{{Short description|Type of belief system}} {{Expert needed|religion|reason=this article does not cite a wide enough variety of sources to be properly informative|date=August 2024}} In folkloristics, '''folk belief''' or '''folk-belief''' is a broad genre of folklore that is often expressed in narratives, customs, rituals, foodways, proverbs, and rhymes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art, Second Edition|last1=McCormick|first1=Charlie|last2=White|first2=Kim Kennedy|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2011|isbn=9781598842418|location=Santa Barbara, CA|pages=211}}</ref> It also includes a wide variety of behaviors, expressions, and beliefs. Examples of concepts included in this genre are magic, popular belief, folk religion, planting signs, hoodoo, conjuration, charms, rootwork, taboos, old wives' tales, omens, portents, the supernatural and folk medicine.<ref name="GREEN-89">Green (1997:89).</ref>
Folk belief and associated behaviors are strongly evidenced among all elements of society, regardless of education level or income. In turn, folk belief is found in an agricultural, suburban, and urban environments alike.<ref name="GREEN-97">Green (1997:97).</ref>
==Terminology== One of a variety of compounds extending from the coinage of the term ''folklore'' in 1846 (previously ''popular antiquities''), the term ''folk-belief'' is first evidenced in use by British folklorist Laurence Gomme in 1892.<ref name="OED-folk-belief">"folk, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, September 2016. Web. 3 November 2016. See also "folklore, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, September 2016. Web. 3 November 2016.</ref>
Common parlance employs the word ''superstition'' for what folklorists generally refer to as ''folk belief''.<ref name="GEORGES-JONES-1995-122">For example, see discussion in Georges & Jones (1995:122).</ref>
==See also== * {{annotated link|New religious movement}} * {{annotated link|Popular belief}} * {{annotated link|Pseudoreligion}} * {{annotated link|Religion}} {{Portal|Religion}} ==Notes== {{Reflist|30em}}
==References== * Georges, Robert A. & Jones, Michael Owen. 1995. ''Folkloristics: An Introduction''. Indiana University Press. {{ISBN|0253329345}}. * Green, Thomas A. 1997. ''Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art''. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. {{Sister project links|wikt=y}} {{Folklore genres}}
Category:Folk religions Category:Religious belief and doctrine Category:Religious practices
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