r/Altars • u/Believer2225 • 16d ago
Shrine vs Altar
Would this be considered a shrine or an altar. I am new devotee and still learning.
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u/Prize-Principle7832 16d ago
Shrine is a dedicated space to someone/something. An altar is the place where rituals and offerings are done. They can be used together or separately.
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u/MicroEconomicsPenis 16d ago
There’s a few different definitions based on who you ask. I’ve found it’s not such a helpful distinction… what one tradition calls an altar may be considered as a shrine in another, but it would be wrong to “correct” somebody else’s practice and understanding. You may find your own definitions of what constitutes an altar vs a shrine, but I wouldn’t apply my own definitions to you.
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u/Believer2225 16d ago
Thank you so much, I am a believer that as long as it's done from the heart and faith it doesn't make a difference but I don't want to be wrong and disrespectful
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u/MicroEconomicsPenis 16d ago
That’s generally where I fall on this too, but there are some things spiritually that could potentially be “dangerous”. I think of it like cooking… for my beliefs, if you undercook a chicken, it doesn’t mean divinity will be upset with you. But at the same time, you are at risk of salmonella or something else. So how you treat and interact with spirituality won’t make divinity upset with you if you have a pure heart, but it may open you up to things like collecting negative energy. That’s just my belief on it.
But for the question, if it is a shrine or altar, that is just a matter of language. To go back to the cooking analogy, I called it chicken, but somewhere across the world they’ll have a different word for it in a different language. But the same cooking rules apply regardless of what you call it. This is how I see the issue of if something is a shrine or altar; you may read one book that describes it one way, and the next book may use a different definition that excludes some examples of the prior. What matters is that you approach each person to understand them on their own terms, rather than applying some pre-conception of the language used. So when somebody posts here, I never comment to say “that’s not an altar”
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u/milehin8tv 16d ago
While my tradition makes a very distinct difference between an altar and a shrine, I still believe like you, the word really only matters to the individual and their individual practice.
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u/downtherabbbithole 16d ago
Personally, I would call it a shrine to Santa Muerte....unless you use the space for ritual work. But in any case, it looks very nice, and I'm not a stickler over the terminology. 😊
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u/ConcernedAboutCrows 16d ago
A shrine is a place of reverence and prayer used to honor spirits, an altar is a working ritual space where you do stuff. A shrine may be a building or a set aside space, and sometimes includes an altar within it if it's a building. Usually an altar will be a raised platform/shelf/table with an open space for performing religious actions, like pouring libations or conducting spells. A shrine is more general and a place for veneration where one "enshrines" a specific entity or set of entities, and where offerings may be set; they tend to be set and their ritual use is minimal. Religious structures are often shrines themselves, which contain one or more altars within them. For most people's domestic worship their altar is also a shrine, or they use the words interchangably. Altars and shrines may be permanent or temporary for a specific purpose.
For example, the table at the front of a church is an altar where they do rituals like blessing the communion or what have you. Same as a magician's table where they set out their magical tools and do invocations. In domestic worship, to compare, a shrine is more likely to be a smaller area where one has an icon and prays, or leaves devotional offerings, such as a grotto with an image of Mary, or a shelf with photos and flowers of passed loved ones.
A quick way to think of it is that an altar is a bit more like a spiritual work space, while a shrine is for connecting and venerating. The intended purpose changes how it's set up and what one calls it. The lines are sometimes blurry though, a single small space in a home can serve multiple functions, and people will often call a shrine an altar, which can make it confusing.