Italian-American Yard Shrines

Yard shrines are a fairly common landscape feature for people of Roman Catholic background. This study focuses on the yard shrines of Italian-Americans in Kansas City, Missouri and Archbald, Pennsylvania, and the meaning behind such shrines. The yard shrines may vary in appearance, however, the leading icon is the Blessed Virgin. Data indicate the shrines belong to home owners of southern Italian descent and were erected as a display of faith/and in payment for prayers answered. There is, as well, a strong correlation between the existence of the yard shrines and the adjacency of older family members. Yard shrines may be a fast fading landscape feature.