Religiousness of villagers in family transmission : continuity and change

Abstract

Over many decades, religiousness among the inhabitants of rural Poland has been explored by representatives of different scientific disciplines, especially ethnology, cultural anthropology and sociology. This religiousness is frequently analyzed and described in the context of some past forms of villagers’ life which can be situated in a spacious category of “folk culture”. Contemporary patterns of rural life, also religious one, are related to the past with decreasing frequency, which is mostly manifested in the transmission of religious culture in families. Particularly big differences concern the oldest and the youngest residents of villages – the studies show that youth clearly distance themselves from religious practices, especially those based on tradition. In the context of the intensive social and cultural transformations in Poland and worldwide which have taken place in the last two decades, the issues discussed in this study do not lose their topicality and the changes in villagers’ religiousness motivate researchers to the constant monitoring of these transformations in their studies.