Explore Shrines & Crosses of Poland

[Flat]

Very small one, on the tree trunk:

This looks almost exactly like the one my grandma has! The frame is made of wood, but it is starting to show signs of deterioration.

 

[Evo]

I don’t necessarily agree with everything I’ve read of Dissanyanke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Dissanayake
says, or even would like to take some of her thoughts further, but
if you were responding to me, evo, I don’t know from your explanation, but maybe you have stumbled upon an example of the bare minimums, the least care while conforming to some social expectation to give significance to a grave site, of making it special.

No, I wasn't responding to your post, I was just thinking about what Borek had sais about the plastic flowers cropping up. I have to drive by that cemetery every day and I told my daughter NOT to bury me there. All you can see from the street is hundreds of plastic bouquets, like a Walmart threw up over the grounds.

 

[turbo]

There are shrines here in Maine, though they tend to be concentrated in French-Canadian/Catholic neighborhoods. One trend that cropped up about 20-30 years ago was to bury the "business end" (spigot, drain, etc) of a cast-iron enameled bathtub in the lawn to create a rounded shelter for a statue of the Virgin Mary, then surround it with annual or perennial flowers. They always face the road, not the house at which the shrine was erected.