Rugăciunea Tatăl nostru în practicile populare de leac
Lord’s Prayer in Folk Healing Practices

Summary/Abstract: Romanian folk Christianity developed in the absence of the regulatory action of the Church, without deviation from dogma. The traditional man’s view on sickness and healing is deeply Christian, as proven by folk healing practices: disease is a consequence of sin or action of evil spirits and healing comes through magical-religious practices of purification and exorcism, emulating the sacraments and religious practices of the Church. In healing incantations, Lord’s Prayer is used as the opening formula of invocation and sometimes replaces the entire magic formula, and there are times when the prayer replaces the entire healing ritual. The facts analyzed lead us to conclude that Lord’s Prayer present in healing practices is not an incantation, but preserves unchanged its character of prayer, and the healing ritual using Lord’s Prayer is therefore part of Romanian folk Christianity.

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