Holy Place

How do you keep something holy? To be holy is be kept separate from profane things, to be set aside for purification. Some families kept their living room as a sacred place: “The term living room was coined in the 1890s and it was understood to be a reflection of the personality of the homeowner. It was basically the museum of you and so the room was not used often as it was set aside as a memorial to the family. So that’s why we don’t ever get to play in the living room. It’s a room that was reserved for the dead and to pay homage to the owners” (David Marine, “That Room in Your Home Nobody is Allowed to Go In,” Blue Matter [blog], Coldwell Banker, March 13, 2013, https://blog.coldwellbanker.com/that-room-in-your-home-nobody-is-allowed-to-go-in/).