The study of Carpato-Balkan religion presents methodological challenges to researchers. What do we mean by "religion"? How does it differ from other terms such as "spirituality" or "theology"? What methods are available for the study of it all in the context of a particular culture? What special methodological and definitional questions might pertain to the study of Carpato-Balkan religion? Writing some years back, French scholar of religion, Michael de Certeau, commenting on the relationship

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... tween religion and culture, noted that we really cannot see religion apart from culture, because all the ways in which religion manifests themselves are products of culture. Sacred music, writings, rituals, spaces, symbols bear the mark of the culture that formed them. 2 Despite that, certain religious believers wish to claim that their faith is somehow different from any other, because it is the true faith, created by God, and given us by Abraham, Jesus or Mohammed or some prophet sent from on high. The persistence of such claims in today's world where knowledge of other religions has never been higher is as astonishing as it is certain. The giants of the modern study of religionand from a Romanian perspective, we must especially remember Mircea Eliadewere motivated by a modern spirit and methodology. They were confident they could abstract certain universals from world religions and study them, free from the passions and deliriums of faith. To them is due a great debt, because before them it was very hard indeed to see religion apart from theological polemics, which did very little to advance our understanding of the role that religion plays in the world's culture.