Folk Catholicism
Folk Catholicism can be broadly described as various
Description
Some forms of folk Catholic practices are based on syncretism with non-Catholic or non-Christian beliefs or religions. Some of these folk Catholic forms have come to be identified as separate religions, as is the case with Caribbean and Brazilian syncretism between Catholicism and West African religions, which include Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé.
Similarly syncretism between Catholic practice and indigenous or Native American belief systems, as are common in Maya communities of Guatemala and Quechua communities of Peru are typically not named as separate religions; their practitioners generally regard themselves as good Catholics.
Other folk Catholic practices are local elaborations of Catholic custom which do not contradict Catholic doctrine and practice. Examples include
In Ireland, openly Catholic worship was banned due to the
In the Philippines, the custom of
The Catholic Church takes a
Popular Catholicism in the world
Haiti
One of the biggest and well-known folk religions is Vodou.[8] It first appeared in Haiti in the 17th century, and has grown to a large religion which has over 60 million worshippers globally.[9]
It began in tribal regions of the
Vodu is from the Fon language of Dahomey and means "god" or "spirit". Vodu and was the religion for many people in this part of West Africa. It is also the origination of the rhythmic drum beating which became a big part of worship and lwa.
Once they arrived in Haiti, the enslaved people were forbidden from practicing any religion except Christianity by their new owners. Many slaves were baptized. In order to continue worship, they adopted Catholic saints and traditions. The saints became stand-ins for their lwa; St. Peter, for instance, was Legba.[11] In this manner, they were able to practice their faith and please the slaveowner at the same time.[12] Something similar happened with enslaved Africans brought to other countries as well, though Vodou is one of the best examples of the syncretism that occurred between Catholicism and native West African beliefs.
Philippines
In the
This is an ancient tradition celebrated since
While evening novenas were more common in the rest of the Hispanic world, this Christmas custom eventually became a distinctive feature of Philippine culture and a symbol of shared participation of popular faith.[13]
Europe
Italy
In Italy, the spread of popular Catholicism is due to three main factors:[14]
- the regional sense of belonging to the Catholic Church, which has its headquarters in Italy;
- diffuse traditional forms of religious holidays;
- the charitable and cultural activities of local Catholic aggregations.[14]
Events that contributed to the formation of popular Italian Catholicism include the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent, and then the social and civil commitment of the Catholic movement between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.[14]
Among the most popular saints and patrons in Italy are San Pio (
To the Italian
Ireland
Ireland has a rich heritage of folk Catholicism. Among the many customs and practices is the tradition of holy wells. These sacred wells are scattered throughout Ireland and are visited by people seeking bodily cures, for example eye ailments.[11] The holy wells contain water blessed by a Catholic priest or bishop and are usually dedicated to one of a myriad of native Irish saints, for example St. Senan's holy well on Scattery Island.[12]
Another tradition is the holy ribbon. The most famous being the Brat Bhride in honour of St. Brigid.[8] This is a piece of cloth or ribbon which is left over night on a windowsill on the eve of the saint's feast day. The belief is that the saint will pass through Ireland that night and touch the ribbon which is then kept by individuals and venerated as a holy object which may be used to help the sick or for protection.[9] Other examples of the holy ribbon include the Ribin Cainnear[7] in honour of St. Cainnear and St. Gobnait's Measure.[5] Another custom in Ireland sees people take a piece of straw from the crib in a church at Christmas and this is supposed to bring financial security for the year ahead.[18]
Germany
The Amorsbrunn chapel in Amorbach, Franconia, Bavaria, has a fountain that is purported to help in conceiving children if bathed in and is a pilgrimage site for both Christians and non-Christians, who share the water. The water's purported powers and the pilgrimage to them predates the construction of the chapel; the pre-existing sacred site was intentionally incorporated into the new building and its associated religion, i.e. Catholicism, creating a "cult of continuity". The water's powers were then attributed to "some medieval Catholic saints", but these "appear as spurious, being poorly motivated." The site's power was previously attributed to a Germanic legendary figure called Mother Holle/Holda and she was venerated there.[19] More generally, she lives on as a fairy tale character, weather, specifically snow, maker, and general cultural figure, even appearing in movies based on the fairy tale named for her.
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ Vergote 1982.
- ISBN 978-0-9565628-2-1.
- ^ Ordonez, Minyong. "Why folk Catholicism keeps our faith alive", Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 11, 2012
- ISBN 978-0761456711.
- ^ a b "'Saint Death' Comes to Chicago". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 8 September 2016.[dead link]
- ^ Garma, Carlos (10 April 2009). "El culto a la Santa Muerte". El Universal (in Spanish). Mexico City. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
- ^ a b "Vatican Declares Mexican Death Saint Blasphemous". BBC News. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
- ^ a b "Haiti: The Spelling Voodoo". faculty.webster.edu. Retrieved 2022-09-21.
- ^ a b "Inside the Voodoo Rituals of Haiti". Culture. 2004-07-07. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved 2022-09-21.
- ^ Long, Carolyn Marrow (May 31, 2001). Spiritual Merchants: Religion Magic & Commerce. University of Tennessee Press. p. 46.
- ^ a b "Haiti: Matches of Lwa with Catholic Saints". faculty.webster.edu. Retrieved 2022-09-21.
- ^ a b "Haitian Vodou". MOVING FICTIONS. 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2022-09-21.
- ^ Alfredo and Grace Roces, Culture Shock! Philippines: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette, Marshall Cavendish Reference, October 2009 ISBN 0761456716.
- ^ a b c "Di popolo o d'èlite: la Chiesa italiana al bivio". Vita e pensiero: 55–60. March 2003.
- ^ "Santi più invocati d'Italia". 2006.
- ^ Vito Quattrocchi, Benedicaria: Magical Catholicism, 2006.
- ^ Andrea Bocchi Modrone, Lo Stivale Magico: magia popolare e stregoneria del buon paese, Il Crogiuolo, 2011.
- ^ "Wexford's Christmas traditions". Independent.ie. 2018-12-29. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
- ^ Kleinhempel, Ullrich R. "Divination: Mother Holle as Goddess of Seerdom - From Walahfrid Strabo up to Martin Luther". In: Idunna (2021): 1-4. https://www.academia.edu/49362123/Divination_Mother_Holle_as_Goddess_of_Seerdom_From_Walahfrid_Strabo_up_to_Martin_Luther
Bibliography
- Allen, Catherine (1999). The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
- Badone, Ellen, ed. (1990). Religious Orthodoxy and Popular Faith in European Society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Christian, William A. Jr. (1981). Apparitions in Late Medieval and Renaissance Spain. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Johnson, Paul Christopher (2002). Secrets, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candomblé. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Nutini, Hugo (1984). Ritual Kinship: Ideological and Structural Integration of the Compadrazgo System in Rural Tlaxcala. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- ——— (1988). Todos Santos in Rural Tlaxcala: A Syncretic, Expressive, and Symbolic Analysis of the Cult of the Dead. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Taylor, Lawrence J. (1995). Occasions of Faith: An Anthropology of Irish Catholics. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Reyes, Dominic; et al. (2013). Folk Catholicism in Iligan City. Iligan, Philippines: MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology.
- JSTOR 42632594. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
External links
- Media related to Folk Catholicism at Wikimedia Commons