Luis and Maria Gutierrez were so inspired by their 2004 trip to the Our Lady of Lourdes grotto in France that they built their own version in their front yard.
The 7-foot-high, 8-foot-long fiberglass rock structure includes a niche for the iconic statue and a fountain that creates a pool reminiscent of the Lourdes waters that the faithful believe have healing powers.
Plants surround the shrine, which is hidden from the street by trees and shrubs.
“Our objective was to have a place of prayer,” says Luis Gutierrez, former Tucson city manager and an active participant at SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church.
“We wanted a place where we can practice our faith,” he adds, “and a place at our home where we could sit and meditate.”
Even more, the grotto has become a gathering spot for the couple’s neighbors, who come for rosary prayers and other religious celebrations.
Gutierrez, along with artist Stella Lopez, will talk Saturday about garden and home shrines in a workshop, one in a series on Mexican-American gardening and cultural traditions.
The series is tied to the Oct. 27 official opening of the Tucson Botanical Gardens’ redesigned Nuestro Jardin, which depicts a typical local barrio garden.
Many devout Catholic Mexican-Americans install small shrines in their yards, Gutierrez says. “They’re born out of religious faith. They have a sacred meaning. They represent a place of prayer.”
Sometimes they are erected to protect the family who lives there, says Lopez, who helped design the shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe at Nuestro Jardin.
Other times they are used as a devotion to a particular saint or saintly figure, she says. They are very personal to the person or family who creates them.
“There are no rules, since it’s a folk art tradition,” Lopez says, but similar elements run through them.
These include a structure into which a statue of the saint is placed.
Meaningful plants surround the shrine. For instance, a shrine to the Virgin Mary often includes roses, a plant associated with her.
Space is provided for candles and for prayer cards or other items with which people can use to pray.
Gutierrez says that a yard shrine should be far more than a “walk-by” decoration for a garden.
It should be easily accessible and in an attractive setting, he advises.
And you want people to feel invited and comfortable, he adds, “where they can actually focus on and reflect upon the sacred nature of the shrine.”
If you go
• What: Garden shrines workshop. Discussion of home shrines and Day of the Dead traditions, which include altars.
• When: 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday.
• Where: Tucson Botanical Gardens, 2150 N. Alvernon Way.
• Admission: Free. Register by calling 326-9686, ext. 26.
• Information: To learn about the series, go online to www.tucsonbotanical.org/education/nuestro-jardin-workshop-series
Contact local freelance writer Elena Acoba at acoba@dakotacom.net
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