Sacred Places Research Paper

In order to understand what makes a place sacred it is necessary to define the idea of a sacred place. This has to be a place that has some defining characteristics that mark it out as different. It can be because people practice rituals or being in the place gives them an emotional reaction or experience. Many sacred places can appear to be unimportant to someone who is outside the group. For people to whom a place is sacred, there is a conviction that the place has a significance that puts it apart from other areas.

The next thing that has to be understood is how does a place become sacred – essentially is it inherently sacred or is it a man-made construct?

Mircea Eliade was a Romanian Religious Historian, writing in his work The Sacred

Or a place can become sacred because of religious events that are believed to have taken place there. An example would be the City of Jerusalem, a place that is sacred to three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. to Muslims this is a place where their prophet Muhammad ascended to heavens into the presence of God. To Jews, this is a place where the great King Solomon built his temple to hold the Ark of the Covenant containing the tablets recording the word and laws of God. And to the Christians Jerusalem is the place where Christ suffered and died for their sins, and then ascended to heaven, marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

A sacred place has to perform certain functions for its believers; a place where the people can go to meet with their god. Becoming a place for salvation of the soul. And it has to be an icon for the people, to give meaning, purpose and a significance to their beliefs. A Special place where people make a pilgrimage. Many pagan sacred places are aligned with the movement of the Sun and Moon at certain times of the year such as summer and winter solstice. To be sacred a place does not have to perform all of the functions above for all