This scholarly collection explores historical and contemporary folk belief and traditions of the supernatural around the globe. From fairies on the island of Fetlar to encounters with the Haiwaiian goddess Pele to Swedish ghost pigs and manhole cover traditions to para-genealogy to religious songs of Braj to Silesian legal theories of vampirism, this book sheds new light on murky and contested areas of scholarship within the disciplines of folklore, anthropology, and history. Chapter authors: Arngrimur Vidalin, Andrew Jennings, Tommy Kuusela, Fredrik Skott, Kirsten Mollegaard, Barbara Annan, Tulika Chandra, and Giuseppe Maiello"

Vernacular religion is religion as people experience, understand, and practice it. It shapes everyday culture and disrupts the traditional boundaries between 'official' and 'folk' religion. The book analyses vernacular religion in a range of Christian denominations as well as in indigenous and New Age religion from the nineteenth century to today. How these differing expressions of belief are shaped by their individual, communal and national contexts is also explored. What is revealed is the consistency of genres, the persistence of certain key issues, and how globalization in all its cultural and technological forms is shaping contemporary faith practice. The book will be valuable to students of ethnology, folklore, religious studies, and anthropology.

An easy-to-use and comprehensive guide that explores the intriguing dogma and rituals, cultural convictions, and often-checkered backgrounds and histories of the world's religions.

Description of the roles women have played in the construction and practice of Christian traditions, from the earliest disciples to the latest theologians.