A history of household spirits
Each of us ascribe different meanings to shared places. While we might live in the same four walls as others, our personal feelings about our homes reflect our own emotional experiences. Many of us have spent more time at home this year than ever before and our relationships with these spaces has changed over this time.
Household spirits
The concept of a household spirit has pervaded for centuries in religion and folklore across the world. These spiritual beliefs have often been embodied in the form of humanistic or animistic deities. These types of gods or spirits are called tutelaries, a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture or occupation [1]. Known tutelary deities have represented land, cities, villages, mountains, lakes and houses.
Meet your home spirit
Tutelar deities can also be interpreted as representing the more intangible aspects of place that we can’t always put our finger on. The more elusive aspects of our homes could reflect the cumulation of experiences we’ve had in the space, the relationships we have with those we live with or the more inexplicable emotional responses that we have to the places we live.
Have you ever wondered what your home spirit would look like? Click here to meet your home spirit.
If you want to learn more, here are a few examples of tutelar deities that exist in different cultures and time periods across the world.
Ancient Rome
Sacrifice to the Goddess Vesta by Sebastiano Ricci, 1723.
“A house is much more than a building. It is a microcosm, a living being with both a body and a soul. It speaks, even if its language is only creaking and cracking noises for the profane.”
— Claude Lecouteux [3]
There was an expectation in ancient Rome that you participate in religious rituals and festivals while also honouring the spirits of your own home. It was the role of each individual household to honour their own spirits and every home was thought to function in relation to how its residents treated their spirits. If the spirits were honoured, then a household would thrive, if it was neglected, then its inhabitants would suffer. There were many different spirits that needed to be attended to in order to enjoy health and prosperity. This included Vesta (goddess of the hearth and home), Panes & Penates (god of the pantry and kitchen) and Limentinus (god of the threshold) [2].
Japan
The Hyakki Yagyo Emaki by an unknown artist, Muromachi period.
“Shinotism fosters the mindset that everything in the world is an animated spirit. Anything can become a character. Everything is alive.”
— Roman Mars
Shinto is the oldest religion in Japan and is the major religion alongside Buddhism. Shintoism has countless deities that include gods of the sun, moon and earth, gods of the elements as well as gods of the house and locality. These deities are referred to as Kami. This can best be translated into English using the word ‘spirits’, but this is an oversimplification of a much more complex concept. There are several different ideas of Kami which are related but not entirely interchangeable. One idea of kami can be used to refer to the essence of existence and beingness which can be found in everything [4].
Many kami are associated with the sphere of the household. Tsukumogami can refer to discarded household objects or tools that contain a spirit. Sometimes these objects can be revengeful as they have served a household well and then they have subsequently been discarded [5]. Beyond Shintoism, Kami have had an influence on the characters found in anime and manga and inspired an obsession with mascots across Japan. These mascots function as modern day tutelar deities, representing everything from products, to stores and towns [6].
Russia
Illustation by Ivan Bilbin, 1934.
A Domovoi is a household god of the Russian Slavs. These spirits attach themselves to a family and serve as their guardian. The word Domovoi is derived from the word ‘dom’ which means house or ‘master of the house’. The Domovoi is commonly described as a small, hairy, male, human-like creature that has a long grey beard. In some instances, it may take on the form of a deceased ancestor, the current master of the house or of family pets [7].
A Domovoi is a benevolent god but can become very vindictive if not attended to; it is possible to seek forgiveness in the form of food offerings [8]. The Domovoi usually stays hidden from human sight, preferring to dwell in the dark corners of a person’s home. Seeing the Domovoi is considered a bad omen and a warning of impending death [7]. The family must take the Domovoi with them when they leave the house, otherwise the guardian deity of another household might establish in the home and create conflict [8].
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Bec Fitzgerald
Bec is an Associate Urban Designer at Hodyl & Co. She has previously worked at the City of Melbourne and has a Masters Degree in Urban Design. Bec’s favourite places in the city are those that feel like they belong to the city’s inhabitants. She believes in the importance of having shared, open and accessible conversations about the city and the places we live in that aren’t obscured by complicated language that can only be understood by industry.