常民文化，是人們經由學習與教育而得來，表現在風俗習慣、語言文字、宗教信仰及道德法律等一切的生活方式。它是先民累積無數的時間與經驗的辛苦結晶；也是人們在日常生活中自覺或無意地遵循和維護的一種行為規範、道德倫理、認知方式和思維模式。它如影隨形地成為我們生活的一部分；我們的一舉一動，無時無刻不受到它的影響。因此，不同文化的人，就會表現出不同的行為。 臺灣常民文化包含了常民百姓在日常生活中傳承的物質生活文化，如服飾、飲食、居住、生產、交易、交通等習俗；還有社會生活文化，如家族、鄉里、社會組織，生命禮俗、歲時節令、口傳文學、美術工藝、民間遊藝等；同時，還包括常民傳統的思維方式、價值觀念，如民間信仰、宗教信仰、徵兆迷信、巫術、禁忌等精神生活文化諸項內容。所以，臺灣常民文化不但是具有濃厚的臺灣本土思想特色，更具有深刻的臺灣族群情感等因素。它是構成臺灣常民生活文化的主體與核心。

Civic culture is the life style acquired by people through learning and education, which includes the custom, language, religion, beliefs, ethics, and laws of a culture. It is the accumulated experiences of many generations and it governs, consciously or unconsciously, our behaviors, moral codes, cognitive orientations and modes of thinking. It is part of our life and exerts constant influence on our actions. More specifically, civic culture has three aspects: 1) the physical aspect, i.e., clothing, food, household, production, trading, traffic, etc. which exist or occur in people's daily lives; 2) the social aspect, which includes family, village, social organization, ceremonies, seasons and festivals, oral literature, arts and crafts, folk performances, etc.; 3) the philosophical aspect, which includes folk beliefs, religions, superstitions, witchcrafts, taboos, and so on. The civic culture of Taiwan not only possesses a strong local color and native thoughts, but also holds profound emotions of the Taiwanese peoples. These native thoughts and emotions constitute the core substance of Taiwanese civic culture.