Altars & Rituals

Religion: any and all (especially Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto)

Purpose: to allow students to explore and develop their own spiritual life, as inspired by course content

Cognitive Skills: application, synthesis

Learning Styles: reflective, sensing, global

Intelligences: visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, (possibly: musical, naturalistic)

Use: as homework

For: individuals

Estimated time: extended over time (gradual development)

Materials needed: platform, various objects and images student deems desirable

The Activity: Students may be inspired by their studies to create their own altars and rituals. What they design need not relate directly to the religions they are learning about. The use of altars and ritual applies to any spiritual path, to any religious tradition. Students may draw on the symbolism of their own belief system or religion and incorporate it into a personal altar and ritual that they develop for themselves.

• Some questions to consider in the design of a sacred space:

• Where will you set up your altar? The altar might be set up outdoors, in a natural setting for the naturalistically inclined.

• What will serve as the base?

• What special objects and/or images will be placed on your altar? (if you have also created a mandala you might incorporate that as a part of your altar - a mandala can be used as a backdrop for an altar or you might even use it as the surface upon which you arrange the other objects you place on your altar)

• How and when will you use your altar?

• Develop some ritual(s) or a meditation you will perform before your altar. Music might play a part in this for the musically inclined.

• Students may share their altar and ritual with the teacher and classmates by bringing it in to show and tell about (if it is portable) or doing a show and tell with pictures, diagram, or video.

• Students may also write a brief paper on their altar and ritual:

• Describe not only the altar and ritual but also the process by which it was developed. If the student made use of any informative resources, e.g. books or Websites, to learn more about altars and rituals, they should be sure to mention this in their write-up: what were their resources? how and why did they use them? what did they learn from them? how did they inspire the student?

For Inspiration:

• Students might look around as they visit various places of worship. 

• They might  take pictures of various altars to illustrate a paper. The local Chinese restaurant, hair, or nail salon may have a small altar near the entrance. They might question the manager or owner about this altar and include this information along with other resources to inform their investigation and learning.

Web resources for further inspiration: 

• Books on personal altars and sacred space 

• more books

• Get some ideas (the eight altars at this site relate to the eight spaces of Feng Shui)

Alternative possibilities: a "sacred space" can serve as a place for reflection for an art or creative writing student.