Results of Contemporary Research of Serbian Folk Religion – A General Overview Cover Image

Резултати савремених истраживања народне религије Срба – општи пресек
Results of Contemporary Research of Serbian Folk Religion – A General Overview

Author(s): Ivica Todorović
Subject(s): Anthropology
Published by: Етнографски институт САНУ
Keywords: folk religious beliefs; traditional spiritual culture; continuous field research; traditional and modern; contemporary context; patterns of change; Christian and non-Christian contents

Summary/Abstract: Serbian folk religion represents a complex phenomenon, which can be defined and perceived at many different ways. The done research and published studies justify the right to provide a brief synthesis of dynamic processes typical for Serbian folk religion in the contemporary context. The general tendencies and processes, in the contemporary context, and seen as a part of a unique dynamic system, reveal ways or transfer, creation and changes in the traditional heritage. At the basic level, these processes are characterized by a mutual dependency, that is, they are present in binary, complementary-opposite code, that is, they are twofold directed (both affirmatively and negatively; towards reduction but also towards complexity of the contents etc), forming together a model for changes. In terms of the contemporary dynamic pattern, which forms the context of folk beliefs and practice of Orthodoxy- the general tendency (in relation with the relationship of “folk” and “church” model) is an approach of folk images towards the official, church teachings, hence, we could expect additional alterations of folk Orthodoxy in this direction.

  • Issue Year: LVI/2008
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 53-70
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Serbian