#red corner

“In my family, and that of many Russians, we had what is known as a ‘red corner’ in which wooden figures of bearded ‘grandfathers’ (ancestors) and pictures were displayed on a shelf that represented the symbolic clan’s ancestor altar. After the implementation of Christianity, wooden figurines were replaced with Christian saint icons. The analogous concept in Western Christianity is the home altar. This tradition of installing a ‘house church’ continues to this day in Eastern Christianity. The home is considered to be a microcosm of the church.”

—Natasha Helvin, Ancestral Slavic Magic

In western Slavic Czechia there is also this concept. It is called the svatém koutě, holy or beautiful corner. And up to fairly recent times in Silesia and the Vizivice region the grandfathers were still placed there.

When looking at other people’s altars the other day I came across @lesorciercanadien ‘s beautiful corner cabinet altar and @folklorismy (insta) post about Adolf Liebscher Jr.’s work Babička. Ah . . . goals. So corner altar spaces were thrust back into the forefront of my mind. For years I’ve put off pulling together a beautiful corner—the altar space and focal point of the Slavic peasant’s main (only?) room, because my living space just wouldn’t work. When insomnia hit for the fourth night in a row, I decided to just jump in, even though I didn’t have an eastern corner available, and work with what I had.

The beautiful corner was the corner of the living room diagonally opposite the stove, where a table with benches stood, forming the natural center of family life. In the event of a serious illness, it was transformed into a real altar when the priest came to administer the sacrament of last rites. Above the table, a dove made of split wood was placed as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

It was a place for daily personal and communal prayers, e.g. before meals or on special or urgent occasions. Holy pictures, religious objects and ceramics were placed on the walls above the table. This space was called the holy corner and was a place of honor in the house, associated with the most important family events, such as weddings, Christmas Eve, the birth of a child, etc. Anyone who enters a traditional peasant house and looks at the decoration of the table corner with aesthetic standards rarely passes.

If a peasant calls something “beautiful,” then this expression plays an extraordinary role. An object that becomes part of the decoration of a room is for the farmer and his family evidence of some experience or part of efforts to achieve prosperity in the house and on the farm. For each picture, each object, he knows when, where and how it was acquired, when it was placed in the room, under what circumstances, why it was hung in the place where it is found.

Prayer cards I inherited in a box of things that belonged to my great-aunt Bev, from left to right: St. Brigid, St. Anthony, the Madonna of the Grapes, Christ Jesus, and All Souls.

My cross is not traditional to Slavic culture, but is a nod to the traditions of my Mexican neighbors to the south. It is a Milagros cross.

Small metal charms known as milagros are used throughout Latin America to symbolize prayers. They are pinned to crosses, statues of religious figures, and altars to petition for help and protection. They can also represent thanks for an answered prayer. Some people carry milagros with them for good luck, healing, or protection.

Hanging under the cross are a rosary my sister picked up for me when visiting the Vatican (I don’t associate at all with the actual Catholic Church, but it was nice of her to think of me) and a necklace that with the image of Mother Mary. My granny Lorraine’s rosary is currently in use blessing the fermenting muscadine wine, but when it is not in use it will hang here as well.

My great-aunt Sister Margaret Mary’s bible and a cross made with hazel wood from the Holy Saturday fire. The items from great-aunt Bev and Sister Margaret Mary honor my Québécois lineage. The Bible is laying on a ritual towel I made following a Slovakian folk pattern.

From left to right: tříkrálová voda (three king’s water), annunciation salt, Hátová water (St. Agatha water), mezi matičkama herb amulet dedicated to Panny Marie Kořenné /Our Lady of the Root/Herbs, more třikrálová voda, and resurrection salt (salt I consecrated on Holy Saturday). I gave the artificial rose to my Granny Lorraine for Mother’s Day and she tucked it behind the crucifix on her wall.