buried images

[Smith, Frederick M]

Thanks to Allen, Bob T, Axel, Ashok and others for answering my query. It seems that the evidence beyond what might be speculated from the buried heads beneath the agnicayana altar is sketchy and without much (if any) textual basis. 

regards
Fred Smith  


-----Original Message-----
From: Indology on behalf of Allen W Thrasher
Sent: Tue 4/22/2008 3:51 PM
To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
Subject: Re: buried images
 
I don't know if it's pertinent, but there is a custom in the US, among people having difficulty sellling a house, of burying a statue of St. Joseph upside down in the yard until it's sold.  This is not confined to Catholics.  A lot of Catholic goods stores have stopped selling statues of him, instead offering pictures only, on the grounds it's superstitious and irreverent.  I'm waiting for a fresh rash of articles on it with the current real estate crisis.

One is, of course, supposed to dig the statue up when the house is sold.

I have not come across any references to this before this generation.  Nor has Snopes.com been able to find any: < http://www.snopes.com/luck/stjoseph.asp >.


Allen





Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D., Senior Reference Librarian
South Asia Team, Asian Division
Library of Congress, Jefferson Building 150
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, DC 20540-4810
tel. 202-707-3732; fax 202-707-1724; athr at loc.gov
The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress.