Who buys religious items and what is their purpose?
While buying religious items is not something you hear or read about, it’s still a fact that people DO collect religious artifacts. What seems to be the purpose of collecting religious artifacts?
Religious items or objects are things collected by devotees in their homes for the purpose of creating a sanctuary in the midst of a harried and busy world. Home designers have also turned to religious items to serve as unique designs for a home or office. Some of the religious artifacts used for office and home designs range from crucifixes, religious icons and statues, stained glass windows, and even wooden pews.
These religious objects are used to decorate homes because of a genuine affiliation with the Divine deity or simply because it produces a great statement in any room it is used. Whatever is the reason for the collection, religious items have become trendy things to have.
For one thing, living with spiritual things and objects inside the home can be uplifting for the ethereal beauty they give to any room in the house. Putting up a small shrine inside the home serves as a sanctuary for homeowners for their quiet time after the day’s hustle and bustle.
Another reason for the collection of religious objects is the aesthetic beauty they usually manifest. More so when they are antiques that have withstood the test of times. Collecting antique religious objects is seen as a way of preserving the beauty and content of times past as reminders of bygone eras.
The religious items that are usually beautifully handcrafted please the eye of everyone even when he or she is not religious. Our modern era with furnishings and decorations made with machine-like precision cannot hold a candle when compared to the exquisite designs that are usually found in religious objects.
The trend of collecting religious items has risen for the past 4 to 5 years that have seen people attending church auctions with the hope of buying a lovely piece. This increased demand for religious artifacts has quickly dried up the inventory of churches who only wanted to get rid of some of their older pieces.
Antique shops, thrift stores, e-stores, and flea markets are also being raided for old religious objects. Garage sales are also great places to look for religious icons and items. With all this going on, the question that begs to be answered is this: “Who buys religious items and what compels them to do so”?
Below are the highly probable reasons people are motivated to buy religious items:
1. People want to be admired. If collecting religious items is the way to get admiration from other people, no power on earth will stop these “collectors” from collecting them.
2. To give as gifts. Some of us may have highly religious relatives that will truly appreciate a gift of a scapular, a crucifix, a statue, and other artifacts that touch their spiritual side.
3. Religious objects can inspire people to do the right thing. A religious item such as a cross, a statue of a saint, gold medallions, and more can make people feel good and be good to others as well.
4. People collect things because they want to. Collecting religious items are things that people feel a passion for. Religious saint statues, beeswax candles, elaborately designed candelabra or statues of Our Lady of Fatima are things every religious collector would love to own and display in his or her home.
5. It is the trendiest thing to do. Glass stained windows used to take the place of windows in the home give it a statement no other home decoration can achieve. The play of colors when sunlight strikes the window can be an ethereal experience no home owner would ever resist.
6. Highly religious people feel an affinity for all religious artifacts which compels them to buy and collect. Religious items such as icons, statues of the Virgin Mary or Jesus, and a scapular to wear around the neck give them a feeling of security and peace no other man-made things can do.
7. To stand out from the rest. It’s normal to read and hear about car collections, jewelry, houses, toys, and more but seldom about religious artifacts. While it may be trending now, there was a time when collecting religious items may be weird. Only now has it become a cool collection to have, yet stands out from other collections.
8. Memories of loved ones who were attached to religious objects can jumpstart a love for them as well. A grandmother or a great aunt or a mom who was big on religious artifacts could naturally inspire a person to start collecting them.
9. Collecting religious items can be a meaningful experience especially when something important happened because of it. Miracles do happen and people who had an otherworldly experience can be motivated to buy them even when it will not lead to a collection.
10. Just because. People are basically impulsive beings and buying a religious item is one of them. A religious medallion can be a “cool” thing to have at the moment.
In closing
There are several reasons that compel people to buy things or start collecting them. Religious items may be the last thing people could ever think of owning. Yet, surprisingly, purchasing and even collecting religious artifacts have taken the home design world by storm. People started to notice and voila, a new trend has begun.
However, purchasing a single religious item can be tougher to understand than collecting a roomful of them. The reasons given on this blog can explain the impulse of the action that is present in all of us.
People will always experience impulse buying, purchasing something unique for a loved one or to be admired for owning a thing. Religious items can be a one-of-a-kind thing to have and to own.
In the end, the reasons for purchasing a religious item are unimportant. What’s important is to have your very own religious item.
