A shrine is a proud display of items that are important to you in your home or office. This could be a collection of pictures of family and friends, a collection of figurines, items that have been collected from your travels, etc. It is a display that is meant to be seen and it is what matters to you. Share your identity and culture through sharing a photo of a personal shrine. Take a photo of a place in your home or room where you have arranged objects and/or photos that have meaning to you. Make a list of those items and write a sentence or two explaining why the object or photo is meaningful to you. In other words, what’s there, and why? Do it yourself! Add it to the comments below! 

What are Your Shrines?

Iris, University of Oregon, Folklore and Public Culture Masters Student:

My shrine is kept in a display cabinet. The bottom two shelves are a bunch of Star Wars collectibles, but the top shelf (the one on the photos) has various items that I find important and personal to me. These items are mementos from my life and represent who I am.

Items in the photos:

  • Bunny stuffed animal (Knuffie): My dad bought this stuffed animal for me when I was two months old while on a business trip to America (we were living in the Netherlands at the time).
  • Nike baby shoes: The company my dad worked for and the reason I am now in America.
  • Other stuffed animals: bought them on trips and took toy adventure photos with them.
  • Framed underwear set: my dad revived that from his work when I was born (it was a lingerie company).
  • KNVB (orange) Soccer Ball and PSV flag: The dutch sports teams I support.
  • Various statues/ dolls: My dad went on a lot of business trips while I grew up and would always bring stuff home for us. He always got something that represented the culture he was in. It usually was a doll or statue.
  • Hand-carved wooden shoe: My great-uncle made several for my family and sent it to us. It was something he learned from my great-grandfather.
  • Delfts Bleau tea-set (including the cow and cat which holds milk): Traditional Dutch pottery.
  • crochet baby bed- my grandmother made it for me as a kid.
  • Black Cat Urn: it has the ashes of my old cat. It has her name tag around its neck.
  • The Vials of sand/dirt/rocks: These vials have something from the places I have been.

Anna, University of Oregon, Nursing Major (transfer), Undergraduate Student:

These photos all go hand in hand and are all part of my little nook. If it’s not already obvious, I have a big passion for photography (hence the collection of cameras and far too many photos), travel— stated in large letters, inspirational quotes, and interior design. I love photography, whether it’s for personal keepsakes from my Polaroid camera to later transform into a scrapbook, photographing the beauty of my friends/family, or capturing new sights of nature through my camera lens. I love looking at these photos and reminiscing the memories that they bring back. These featured items are things that excite me to work hard and earn a good degree to be able to travel even more. It also pushes me to better my photography skills and maybe someday, pursue a side business in photography.

Rose, University of Oregon Masters of Nonprofit Management Student and Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies Student:

I have several altars in my home, each with a different purpose. The one I am sharing is the most public as it is on the mantle over the (sadly unusable and blocked up) fireplace. There are many items here with a lot of significance and history and I don’t think I need to explain all of them but here are a few highlights.

One of the more obvious items is my hand drum and beaters. The drum was gifted to me by one of my drum sisters, Krystal, at the Madras Women of the 14th Moon Ceremony last May. The drum is a Lakota style hand drum, made by a very skilled craftsman. I was incredibly honored when she gifted me with this drum and it is one of my most sacred items. There are two beaters there in front of the drum, one is a beater that my friend Lena gave me when I received the drum and the other, larger one, is the drum beater that I made when I first joined the Women’s Spirit Drum.

The three paintings are of interest. the one on the left is “Starry Night over the Rhone” by Van Gough, the one on the right is Starry Night, also by Van  Gough. Although “Starry Night” is much more famous, I like Starry Night over the Rhone much better. These prints were gifted to us by my husband’s grandparents and they are meaningful to both of us for more reasons than I can go into here.

The painting in the center is a mixed media painting by my Grandma, Joan Beck, who was an amazing but unacknowledged artiest. I hope to show her paintings someday.

On the left end there are two small pictures. One is my husband when he was about 1 year old, the other is the picture of my husband posing with one of his groomsmen after he caught the garter at our wedding. The larger picture at on the right is the two of us moments after being married.

To the right of the wedding photo there is a red painted gourd. I painted this gourd at a class that was taught by my friend and fellow Woman of the 14th Moon, Kat Zenterra who is an amazing artisan who paints and sells beautiful gourds. I have two of her pieces, one of which I bought and one of which she gifted me at the end of a ceremony a few years ago. The third Zenterra style gourd holds the petals of the roses that were given to me by my husband for the birth of our daughter and were sitting on my birth altar during my labor.

My altar has many more interesting and meaningful items on it and for the sake of brevity I will simply list the rest and let you all ask me questions about any item that might interest you.

  • A beaver wood talking stick covered with gifted charms from ceremonies past.
  • A gilded portrait of The Madonna and Child with the Hail Mary printed on the back in Russian, from Russia.
  • An ink print of two front cat paws.
  • A rectangular parcel wrapped in a red silk kerchief.
  • A small painted gourd full of dirt.
  • A small wooden box etched with an image of a chipmunk, filled with dirt.
  • A large abalone shell with a large bound smudge stick of white sage.
  • A small, oval, pink granite, antique jewelry box inlay-ed with semi-precious stones in the shapes of flowers. Filled with crystals and rose petals.
  • A small cast-iron cauldron.
  • Three small, handmade, clay dishes, gifted to me by my friend and drum sister Lena Lane, marked, bread, water, and salt.
  • A clay offering dish also made by Lena.
  • Two other offering dishes, one marked with a triple raven knot, one marked with Thank You. Also made by Lena.
  • A small, handmade deer figurine gifted to me by a 14th Moon sister at the Madras Ceremony.
  • A piece of citrine.
  • A heart shaped piece of aventurine.
  • A two-pronged talking stick that I took at the Madras Women of the 14th Moon Ceremony which is my commitment to host a women of the 14th Moon Ceremony in Eugene.
  • A decorated Mason jar filled with pieces of paper.
  • Several candle holders.
  • A small wooden chest.
  • An African, ceramic, percussion instrument.

Jeremya,University of Oregon, Folklore and Public Culture Undergraduate Student:

Below is a photo of a shelf in my house where I house things that hold meaning. I try not to put other items here, like my keys or nik-nacs. Most have little or no monetary value. The items connect to meaningful experiences, or honor a person that is special to me.

A few items on my “personal Shrine”:

Photo of my sister and I. She is my older sister and my best friend.

Small slide size photo of my grandmother taken in August, 1945 (hand-written).

Small leaf in a glass frame, a friend brought me from Germany.

A rock of salt from the Dead Se

Alia, University of Oregon, Folklore and Public Culture Master’s Graduate Student:

I moved to Oregon just over a year ago. That meant leaving most of my belongings in my home state. So, the few things I have brought with me or culminated over the last year live in this corner of my flat. I have mostly books with some objects sitting on top. The photo is of me and my best friend when we were in high school, more than 15 years ago. I also have a image of the Virgen de Guadalupe because she is meaningful to me. My camera on display helps me to get out of the house and appreciate the beauty of nature by snapping some photos. My BA diploma also lives in this corner, a representation of a huge accomplishment and symbol of my strength and tenacity to achieve my goals. I look at it everyday as a powerful reminder of sacrifice and commitment.

Florin Gheorghiu, Romanian Artist:

My personal shrine from home is located in the family dining area, the place where we park breakfast, lunch and dinner, is organized from family photos in a permanent exhibition, which cannot reduce the unique moments of life, keep the moments alive. of happiness, of relaxation and of gaining courage for the moment when they are submerged in the monotonous daily life or discharged of energy after the daily pursuit. Photographs capturing childhood memories are uploaded to grandparents, parties and children. Family photo photography warms our soul and helps us achieve or bridge over the years. The family photo archive contains several thousand photos, many hard disk drives, and also albums on paper. All the photos are precious memories, which capture funny situations, happy moments with children and our parents, which cannot be helped in terms of the necessary care.

Ștefania Cîșlariu, Romania Student:

I am a really sensitive person, I get attached really easily to things and I become very nostalgic, sentimental and sometimes, almost always, I cry when I recall some memories. I’m not saying that I’m living in the past, actually I’m looking straight forward, thinking about my next step, how could I improve myself, evolve more and succeed… you know, exposing myself to the world, because, even if it’s scary, in a few months I will leave my home town, my parents house, and I will be in a completely new place.               

  I don’t basically have a shrine. I don’t have a shelf in my house where I keep all my important stuff. I consider my bedroom my own, personal shrine. Over the years I have collected lots of things that are related to my most important and beautiful memories. Like the little pink bird in the first picture, I have it from my best friend’s 18th birthday, or the blue tulip, it was given to me by my boyfriend, on my 18th birthday, while we were in Amsterdam, so it is very meaningful because the Netherlands is the country of tulips, as you may know, and also is a flower that never dies, and I love flowers as you can see in another picture. On that shelf I also have a musical box, which was a gift from my grandfather, a post-note with a message wrote by my best friend on my 17th birthday, and last but not least, a tiny figurine of a golden retriever, that Diana here brought me from her trip to Spain, and represents my precious baby girl, called Daisy. On others shelfs you can see some Audrey Hepburn DVDs because her movies calm me down right away when I’m in a bad mood, some jewelry boxes, a greek statuette with a shell on top, an angel, also a gift from my grandfather, and a box full of what might seem a lot of junk, but actually there are train tickets from trips with my friends or family, access tickets from some museums or sights and paper bracelets from concerts or festivals. The box itself was given to me by my grandmother.

  And I have my walls full of souvenirs from my holidays, because every time I go to a new country I have to buy something to hang on my wall.. it’s a habit, maybe I can call it a routine now, of mine.

  So that was my shrine, if I can call it a shrine.. and now you know something about the most private things of mine.

Andrei Cornea , Romanian Student:

I don’t really have a personal “shrine”. I would say that I have a mobile one though and that I carry it with me wherever I go. I managed to find two photos of some of my books in English, although my collection of books is bigger than that, these are some of the ones I have in English. I purchased some more in the meantime. Unfortunately, I can’t show you that because I’m not at home and my folks are also away.

Wherever I am, when I read a book, I listen to some music or watch a movie, not all of them at the same time, that place becomes like my place of refuge. It’s a way of escapism I enjoy very much.

As you can see in the photos, there is books with different titles, such as Tolstoy’s War and Peace ( I always get asked about this one, because it’s the thickest and longest, if I read it, unfortunately, I still haven’t, But someday, hopefully I will ) there is also: the autobiography of Malcolm X, How Proust can change your life, by Botton, etc.

In my case, things/objects, they didn’t really last that long, something happened with them or they just didn’t matter anymore, I’ve never been one to put too much emphasis on them. I’m more of a minimalist when it comes to this.

Diana Ghita, Romanian Student:

So my personal shrine is probably the most unstylish and loaded as you can see. I think it’s like that because I just can’t bring myself to throw things away.

   But you see, this “shrine” of mine goes waaaay back. There are so many memories that come with the objects in this photo.

For example the photographs with my friends and you can’t really see, but behind the front ones that are more current there are more of them and older ones.

    I also have a Maneki Neko cat that’s waving it’s left paw and that is supposed to bring good luck, wealth and prosperity. There is the book that I am currently reading, my favorite mug, some supplements I have to take daily so I keep them there in order to be in my face, a few souvenirs and a pair of 3D glasses for some reason…well I’m sure they’re gonna be useful someday

     There are, of course, a ton of parfume bottles that I’m not really using because they’re not the best ones and I have better ones from my mom so yeah, those really are there just for filling up the space….like it’s not already filled enough.

   Anyway the top part is the most important, bellow that on the second shelf are mostly hair accesories and jewelry boxes, a random adhesive tape roll and finally my camera on the bottom shelf.

   Now that I think about it, my shrine looks like the scene from one of those point and click video games when you have to find certain given objects in an extremly messy place. But it is my shrine and it’s special the way it is and believe it or not, I know every little thing that is there so for me everything is in perfect order. The only downside is that it takes an eternity to wipe the dust weekly

    So that’s my personal shrine so sorry for posting on the last minute