The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (798 page)

Flower contemplation
(‘arrangement’, Japanese religious practice)
:

see
IKEBANA
.

 
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Fo
.

Chin. for
buddha
.

 
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Folk religion
.

1
Religion which occurs in small, local communities which does not adhere to the norms of large systems. Folk-urban typology was developed by Robert Redfield as a basis for the comparison of societies, and for the study of urbanization.
2
In a wider sense, folk religion is the appropriation of religious beliefs and practices at a popular level. This may occur as much in urban as in rural environments, and may also be the way in which individuals or groups belonging to mainstream religions practise their religion: it may be at considerable variance from what is officially supposed to be the case, and is thus also referred to as non-official religion.

 
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Food and religion
.

Religions, as systems of control and protection which were tested for efficacy (originally) in straightforward terms of natural (evolutionary) selection, have as profound a concern in relation to food as they do in relation to sex. Consequently, the ways in which food is related to religious ideas and practices are extremely complex and varied—as in the following examples.

1. The rejection of particular foods. Such
taboos
frequently operate on a social level also, defining the boundaries around the particular religious group.
2. The association of abstinence with spiritual practices:
asecticism
frequently extends to diet.
3. The structuring of food according to religious categories: these can be categories of people, as in the Hindu caste rules or monastic observance; or they can be categories of time, as in yearly patterns of FESTIVALS AND FASTS such as
Lent
or
Rama
n
.
4. The use of food in religious ceremonies: food is one of the commonest forms of religious offering.
5. A vital means through which
women
have secured their own identity, and also degrees of control, in a male-dominated world.

Hinduism
Hindu food rites are embedded within a larger hierarchy of caste and purity. Uncooked food (i.e. untransformed: raw, unmixed, dry, unpeeled), since it has not yet taken on the qualities of the preparer, is broadly acceptable from the hands of all, regardless of caste.
Pakka
food, i.e. cooked in clarified butter, one of the products of the cow and therefore relatively resistant to pollution, can be accepted from a relatively wide range of people. It is thus the food of feasts; in distinction to
kakka
(baked or cooked in water) which is only acceptable from someone of similar or higher caste. Vegetarianism in India both relates to concepts of purity and to the wider development of the ideal of
ahi
s
. Among meats, beef is the lowest regarded, and is consumed only by
Untouchables
and non-Hindus like Muslims, who often act as butchers.
Sikhism
The diet of most Sikhs is
Pañj
b
, i.e. spiced vegetables, pulses, and the staple wheat chap
t
s, plus dairy produce. Beef is avoided because of Hindu influence. Gur
Gobind Si
gh
forbade
amritdh
r
Sikhs to eat