!!!Volksglaube

Popular Beliefs, formerly called superstitions, term used to describe 
a basic body of knowledge of and belief in preternatural or 
supernatural phenomena that the majority of a given population has, or 
had, access to. It is expressed in the belief in taboos and in the 
effectiveness of curses, blessings and oracles, in various forms of 
popular acts of piety and in the widest sense also in  Folk Medicine. 
Manifestations of popular beliefs were  Votive Gifts, necklaces 
against spasms in infants, certain pieces of jewellery, amulets, 
religious and other symbols on houses and in rooms, and, in modern 
days, the placing of a St. Christopher plaque or a baby shoe in cars.

!Literature
L. Kriss-Rettenbeck, Bilder und Zeichen religioesen 
Volksglaubens, 1963; L. Schmidt, Volksglaube und Volksbrauch, 1966.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Volksglaube|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]