“Just Don´t Throw It Out…” Deponia Pia: a “Sacred Depot” or “Sacred Trash”, or the Issue of Preservation

“Just Don´t Throw It Out…” Deponia Pia: a “Sacred Depot” or “Sacred Trash”, or the Issue of Preservation

Certain cultural objects, crosses, pictures and statues of saints, rosaries, home holy water fonts left out of use often remain kept as a legacy, they are not thrown out but are placed, out of grace, in some sacred place (a secluded chapel, booths of wayside shrines) or simply at the foot of a wayside cross. This form and place of preservation is known in science as a “sacred depot” or deponia. This study presents examples of this phenomenon in southern Slovakia, putting it in parallel with similar attempts to preserve the memory of ancestors and also placing it in the broader context of the culture of remembrance.