Mexican American Home Altars: Toward Their Interpretation

This research contributes toward the interpretation of a tradition among Mexican American women: the creation and maintenance of altars in the home.¹ Called altarcitos (personal altars) by their makers, these intimate devotional sites filled with religious images, family photos, candles, flowers, and mementos testify to a long-standing tradition of Catholic women’s religious practice aimed particularly at creating and maintaining beneficial relationships between the earthly family (relatives, friends, and community) and the heavenly family (God, Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints). Home altars aesthetically model the necessity of good relationships and interconnection; they are a dynamic kind of folk art