Showcasing Faith Through Devotional Objects and Home Decor
Making Religion highlights the diverse devotional objects and religious decor people create to showcase their faith in their homes.
The creative expressions of faith found in the diverse devotional objects and religious decor people craft reveal how individuals use these handmade items to personalize and celebrate their spiritual beliefs within their everyday surroundings.
Creating an embroidered or cross stitch sampler on white cotton, canvas or muslin was once a rite of passage for young women in the US, made to show off the sewing skills once essential for a homemaker.
Some included expressions of faith like Bible verses or prayers, others invoked complex religious scenes. Projects like those on display were typically undertaken by only the most skilled and committed of seamstresses.
“The Lord’s Prayer” was advertised for free on Facebook marketplace by a man who had inherited his great aunts house and everything in it.
He described himself as “not religious” but could not bring himself to throw it away like he had her other knickknacks.
The “Now I Lay Me” prayer set of embroidered frames was found in a senior citizen center resale shop, and the worker said they had come in as leftovers from an estate sale of a woman in her 90s. She expressed sadness that these had not been kept by her family, because of the “love they represent”.
Dr Campbell found the two cross-stitched frames, the church with Bible verse and the angel pair, at different Habitat for Humanity “ReStore” shops.
The angel frame has a handwritten note on the back, showing it was given by one friend to another. The giver wrote, “May these guardian angels remind you that you are loved and cared for by me”.
Three of these projects remain unfinished; a Precious Moments cross stitch of the Holy Family, a wool embroidery depicting Jesus in the garden praying, and a child’s prayer. All were found at a St Vincent de Paul Shop on separate visits and leave us with questions about what caused the creators to leave these projects unfinished, and what they meant to each of them.
Since the 7th century, Christians in the Anglican and Catholic traditions have created portable altars for prayer and to celebrate the Mass and/or Eucharists.
These are often small handmade boxes made out of wood, cloth, stone or other materials; they hold images or small statues of saints, angels or Jesus, and are decorated with symbols such as the sacred heart of Jesus, crucifixes, excerpts of prayers and/or scripture. These are typically used when a permanent altar is not available, such as while traveling, for individuals in prison, an army camp or in private homes.
