Chapter 6: The item catalogue · Part 4
Symbols and images, lamps, calligraphy, glass, and the seasonal decor that dresses the house of worship for the year.
Advent wreath Alam Ancestor tablets Banner Bon lanterns Calligraphy panel Chandelier Christmas Eve candles Cross Crucifix Diyas Dreams of Trishala Easter lilies Ema rack Eternal flame Flag of the church Gilded dome Gopuram Great dome Guanyin statue Gurpurab lights Hanukkah menorah Icon Lamps of brightness Marigold garlands Memorial plaque Menorah Minaret Muharram cloths National flag Ner tamid New Year couplets Pagoda Painting of Christ Paschal candle Plain spire Ramadan lanterns Red lanterns Samavasarana Shikhara Shimenawa Small dome Stained glass window Statue Steeple and bells Stupa Thangka Vesak lanterns Vimana Votive candle stand Yahrzeit board
An evergreen wreath on a stand with four candles, one more lit each Sunday of Advent. Out only in Advent.
Out only in Advent, when it counts toward the season's decor. Cheap, and worth having in any Christian church-year tradition.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
The standard of Abbas, who carried water to the camp at Karbala: a crest of silver on a tall pole, hung with green and black cloth, and carried in procession in Muharram.
The standard of Abbas: expected at a Twelver Shia center, in the imambargah or the prayer hall, and carried in Muharram.
Across the 5 Muslim traditions: suits 1, jars with 4, 1 expected.
Tiers of small red memorial tablets edged in gold, each with a name, for the dead whose families placed them here. They're remembered before them at Qingming, the Ghost Festival, and the memorial services.
A wall of memorial tablets for the dead, expected at a Chinese Buddhist temple.
Across the 10 Chinese and Buddhist traditions: suits 1, jars with 0, neutral to 9, 1 expected.
A cloth banner for the season or the congregation's life, hung on the wall.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 1, jars with 13, neutral to 66, 1 expected, 13 discouraged.
Paper lanterns strung on a line to light the spirits of the dead home and away again: for Obon and the bon dance, for Ullambana and Vu Lan, and through the ghost month.
Across the 10 Buddhist and Chinese traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A verse of the Qur'an, or the names of God and the Prophet, in gold Arabic calligraphy on deep blue: the mosque's art, in place of pictures.
The mosque's art in place of pictures: verses of the Qur'an in gold on the prayer hall's walls. Handsome (looks 8), which draws outside weddings; no rule asks for it, so it doesn't count toward building fit, beside the mihrab's and minbar's +0.5.
Across the 5 Muslim traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A great brass ring of lamps hung low from the ceiling on chains, over the middle of the sanctuary. People walk and pray beneath it.
A great ring of lamps over the middle of the prayer hall, two metres square on the floor plan but walked and prayed beneath. Looks 8; no rule asks for it, so it doesn't count toward building fit.
Across the 5 Muslim traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
Illustration: portable items aren't drawn in the building.
Hand candles with paper drip guards for the candlelight service, lit one from another down the pews while the lights go down for Silent Night. Out from Christmas through Christmastide.
Out from Christmas through Christmastide, the season of your biggest crowd. Christmas Eve brings four times the usual newcomers, so be dressed for it.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: no fit (it has no particular character), 1 expected.
An empty cross, proclaiming the risen Christ.
The low-church cross, neutral fit for almost everyone. Quakers discourage all crosses.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: suits 11, jars with 5, neutral to 28, 2 forbidden, 9 expected, 3 discouraged.
A cross bearing the figure of the crucified Christ.
Expected by Catholics. Discouraged by Baptists, Pentecostals, and Quakers, who use an empty cross or none.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: suits 1, jars with 36, neutral to 7, 2 forbidden, 1 expected, 34 discouraged.
Illustration: portable items aren't drawn in the building.
Small clay oil lamps by the hundred, set along the steps, the sills, and round the shrines and lit at dusk, for Diwali (Deepavali), the Jains' night of Mahavira's liberation, and the Sikhs' Bandi Chhor Divas. Out only for the festival of lights.
Across the 13 Hindu and Jain and Sikh traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
Illustration: portable items aren't drawn in the building.
Silver images of the fourteen dreams Queen Trishala dreamed before Mahavira was born (an elephant, a bull, a lion, the goddess Lakshmi...), shown, garlanded, and bid for when his birth is read out in Paryushana.
Across the 2 Jain traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
Illustration: portable items aren't drawn in the building.
Banks of white lilies around the altar or table, often given in memory of loved ones. Out from Easter Day through the Easter season.
Out from Easter Day through the Easter season. Their upkeep ($400 a year) is the flowers, bought fresh each year.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A wooden rack under a little roof, hung with ema: wooden plaques on which visitors write their wishes for exams, health, love, or a safe birth, and leave them for the kami. Out on the grounds or inside.
Votive plaques hung on a rack, expected at a shrine.
Across the 3 Shinto traditions: suits 1, jars with 0, neutral to 2, 1 expected.
A sanctuary lamp in red glass, hung on chains from a bracket high on the wall, its flame never let go out.
A red lamp, hung high on the wall, its flame always lit: by the tabernacle in a Catholic church. Any faith may hang one; a synagogue's ner tamid counts as one.
Across the 80 traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
The church's own flag on a stand: the Army's red, yellow, and blue, or the Christian flag.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: suits 1, jars with 13, neutral to 30, 1 expected, 13 discouraged.
A ribbed onion dome on a ring of lotus petals, gilded all over and topped with a khanda, as on the Golden Temple at Amritsar. Many gurdwaras raise one over the hall where the Guru Granth Sahib sits, and the gold catches the eye from a long way off. On the roof over the rooms or on the grounds. Nine months to build and gild.
The gurdwara's gilded onion dome: 12% more visible, nine months to build, on the roof or the grounds.
Across the 1 Sikh traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A gateway tower in the South Indian way: a stone passage through its foot, and above it tier on tier of carved storeys narrowing to a barrel-vaulted top with a row of gilded kalashas. People walk in through it, and it can be seen for miles. On the grounds, astride the way in. Two years to build.
A South Indian gateway tower, on the grounds and walked through: 25% more visible, like a steeple, two years to build.
Across the 10 Hindu traditions: suits 0, jars with 0, neutral to 10.
A great dome on a tall drum of arched windows, over a square base with a little cupola at each corner: the crown of the house of worship, seen from across town. A dome this size is a building campaign of its own. Build it on the roof over the rooms or on the grounds. Sixteen months to build.
The great dome: 25% more visible, like a steeple, at nearly twice its price, and sixteen months to build. Any faith may raise one.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 45, jars with 35.
Guanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion, standing on a lotus in white robes, pouring the water of mercy from the vase in her hand. People bow to her on their way in and out; she stands as well on the grounds as inside.
Guanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion, for a Chinese Buddhist or folk temple: one of the altars visitors bow before at open hours. Looks 9; no rule asks for her, so she doesn't count toward building fit.
Across the 10 Buddhist and Chinese traditions: suits 0, jars with 1, neutral to 9.
Strings of lights along the walls and roofline, with saffron and blue bunting, for Vaisakhi, the Gurus' gurpurabs, and Bandi Chhor Divas, when the gurdwara is lit up at night.
Across the 1 Sikh traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
The nine-branched lamp of Hanukkah, one light more each of the eight nights and the shamash to light them, set where it can be seen from the street. Out only for the festival.
Across the 5 Jewish traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A painted icon of Christ, the Theotokos, or a saint.
Expected by the Orthodox, and a perfect fit for them. Discouraged by Baptists, Pentecostals, and Quakers. Needs a stretch of solid wall, so don't hang it where a window is.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: suits 4, jars with 36, neutral to 4, 2 forbidden, 4 expected, 34 discouraged.
A wall of small lamps, each with a sponsor's name and wish: health, peace, a good year for the business. Families renew theirs every New Year, and the wall glows all year.
A wall of small lamps households renew each lunar New Year: expected at folk, Daoist, and Chinese Buddhist temples, and where lamps are an income, the reason for it.
Across the 10 Chinese and Buddhist traditions: suits 3, jars with 0, neutral to 7, 3 expected.
Strings of orange and yellow marigolds with mango leaves (a toran) over the doors and round the shrines, renewed through the nine nights of Navaratri and Durga Puja and up to Dussehra.
Across the 10 Hindu traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A brass plaque in a marble surround, remembering a family who gave much.
Across the 80 traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A seven-branched lampstand in brass, like the one in the Temple and the oldest emblem of the Jewish people. Its lamps are usually left unlit, or electric.
The seven-branched lampstand, the oldest emblem of the Jewish people, and handsome (looks 7), which helps draw outside weddings. No rule asks for it, so it doesn't count toward building fit: put a pair beside the ark freely.
Across the 5 Jewish traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A slender tower with a balcony near the top and a pointed cap with a crescent: the mark of a mosque, seen over the rooftops. The call to prayer was once given from its balcony; most American mosques give the adhan inside, over the hall's speakers, so it troubles no neighbours. On the roof or on the grounds. A year to build.
Muslim. Makes the mosque 20% more visible, from the roof or the grounds; a year to build. Most American mosques give the adhan inside, so it makes no noise.
Across the 5 Muslim traditions: suits 0, jars with 0, neutral to 5.
Black cloths on the walls and the minbar, with the banners of mourning, for the first ten days of Muharram and Ashura, when Shia Muslims mourn Husayn.
Across the 5 Muslim traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
The national flag on a stand.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 0, jars with 15, neutral to 65, 1 forbidden, 14 discouraged.
The eternal light, hung on the wall above the ark, as the lamp burned always in the Temple. Today it's usually electric, and it's never switched off.
The eternal light above the ark: expected in every synagogue, and counts as an eternal flame.
Across the 5 Jewish traditions: suits 5, jars with 0, 5 expected.
Red paper couplets in gold or black calligraphy down either side of the doors, a blessing across the top, and the character for luck hung upside down: put up for Lunar New Year (Tet) and left up through the Lantern Festival.
Across the 10 Chinese and Buddhist traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A five-storey pagoda, the eaves of every roof turned up at the corners, and a bronze spire of nine rings on top. Seen over the rooftops, it tells the whole street what the house of worship is. On the grounds or on the roof over the rooms. Eighteen months to build.
Buddhist. Five storeys over the street: 22% more visible, eighteen months to build.
Across the 7 Buddhist traditions: suits 0, jars with 0, neutral to 7.
A framed painting of Christ: teaching, at prayer, or risen.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: suits 0, jars with 10, neutral to 34, 10 discouraged.
The great Easter candle on its tall stand, marked with the cross, the year, and five grains of incense: lit through the Easter season, and at baptisms and funerals.
The Easter candle, on its tall stand by the altar or the font.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A tall white spire on a short brick tower, with no cross and no bells: the spire Latter-day Saint meetinghouses carry. It costs a good deal less than a steeple, and people still notice the house of worship from further off. On the roof over the rooms or on the grounds. Three months to put up.
The Latter-day Saint meetinghouse's spire, with no cross or bells: 15% more visible for a quarter of a steeple's price, and quiet.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
Pierced metal lanterns (fanous) and strings of lights with a crescent and stars, hung for the month of Ramadan and left up through Eid al-Fitr.
Across the 5 Muslim traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
Round red lanterns with gold tassels hung in a row, for luck and for the New Year.
Red lanterns with gold tassels hung on a Chinese temple's walls, for luck and the New Year. Cheap decor, up all year; no rule asks for them, so they don't count toward building fit. (The New Year couplets are the New Year's seasonal decor.)
Across the 10 Chinese and Buddhist traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A model of the assembly where a tirthankara preaches after enlightenment: three round tiers of walls and gates rising to the Jina, seated on top facing all four ways so that every being, people and animals and gods, can hear.
A model of the assembly where a tirthankara preaches, for a Jain derasar: handsome decor (looks 8) beside the jin shrines, which draws outside weddings; no rule asks for it, so it doesn't count toward building fit beside the jin shrine's +1.
Across the 2 Jain traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
The curving tower of a North Indian temple, ribbed from base to top, crowned with a fluted stone ring (the amalaka) and a gilded kalasha. It rises over the sanctum where the deity sits, and from the road it tells everyone what the house of worship is. On the roof over the rooms or on the grounds. Eighteen months to build.
The curved Nagara tower over a Hindu or Jain sanctum: 22% more visible, eighteen months to build, on the roof or the grounds.
Across the 12 Hindu and Jain traditions: suits 0, jars with 0, neutral to 12.
A thick rope of twisted rice straw hung with zigzags of white paper, the shide, marking where the sacred begins. It's renewed every year, before New Year.
The sacred straw rope that marks where the holy begins, hung on the haiden's wall. Cheap decor; no rule asks for it, so it doesn't count toward building fit.
Across the 3 Shinto traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A dome on a low drum, ringed with little arched windows and topped with a gilt finial. Mosques raise them, Orthodox churches raise them, and so did the old Moorish-revival synagogues: whoever passes knows the house of worship for a house of prayer. Build it on the roof over the rooms or on the grounds. Eight months to build.
Any faith's: mosques, Orthodox churches, and old synagogues all raise them. 12% more visible; eight months to build, on the roof or the grounds.
Across the 80 traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A window of stained glass, commissioned from an artist and a year in the making. It glows, it teaches, and it lets in half the daylight. Fit it into an existing window.
Fits into an existing window, takes a year to make, and halves that window's light. Offered to every faith (synagogues and Shin temples have it too): a strong fit in formal traditions and a penalty in plain ones, and −1 wherever it's discouraged, as at a shrine, Tenrikyo, Yiguandao, and the Nation of Islam. The cathedral scenario needs twelve.
Across the 80 traditions: suits 41, jars with 39.
A carved statue of Christ, Mary, or a saint.
Expected by Catholics. Discouraged by Baptists, Pentecostals, the Orthodox, and Quakers.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: suits 1, jars with 38, neutral to 5, 3 forbidden, 1 expected, 35 discouraged.
A tower with a peal of bells, seen and heard across town: more people notice the house of worship, and some come to see. Build it on the roof over the rooms or freestanding on the grounds, at the same cost. Eighteen months to build.
Christian. Makes the church 25% more visible to newcomers (visibility is capped at +50%). Other faiths raise their own: a great dome or a gopuram (+25%), a pagoda, a shikhara, or a vimana (+22%), a minaret (+20%), a gilded dome (+12%), a stupa or a Buddhist temple bell (+10%). Build it on the roof or freestanding, at the same price. But a peal of bells is the loudest noise in the game (1.0): in town, finish building before you ring them, or complaining neighbours will block planning permission.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: suits 20, jars with 24.
A white stupa on a stepped base: a bell-shaped dome, a little square harmika, and a spire of thirteen gilt rings. It may hold relics or ashes, and the congregation walk round it clockwise, as Buddhists have for two thousand years. Usually on the grounds, though it can crown the roof. Eight months to build.
Buddhist. On the grounds, or the roof: 10% more visible, eight months to build.
Across the 7 Buddhist traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
A painting on cloth, framed in silk brocade: a Buddha, Tara, or a mandala, in mineral colours by a trained painter, hung to be seen and studied.
A painted Buddha, Tara, or mandala for the wall: expected at a Tibetan dharma center, where the Sunday practice is led before it. Looks 8.
Across the 7 Buddhist traditions: suits 1, jars with 0, neutral to 6, 1 expected.
Many-sided paper lanterns and the five-coloured Buddhist flag, for the Buddha's birth, awakening and passing: Vesak, Saga Dawa, and the Buddha's birthday (Hanamatsuri, Phat Dan).
Across the 7 Buddhist traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
The stepped tower of a South Indian temple: storey on storey, each smaller than the one below and lined with little pavilions, under a domed cap and a gilded kalasha. It stands over the sanctum, and the priests from Tamil Nadu and Andhra will know it at once. On the roof over the rooms or on the grounds. Eighteen months to build.
The stepped Dravidian tower over a South Indian sanctum: 22% more visible, eighteen months to build.
Across the 10 Hindu traditions: suits 0, jars with 0, neutral to 10.
Rows of small candles in red glass, lit with a prayer for someone.
Across the 44 Christian traditions: no fit (it has no particular character).
Bronze plaques with the names of the congregation's dead, each with a small bulb lit on the anniversary of the death, the yahrzeit, when the family stands to say Kaddish.
The names of the congregation's dead on the sanctuary wall, each lit on its yahrzeit. No rule asks for it, so it doesn't count toward building fit; its looks (6) count toward outside weddings.
Across the 5 Jewish traditions: suits 5, jars with 0, 5 expected.