page_title: Religion
section_title: Indigenous and folk
hierarchical_section_title: Religion / Specific religions / Indigenous and folk
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Алтайский шаман с бубном на фоне традиционного жилища - чаадыр Nederlands: Altajse sjamaan met een tamtam met op de achtergrond een tsjaadyr (traditionele woonplaats) English: A postcard made in the Russian Empire, early 20th century. Its French caption means "An Altai shaman (sorcerer)". It can be found at a Tomsk museum. The ethnographer Hoppál identifies the shamaness to be either an Altai-Kizhi or a Khakas, unable to be more precise based on this image alone.&#91;1&#93; The ethnographic photo on which this postcards was based had been taken by ethnographer S. I. Borisov in 1908.&#91;2&#93;. Note that the standing woman is holding a shaman's drum, not a gong. Français&#160;: Image d'une carte postale de l'Empire russe, du début du XXe siècle. Son texte original écrit en français «&#160;Un chaman (sorcier) d'Alatai&#160;», Alatai faisant référence à l'Altaï. Cette image peut également être vue au musée de Tomsk. L’ethnographe Hoppál attribue à la femme chaman une origine altaïenne (altaï-kizhi) ou khakasse, tout en admettant que l'image seule ne permet de décider précisément laquelle&#91;3&#93;. La photo ethnographique, d'après laquelle la carte postale a été créée, a été prise par l'ethnographe S. I. Borisov en 1908.&#91;4&#93;. La femme debout porte un tambour de chaman et non pas un gong.
context_page_description: Religion is a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements. However, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.
  Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacred things, faith, a supernatural being or supernatural beings or "some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life". Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are sometimes said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life, the universe, and other things.
context_section_description: Indigenous religions or folk religions refers to a broad category of traditional religions that can be characterised by shamanism, animism and ancestor worship, where traditional means "indigenous, that which is aboriginal or foundational, handed down from generation to generation…". These are religions that are closely associated with a particular group of people, ethnicity or tribe; they often have no formal creeds or sacred texts. Some faiths are syncretic, fusing diverse religious beliefs and practices.
  Australian Aboriginal religions.
  Folk religions of the Americas: Native American religions
  Folk religions are often omitted as a category in surveys even in countries where they are widely practiced, e.g. in China.
caption: Altay shaman in Siberia
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