Sensual non-differentiation

In this closing Chapter, I will discuss typical features of the religious experience connected with the image-figure of Our Lady of Częstochowa in contemporary Polish popular Catholicism. Of special interest are various forms of private religious devotion connected with the image – as well as the feelings and emotions that the image evokes in its devotees. Here I will focus more on small stories – stories of lives, private and family experiences – rather than on the national public discourse of the great story which dominated the previous parts of this book. My main interest here is discovering how the image-figure is lived in today's Poland by contemporary Catholics.

Before analyzing several case studies and examples of personal experiences of the image, it is worth reviewing the discourse about the notion “popular religion” within the context of Polish anthropology and ethnology. The concept of “popular religion” has been analyzed and discussed by various disciplines. It has appeared not only in strictly anthropological works but also in religious studies, sociology, history, theology – as well as in public and journalistic discourse. The use of the term by various disciplines and in various contexts additionally blurred its meanings. As one of the researchers pointed out, the term “popular religion” is term which is “one of the most unclear both with regard to content as well as scope and range.” Additionally, in Polish linguistic tradition, the term itself has been problematic since various terms have been used to describe “popular religion.”