle Ages turned to folk religion and midwifery practices such as “life testing” of unresponsive infants using water or other liquids. Although emergency baptism was promoted by the Church, the laity may have occasionally violated canon law by performing emergency baptism on stillborn infants. Textual documents also record medieval people struggling with where to bury their deceased infants, as per their ambiguous baptismal status within the Church community. We then present archaeological evidence from medieval sites in central and northern Italy, confirming that familial concern for the inclusion of infants in Christian cemeteries sometimes clashed with ecclesiastical burial regulations. As a result, the remains of unbaptized fetuses and infants have been discovered in consecrated ground. The textual and archaeological records of fetal and infant burial in medieval Italy serve as a material legacy of how laypeople interpreted and sometimes contravened the Church’s marginalizing theology and efforts to regulate the baptism and burial of the very young.

The Shintoization of Mazu in Tokugawa Japan

Mazu was a Chinese sea goddess worshiped by fishermen, villagers, maritime merchants, and local officials in the Sinic world including Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the Ryūkyū Kingdom. In a sense, the Chinese cultural sphere was also the “sphere of Mazu belief.” Compared with China’s other neighboring nations, Japan settled at a deeper level of localization, turning Mazu into a Shinto deity, worshiping the Chinese goddess in the Shinto way, and enshrining her along with other Shinto deities. In the Tokugawa period, Mazu was worshiped by the Japanese as the manifestation of different Shinto deities. Based on Japanese primary sources, this study investigates the Shintoization of Mazu in Tokugawa Japan using Funadama belief among seafarers and shipbuilders, Noma Gongen belief in the Satsuma domain, and Ototachibanahime belief in the Mito domain as the main points of reference. Mazu was associated with Funadama, the Japanese protector god of seafarers, in different parts of Japan. In the Satsuma and Mito domains, Mazu belief differed tremendously from that in China in terms of religious titles, festival dates, forms of worship, and functions. This research aims to deepen our understanding of how Chinese folk religions were incorporated into the Shinto framework of Tokugawa Japan and the nature of the popularization of Chinese culture in Japan through the lens of localization.

구한말 민중사상과 도교이미지, 그리고 도교서 언해*

In the late Joseon Dynasty, ideas in folk religions were closely related to Daoist themes. There were, for instance, folk ideas centered on Prophecies of Jeong Gam (鄭鑑錄 jeonggamrok) that developed into ‘raising island-armies (海島起兵說 hado gibyeongseol),’ the future utopian movement known as the ‘South Joseon Faith (南朝鮮信仰 namjoseon sinang),’ and faith around ‘Maitreya’s Descensionist-Birth (彌勒下生 mireuk hasaeng).’ People aimed to transform their country based on these ideas. Associated folklore tended to come from fengshui (風水) and books on prophecies and divination (圖讖 docham), and both of these drew heavily upon Daoist concepts. On the other hand, Daoist texts began being translated as national projects under King Cheoljong (哲宗), and many more were translated and published later under King Gojong (高宗). The nature of these Daoist texts mostly consisted of either morality books (善書 seonseo) or precious scrolls (寶卷 bogeon). The problem was that these ordinances and the Daoist texts of regents were among the main causes of civil war during the Qing Dynasty. In this regard, the translation of the Daoist texts conducted as a national project provided a theoretical basis for the people wishing to foment civil war or transformation. This raises the question of why King Gojong implemented a Daoist translation project in his nation. In an effort to answer this question, this article summarizes the popular ideas of the late Joseon Dynasty and explains how they were closely related to Daoism. In addition, this article summarizes the facts about how Daoism has emerged from a national crisis but developed a function of protecting the state (鎭護) in Korean history. Further described is the situation under which Daoism was summoned during the Japanese Invasion of Joseon (壬辰倭亂). Analysis is provided to show that King Gojong’s intention was to translate Daoism due to Daoism’s role in protecting the state. In addition, the relationship between current Daoist rites and customs in Korea and King Gojong’s dissemination of Daoist oaths and vouchers is confirmed.

What if the Dead Are Never Really Dead?

AbstractThis paper argues for the value of the ‘strange’ as a hermeneutical tool to open fresh perspectives on an issue of widespread human concern, specifically how to deal with and relate to the dead. Traditional Chinese folk religion and the animistic ghost culture found within it is introduced and the role of gods, ancestors, and ghosts explained. The view that death is not the end of life but the transition to a new relationship with the living raises questions about our potential obligations to the dead. It also has implications for our thinking about intergenerational justice and the role of our memory of the past in shaping our present and future experience.