The image above is subject to copyright.
Copyrights for Photographic Reproduction

The divine at hand

Folk religiosity is not only an interpretation of the official doctrines. It covers changing ideas about medicine, hygiene, magical prophylactics, cosmology and divination. Its scope is broad, embracing the biological life cycle (with its religious and secular rituals) as well as events in the civil or mythological calendar and even perception of the hereafter.

The cult of the saints, confidents and models

The cult of the saints takes various forms in the three religions of the Book. For some Christian denominations, the phenomenon developed strongly in late Antiquity. But the customs practised by the ecclesiastical institution and the faithful diverged and were sometimes in contradiction. In general, saints were regarded as intermediaries between heaven and earth. They were familiar with life because they had lived it and on the strength of their experience they protected believers and interceded for them. They could be addressed directly in public or in private. The modalities of the relationship were not restricted to veneration but included affection, negotiation, even blackmail and humiliation.