Folk Catholicism and Christain Witchery?

[CleftOfLight]

Folk Catholicism is when you take a pre-christain belife and mix it with Catholic,or Christain beliefe,such as Vodou for example.
My Question is,isn't this exactly what Christain Wicca,Christain Pagan,Christain Witcher is? Just another form of Folk Catholicism? Or Folk Cristainity if you prefer.

[Morgandria]

No. Faiths like Voudoun, Candomblé, Palo Mayombe, Santeria, and the like are a product specifically of native african religions, and Catholicism blending over hundreds of years. They might be considered Pagan, you cannot remove Christianity's from them and expect them to remain whole.

They are not the same as the latest trend towards "Christo-paganism" - you can't just instantly smack two faiths together and expect it to be seamless.

People will continue to use folk beliefs in rural areas no matter what faith they are.

Also, Christian witchcraft is not a religion - it is simply someone who practices witchcraft from a Christian perspective. Same as Wiccan witchcraft, Muslim witchcraft, or what have you.

[ancestral_lee]

it isnt really the same. the case with voudon and the other african faiths is that they simply adopted the names of the saints to 'mask' thier own lwa/orisha "gods". this is called syncretism. they effectively masked thier own beleifs with a thin veneer of catholicism so that they could continus with thier beleifs in the face of oppresion of thier beleifs by the slavers. when they honour saint so-an-so, it is actually one of thier own lwa they are honouring.

christo-wicca is crap, its like having a hindu-jew or a muslim-buddhist. they are two separate faiths. in the case of christo wicca, one of them is mutually exclusive of the other i,e the christo bit pretty much forbids the wicca bit.

muslim/christo-witchcraft on the other hand is fine, its the use of spells, charms, bewitching using a christian approach. it quite likely that the cunning men and women of pre 19th C england were christo witches.

[CleftOfLight]

Oh ok,I see the error of my ways now.Thank you both for your info.