Essay On Sacred Space

Philosopher Mircea Eliade describes sacred space as “Every sacred space implies a hierophony, an irruption of the sacred that results in detaching a territory from the surrounding cosmic milieu and making it qualitatively different” (Eliade, 26). After a recent trip to Santuario de Chimayo, I was able to refer to and apply Eliade’s ideas about sacred space to my own research. I have come to the conclusion that Mircea Eliade’s Theological Approach on sacred sites is very logical and truthful. Sacred sites are indeed created for encounters with the sacred as Eliade explains, but only for the believers. Those individuals whom are tourists or scholars may not necessarily experience an encountering with the sacred on their visit, however all of the visitors are respectful of the site and the other pilgrims visiting. Sacred sites like Chimayo are heterogeneous places filled with people of all different beliefs, so no it is not possible to say that every single individual visiting Chimayo experiences hierophony, but all give a mutual respect for one another and the site itself. Eliade’s approach is correct because sacred sites were indeed
The crowd ranged from tourists from around the world to priests and nuns to students on field trips to philosophers and scholars. Regardless of religious denomination, each and every visitor was respectful of both the sacred site and the Christian pilgrims visiting. The even more impressive part was that as Eliade’s approach states, regardless of the differences amongst the crowd of visitors at Chimayo, a break in the heterogeneity of “profane” space occurred and another space was created, one of which allowed communication with the sacred to occur (Eliade, 63). A hierophony and axis mundi were obtained for the pilgrims. The hierophony being the healing dirt and the axis mundi being the sacred hole that was able to orient the individuals in relation to the