*** Welcome to piglix ***

Bathtub Madonna


A bathtub Madonna (also known as a lawn shrine, Mary on the half shell, bathtub Mary, bathtub Virgin, and bathtub shrine) is an artificial grotto typically framing a Roman Catholic religious figure.

These shrines most often house a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary but sometimes hold the image of another Catholic saint or of Jesus. Infrequently, more than one figure is represented (as in this tableau of a juvenile Mary with her mother).

While often constructed by upending an old bathtub and burying one end, similar designs have been factory produced. These factory produced enclosures sometimes have decorative features that their recycled counterparts lack, such as fluting reminiscent of a scallop shell.

The grotto is sometimes embellished with brickwork or stonework, and framed with flowerbeds or other ornamental flora. The inside of the tub is frequently painted a light blue color, particularly if the statue is of Mary because of her association with this color. Over time, distinguishing characteristics of these shrines can become blurred. Instances occur of shrines whose statue is missing and conversely of grottoes being removed, leaving a statue in place.

Bathtub Marys in actual bathtubs are frequently found in the Upper Mississippi River valley, but was invented by Azorean Portuguese of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Fall River, Massachusetts, but is also found in western Wisconsin, eastern Iowa and Minnesota, and are an important part of the visual folk culture of Roman Catholics in that region. Noteworthy concentrations of bathtub Madonnas can be found in Stearns County, Minnesota, an area heavily settled by German-American Catholics in the mid-19th century, the Holyland in eastern Wisconsin, and rural Bay City, Michigan.


...
Wikipedia

...