Buffalo is no stranger to ornate and beautiful gardens. Plenty of homeowners take it upon themselves to decorate their yards during our warmer months. Recently, we noticed an interesting trend on the West Side.
Cruise around there and you'll see quite a bit of religious imagery. Specifically, we're talking about the bathtub Madonnas. These homages are constructed by digging a hole, inserting a bathtub halfway into the ground, and fitting a statue of the Virgin Mary inside. The grotto's are often adorned by flowers, bricks, and even ornate stonework. Most owners prefer to paint the inside of the tub light blue and hang rosaries and other religious symbols from the tub. It's really depends on the artist on what to put on their design.
The BVMs (bathtub Virgin Mary), or "Mary-on-the-half-shell" as they're sometimes called, began popping up in heavily Catholic communities across the United States, most commonly in Michigan, the Mississippi River valley, Stearns County, Minnesota; Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Somerville, Massachusetts. All of these areas are densely inhabited by Roman Catholics, akin to Buffalo's West Side.
The concept can come in any variation, the Massachusetts variety generally does away with the bathtub portion of the shrine. Where's the fun in that?
Where have you seen them?
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Cruise around there and you'll see quite a bit of religious imagery. Specifically, we're talking about the bathtub Madonnas. These homages are constructed by digging a hole, inserting a bathtub halfway into the ground, and fitting a statue of the Virgin Mary inside. The grotto's are often adorned by flowers, bricks, and even ornate stonework. Most owners prefer to paint the inside of the tub light blue and hang rosaries and other religious symbols from the tub. It's really depends on the artist on what to put on their design.
The BVMs (bathtub Virgin Mary), or "Mary-on-the-half-shell" as they're sometimes called, began popping up in heavily Catholic communities across the United States, most commonly in Michigan, the Mississippi River valley, Stearns County, Minnesota; Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Somerville, Massachusetts. All of these areas are densely inhabited by Roman Catholics, akin to Buffalo's West Side.
The concept can come in any variation, the Massachusetts variety generally does away with the bathtub portion of the shrine. Where's the fun in that?
Where have you seen them?
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Typical Massachusetts east-coast-yuppies. It's sooo beneath them to shelter Mary in a tub. I wonder if soon people will start erecting shower stalls with crucifixes inside?