Sacred Space

Landsowne & Bloor Toronto

• Where a church and a strip joint stand

next to each other

Sacredness

• Has obvious connection to religious faith

– Faith makes some places/spaces/times

sacred

– And some places non-sacred, profane

Sacredness

• But secular culture creates/assigns

sacredness

– Children, pets, patriotism become sacred

– Shrines of revered politicians, sports heroes,

entertainers

Religious Sacredness

• Varies according to the faith tradition

– Sacred directions, orientation

– Places of worship

– Sacred landscapes

– Sacred journeys, pilgrimage

– Places devoted to the organization & practice

of faith

– Places within the home, community

• Church of the

Holy

Resurrection,

Winona Dr,

Toronto

• Rogers Rd,

Toronto

• Dolly’s

– Bloor &

Dovercourt

Scared Places

• Sudanese Mosque at Larabanga, Ghana

• Tsion Church, Axum, Ethiopia

• Rock-hewn church, Lalibela, Ethiopia

• Ura Kidana Mihret Monastery, Ethiopia

Secular Equivalence

• Sacred directions– Greenwich meridian

• Secular shrines– Maple Leaf Gardens, Graceland

– Dollywood, Hollywood, Bollywood, Gollywood, Nollywood

• Sacred journeys– The Long March of Chinese communism

• Sacred landscapes– Canadian rockies, prairies

• Star-Wars Wedding, Hull QC

• Ribfest 2013

• Christmas in Fairbank

Sacredness

• With or without religious faith humans tend

to sacralise space, place, time

Profanity

• The flip side of sacredness

• Some things symbolise the antithesis of

the sacred

• Things can be both sacred and profane

– Auchwitz symbolises the worst of evil but is

also sacred as a grave site, place of

martyrdom

Washington DC

Abbey Road

• A Beatles’ album

from 1969

• Photo taken

outside Abbey Rd

EMI studios,

London UK

Tourist Shrine

Musical Shrine

Contested Meaning

• Abbey Road studios used by other bands

– Pink Floyd fans try to claim the place