Sacred Space Research Articles

Patrick Reagan. “Christianity in the Land of the Persians: The Perception of Geography and Sacred Space in the Canons of Mārūtā of Maipherqat”

Patrick Reagan. “Christianity in the Land of the Persians: The Perception of Geography and Sacred Space in the Canons of Mārūtā of Maipherqat”

The legacy of educational space in China: the transformation of the Jiangyin Confucian temple in the early twentieth century

ABSTRACT The Confucian temple (Kong miao孔庙) was the most important official educational institution and the centre of local education in ancient China. This study explores the history of the Confucian temple in Jiangyin (江阴) as a case to reveal the dynamics of educational reform in China, which had witnessed the collision of Chinese and Western educational philosophies and the former’s accommodation of the latter. The history of the Confucian temple and its educational space from the eleventh century to the present reveal an alternation between unity and separation; between an ancient Confucian sacred space and a modern social educational institution; and between elitist and egalitarian functions. In this story of architecture and landscape, the juxtaposition and integration of Chinese and Western beliefs becomes evident. The inheritance and transformation of educational space also demonstrates that educational and cultural resources have the potential for adaptation in the course of historical development.

Role of the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) in Managing the Abandoned Monasteries of Chiang Mai

The objectives of the research are to study roles of the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) with respect to managing the abandoned monasteries of Chiang Mai, and specifically, 1) to identify unsustainable conditions that face abandoned monasteries, 2) to clarify unsustainable ways of thinking about abandoned monasteries , 3) to seek a rental management policy for abandoned monasteries , and 4) to seek management solutions for particular abandoned monasteries . Research problems are raised in relation to the lack of sacred fulfillment within the dead monument approach. Passive management in rental deeds without upgrading quality of life and community member interactions with the monuments indirectly lead to inappropriate conditions of some abandoned monasteries. I suggest that abandoned monasteries be thought of in terms of ‘religious heritages’ rather than ‘historic sites’ to provide multifaceted solutions to the management issues. There are 948 abandoned monasteries in Chiang Mai, only 8 of them are located in the city walled area. The abandoned monasteries within the old Chiang Mai city walled area, Chiang Mai Province, Thailand were physically examined. In addition to the site surveys of the abandoned monasteries, 33 in-depth interviews were conducted, with 12 interviews focusing on what I term the “official approach” (i.e. with government agencies and key higher education representatives) and 21 interviews focusing on what I term the “local approach” (i.e. with religious leaders and local community members). Secondary data analysis included a review of both Thai and English documents to identify the latest key thinking on management practices for abandoned monasteries. Literature sources analysis and case study analysis are also provided for 8 of the abandoned monasteries in the study area. Finally, 4 management keys (zoning management, public participation, sustaining of the sacred place condition, and local community ownership) were developed based on identified gaps in the NOB approach to managing abandoned monasteries. It can be concluded that the NOB approach to abandoned monastery deed management should consider 1) revising the ‘dead monument’ concept for hibernated sacred places that leads to unsustainable conditions, 2) the dilemma of the ‘sacred space’ that transitions to the ‘profitable space’ and represents unsustainable ways of thinking, 3) passive action of rental management is an outdated policy, and 4) results of the 4 management keys are supplemental solutions for the particular policy making and promoting sustainability of abandoned monasteries.

Pioneers in the Attic: Place and Memory along the Mormon Trail

Pioneers in the Attic: Place and Memory along the Mormon Trail

The Effect of Lighting Intensity on Visual Comfort in The Sacred Space Of Buddhist Temple

A Buddhist temple is a sacred Buddhist space where the building users require certain visual comfort conditions. The issue is that the temple's architectural style varies according to the local context and the type of belief it teaches. Implementing certain architectural styles will affect the interior space's artificial lighting design, which eventually affects the visual comfort of building users. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of artificial lighting on the building user's visual comfort in two different temple case studies that use dissimilar architectural styles in Medan City, Indonesia. Two data collection methods were used in this study. The first was by measuring the room's illumination level using a handheld lux meter. Secondly, through a survey/ questionnaire to find out user's perception of visual comfort related to the usage of artificial lighting during two activities in the sacred space in the temple: praying and reciting the Sutras. As a result, the two temples were identified using almost the same principle of applying artificial lighting, which aligns with Buddhism's purpose of enlightenment, 'the journey from dark to light.' The data collection results also show similar results. Both have illumination levels below the number stated in the visual comfort standards. While on the contrary, the majority of survey respondents from both cases felt visually comfortable during their activities in the case study. This study proves that the lighting design capable of providing positive visual impacts for users can rely on the technique and method of applying lighting distribution.

Plant Motifs and Sacred Rituals of the Thracians in Connection with the God Hypnos

The idea of the plant world of the Thracians as part of the cult practice is relatively less studied. In fact, the whole philosophy of Orphism and Hermeticism is imbued with practical agriculture. Therefore, it should not be viewed in isolation from the sacred rituals dedicated to the gods. The cult of grapes and wine and their connection with the Dionysian holidays is well known. But the secrets of the Bacchic ceremonies lie in the composition of the so-called. "Soma", which is probably a type of hallucinogenic substance. An ecstatic elixir known in Vedic rituals was made from a plant with white aromatic flowers. Soma is the name of the liquid prepared, but also the name of a deity. The Aryans describe this ritual as related to agriculture. In this regard, we can find artifacts in Bulgaria from the Thracian culture, which were not illuminated due to the inability to connect with the cult of the minor deity Hypnos. During the Eleusinian Mysteries, where a ritual with wheat and barley was performed, a drink was used, which contained the so-called "honeydew" or an extract of an intoxicating plant agent. The purpose of Soma rituals was to achieve immortality. The vertical culture of the Thracians, which is dedicated to the connection with the gods and their perfect world, turns every agricultural activity into a special sacred space.

Морфология на съвременното сакрално пространство. Сакрални пространства по време на пандемия

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly been the main theme in the last two years (2020–2021). Different kinds of restrictions affected almost all social processes. But apart from the negative effects, the pandemic was the reason for a slowdown in the lifestyle of most people. The halt in the constant traffic and tourism reduced pollution in the cities, and for the first time in a long period, the blue sky could be seen above cosmopolitan cities. Wild animals appeared in urban places. Nature seemed to recover from the harmful impact of man. My observations also show different kinds of change in people’s life related to rediscovering forgotten values and the need for a new kind of spirituality. The social restrictions shifte people’s attention towards their inner self. This article presents two architectural spaces in the wide frame of the revised term contemporary sacred space. The goal of the study is to reveal specific characteristics of sacred spaces, created during the pandemic, and how this extreme situation outlined the new (or rather well forgotten) values and spiritual searches of society, shaping the model of the contemporary temple.

Pemanfaatan Ruang Punden Pada Tradisi Nyadranan Desa Klepek Kabupaten Kediri

Local wisdom of Klepek village involves a sacred space called punden. The implementation of the tradition with punden as a sacred space is an embodiment of the inner responsibility and gratitude of the community to the ancestors who built the village. Traditional activities involving punden consist of the nyadranan tradition, barikan, preparation for celebrations and thanksgiving after harvest. The focus of this research is on the nyadranan tradition. This study uses a qualitative method. Data from the object of observation was studied descriptively. The belief of the people of Klepek Village who believe punden as a sacred place results in the use of space. With the use of space for sacred activities, it can also be seen the factors that form it, namely: activity, purpose, time and actors involved. The interaction of these factors with the space used shows the meaning of space.

Buddhism in Central Asia I: Patronage, Legitimation, Sacred Space, and Pilgrimage, edited by Meinert, Carmen, & Henrik H. Sørensen

Buddhism in Central Asia I: Patronage, Legitimation, Sacred Space, and Pilgrimage, edited by Meinert, Carmen, & Henrik H. Sørensen

An Early Medieval Śaiva Pilgrimage Landscape: The Persistence of Pampa and Bhairava in the Hemakuta Hill Sacred Space, 800–1325 CE

The early medieval Pampa tirtha (pilgrimage), in the Hampi area, Bellary District, Karnataka, South India, is largely presented in research as a relatively homogenous, albeit sacred space. This paper describes a nuanced understanding of the Pampa tirtha through the lens of spatial organization and pilgrim movement. The natural and built landscape features of the area were digitized through Esri’s ArcMap to historically situate extant stone monuments. Devotee movement through the pilgrimage space was then modelled on time-sensitive maps of architectural and natural features. Pathways of movement across the site were subsequently explored in the immersive panoramic imagery captured in Google Street View. By combining these digital tools, a historicized analysis of the character and qualities of place, born from the organization of the site, are identifiable. The results demonstrate how devotees moved through a network of distinct nodes of shrines, temples, and gateways. Each node possessed a unique relationship to microtopographic features of the hill, and to the earliest deities of the site that originally anchored and oriented the sacred space: Pampa and Bhairava. The pilgrimage space that developed between these two deities was tied together through a path of movement, running south to north. Trends of re-ordering the Pampa tirtha spatial network also reveal patron and artisan mechanisms to privilege and prioritize the 12th-century addition of the god Virupaksha into the sacred space.

Sacred space sacred body: Dalits’ entry into the Golden Temple

ABSTRACT The ‘untouchables,’ outside the varna model of the Hindu social order, were regarded as ‘impure’ and ‘polluted.’ The ceremony of Khande-di-pahul was aimed at levelling caste differences. An attempt has been made in this paper to cover the relation of the untouchables to a sacred place and how donning a sacred body (Amritdhari Khalsa) the claim to equality was established, that is, their right to enter the Golden Temple. The event is analysed in detail with reference to a number of reports and newspapers.

Promoting faith-based tourism products in selected sacred spaces of south western Nigeria

Travel for religious-related purposes – faith-based tourism is gradually becoming a renowned form of tourism globally. Experiencing this type of tourism has turned sacred spaces into tourist destination where visitors participate in different faith-based tourism products or activities. These are pilgrimages and dynamic ritual performances wherein the powers of spiritual entities are invoked and utilized by man. The efficacy of such activities in attracting huge tourist traffic is highly beneficial to sacred spaces economy. Despite, this positive impact, the consumption of faith-based tourism products are beset with challenges which militates its growth. To address the issue, this paper employed ethnographic research to investigate the challenging factors of faith-based tourism products of three sacred spaces (Redemption Camp, Osun Osogbo Sacred grove and NASFAT camp) in southwestern Nigeria. There are numerous sacred spaces in the region of study, however; the selected spaces represent the three major religions (Christianity, Islam and African traditional religion) of the country. The study aims to address the challenges militating against the utilization of the uniqueness of faith-based tourism products in promoting sacred spaces as tourism destinations. The findings revealed that the major challenge that is posed is overcrowding but with improved infrastructure and sound instructions this can be adequately managed.

Review: Tokyo before Tokyo: Power and Magic in the Shogun’s City of Edo

Review: <i>Tokyo before Tokyo: Power and Magic in the Shogun’s City of Edo</i>

Charism in the Cornerstone: Dominican Women and Sacred Space in the Twentieth-Century Midwest

Charism in the Cornerstone: Dominican Women and Sacred Space in the Twentieth-Century Midwest

Sacred green spaces in semi-urban areas sustain more birds than its adjacent areas: A study from lower Gangetic plains, West Bengal, India

Abstract With rapid urban expansion and flourishing real estate sector, remaining green patches in many sub-urban/peri-urban areas are facing immense threat and/or being destroyed. We therefore, explored the avian abundance and richness of green spaces around temples (sacred sites) and compared them with adjoining green spaces without religious places (control sites). The species richness and abundance in sacred sites (12.16 ± 0.65 species; 25.54 ± 1.176 individuals) was significantly higher than control sites (6.31 ± 0.77 species; 20.04 ± 1.4 individuals). The compositions of avian communities of sacred sites were significantly different and the presence of temple positively influenced the species richness. GLMM also revealed that the species richness was positively influenced by the distance to building and tree cover area and not influenced by distance to road, areas of water body, bare land. Our findings indicate that the green spaces around the sacred places have greater avian diversity in semi-urban areas, and could be prioritized for the conservation of avian diversity. Generating local support could be relatively easier due to traditional, religious and/or cultural belief against tree felling around the places of worship.

Review: Avant-Garde in the Cornfields: Architecture, Landscape, and Preservation in New Harmony

Review: <i>Avant-Garde in the Cornfields: Architecture, Landscape, and Preservation in New Harmony</i>

The Mother’s children: The making of memory and intimacy at the Gurus’Samadhi

Tombs of gurus and religious leaders are central to the consolidation of religious communities through memorialisation and the public performance of rituals. In Hindu and neo-Hindu religious movements, the guru’s samadhi is one such important sacred space. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article focuses on one Ashram in India and the importance of the Samadhi shrine in the life of its members. The article argues that the Samadhi constitutes the spatial heart of an otherwise spatially dispersed Ashram. It is at the Samadhi that the devotees become present to the gurus and one another, creating a community of devotees through both a linear ‘chain of memory’ and lateral ‘intimacy grids’. At the same time, the creation of such a community grapples with the wider locational specificities of the Ashram and the politics of making it a home.

Twomey, Lesley K. The Sacred Space of the Virgin Mary in Medieval Hispanic Literature, from Gonzalo de Berceo to Ambrosio Montesino

Twomey, Lesley K. The Sacred Space of the Virgin Mary in Medieval Hispanic Literature, from Gonzalo de Berceo to Ambrosio Montesino. Woodbridge: Tamesis (Monografias A, 381), 2019. 484 pp. £70.00 / $115.00. ISBN 978–1–8556–6323–7. This ambitious and important monograph charts the ways in which medieval Spanish authors, writing in Castilian and Catalan, expressed and explored Marian attributes using the language and characteristics of given places and spaces. Twomey begins her study in the mid-thirteenth century, with Berceo and Alfonso the Wise, and passes through an array of poets, particularly those who feature in cancioneros from the late fourteenth to early sixteenth centuries, examining also some significant prose works, such as Sor Isabel de Villena’s Vita Christi. The volume is not, however, patterned upon strict chronological lines, being structured instead in four thematic blocks: ‘Liturgy and Place’, ‘Places of Growth and Irrigation’, ‘Places of Entry and Exit’, and ‘Spaces...

Gods, Games, and Globalization: New Perspectives on Religion and Sport

Gods, Games, and Globalization: New Perspectives on Religion and Sport

“Gay Bashing” in Sacred Space: Lesbian Feminism and the Rise of Digital Violence

What happens when our digital sacred spaces become violent and incite trauma or trigger reminders of traumatic experiences? This project will delve into these questions as we begin to think about trauma in digital spaces for the Lesbian-Feminist. For example, we scroll through Facebook and see that an uncle has posted a homophobic article. The logical response to this, the response that our spiritual selves tell us to follow through on, is to delete this person from our Facebook friends. Clicking the delete button is a virtual action, yet a very real and physical manifestation of losing family and friends because of their homophobia or sexism. In digital sacred spaces in particular, there is a tension between self-preservation and engaging so as to educate and bring about understanding. If we cannot even occupy the same digital spaces, how can we ever grow to occupy the same physical spaces?