Making Shrines[1]
in the Library and Classroom
Cathy Belben, Librarian, Burlington-Edison High School
November 2003
What is a shrine?
Traditionally, shrines are religious monuments created to honor the dead.
The shrines would be filled and decorated with items that belonged to or
represented the person who had died. Shrines
have been created for thousands of years and across cultures; notable shrines
include the Taj Mahal, Egyptian pyramids, giant golden Buddhas in the East, the
Parthenon, and Notre Dame Cathedral.
Shrines are an important part of many religious traditions,
most notably Catholicism, Islam, and Shinto.
Shrines are recognized by church officials as serving an important role
in worship, inspiring visitors to follow respected church icons, and are
credited by some as having healing or spiritual powers.
While many shrines are religious or spiritual in nature,
secular shrines are also created. Memorials
such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Mount Rushmore carvings, and the
Lincoln Memorial are all examples of secular shrines that honor the memories of
the dead. Many shrines are also serious and offer a place for solitude and
reflection, but shrines can also be whimsical and celebratory—the annual Day
of the Dead celebration in Mexico offers the best example of how shrines and
memorials are created, cared for, and used to celebrate lives that have passed.
Why create shrines?
Shrines offer opportunities for their creators to reflect on people or pets
that have passed from their lives but have left an impression. Creating a shrine
can be cathartic and allow grievers the experience of remembering the best about
the people or pets who are no longer living.
The creation of a shrine also establishes a permanent place or object
with which to return to remember a friend, relative, or pet.
For students, creating shrines is an opportunity to
demonstrate learning in an artistic and imaginative visual and tactile mode,
something they may not get to do often, especially as they get older and class
assignments focus more on writing and technical skills. Arranging images and
objects in a shrine in an excellent opportunity to develop visual-spatial and
kinesthetic skills, areas of the multiple intelligences that are often difficult
to reach in standard classroom activities.
Creating shrines also helps develop students’ ability to
think in more abstractly and symbolically, which is a higher-level thinking
skill. The ability to think metaphorically, as opposed to literally, allows
people to consider problems and situations from different perspectives and to
look beyond right-wrong, black-white solutions.
Integrating the arts into other areas of the curriculum is
vital for developing higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills.
Brain research shows that connections between neurons are essential for
higher-level thinking. The more
connections, the better thinking that can happen, so asking students to think
about the same information in a variety of ways helps develop their
understanding of the topic, increases the connections between neurons, and
essentially, improves brain function. Asking
students to think about literature in a visual way, for example, in a visual
way, by creating a shrine to a character, can lead to this type of neural
development.
There is no hard-and-fast set of guidelines for creating
shrines. Like collage, the fun in
creating shrines is the wide range of materials and formats that can be used.
But a few guidelines can be helpful as you create your shrine or lead
students through the process.
Select your honoree.
Although shrines traditionally honor the dead, they can be created to honor anyone who is a source of inspiration and admiration. Some possibilities:
Before you plan the appearance of your shrine, do some brainstorming. With students, this process is actually more successful if you do the brainstorming before they even know they’re going to create a shrine—somehow, brainstorming works better when it’s unhindered by preconceived ideas about the final product. I have my students brainstorm the following topics one at a time. I also have them brainstorm each topic alone and then combine their lists and efforts with other students. After brainstorming, I also give them the opportunity to research quote about and by the subject of their shrine, if s/he is well-known enough for that to be reasonable.
Kathy Cano-Murillo suggests the following ideas for creating shrines:
Choose a container:
For miniature shrines, the following containers work well:
The only truly essential materials for creating a shrine
are the display container, as listed above, and an image of the person or animal
you are honoring. (That image can be a photo, a drawing, or even a postcard or
postage stamp. To find images, try
using the “Image Search” function of Google, and then printing the images on
glossy paper). Other materials you
might need include:
Numerous online galleries exist that show different styles,
sizes, and types of shrines. Check
out the following websites:
Other Sources of Information about Shrines and Memory
Boxes.
“Boxes of Remembrance.”
Somerset Studio. March/April
2003: 55.
Edelman-Avery, Carrie. “Celebrating
El Dia de los Muertos.” Somerset
Studio. September/October 2003: 58.
Cano-Murillo, Kathy. Making
Shadow Boxes and Shrines. Gloucester:
Rockport Publishers, Inc. 2003.
The following subject terms might be useful in searching the internet for more information about miniature and artistic shrines:
-altoid tin shrines - matchbox shrines
-altered altoid tins -mini shrines
-miniature shrines - miniature matchbox shrines
[1] Throughout the article, I use the word “shrine.” If the religious overtones make you uncomfortable, in your classroom you might be more comfortable with the term “shadow box” or “memory box.”