The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, known as one of the United States most traditional
sacred places. The naval base is located west of Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack on Pearl Harbor by
Japanese aircraft in 1941 killed 2,420 island residents, including 57 civilians and catapulted the United
States into World War II. This was a surprise attack on the island not only causing thousands of deaths
but also destroyed hundreds of aircraft and battleships. In this case, as in others, it was an act of
extreme violence and dispair which resulted in the eventual sanctity of the location.
September 11, 2001 is a date which has become utterly unforgettable in the American
psyche. It seems everyone knows exactly where they were or what they were doing when they
first heard the news of the terrorist attacks on the United States. Almost immediately following
the attacks themselves the place where the World Trade Center towers had stood became
hallowed ground. The photos and stories passed along from the site created lasting memories and
evoked tremendous emotion from all who saw them. The idea of utter destruction and death in
the midst of an icon of freedom and the American way irrevocably changed the way life is lived
in the United States. As workers expended all their strength to make one more rescue or to
recover one more body for burial the site became known as Ground Zero. The term ground zero
was originally reserved for any place closest to the detonation of a bomb or other explosion but
in the wake of September 11, 2001 the term came to represent a nationwide acceptance that
Ground Zero was forevermore a sacred place on American soil.
Another well known sacred place, Delphi Greece, is the supreme oracle of the ancient
Mediterranean. This city contains many artistic achievements, athletic spectacles and home to the
Tholos Temple. The Tholos Temple, built in the early 4th century BC, has a very different circular
shape with leaf-adorned capitals of its Corinthian columns. This structure represents the sared
forest groves of the old Earth Goddess Religion.
According to myths, Delphi was originally a sacred place of the earth goddess Gaia and
was guarded by her daughter, the serpent Python. Later on myths stated that the city was the
center of the world, which was determined by Zeus. Two birds had been released by Zeus from
opposite ends of the earth, finally meeting at Dellphi. Another myth states that Apollo came from
his home on Mt. Olympus to Mt. Parnassus to slay the great serpent Python. Fleeing from the
peak, Python sought safety in the sanctuary of the Earth Mother at Delphi. Later repenting,
Apollo purified himself in Crete and returned to Delphi to persuade Pan to reveal him the art of
prophecy. At the battle site, Apollo erected his own oracular temple, orienting its axis to align
with midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset and an omphalos stone was set in the ground.
Pearl Harbor and Delphi, Greece dramatize notions about nationhood and individual identity,
human conditions such as bravery and fear, aggression and altruism. In these actual places great
things have happened. These sacred places are the ultimate emotional experience that has
everlasting change on most cultures and individual lives. Visitors see sacred places as
destinations of life changing experiences of ordinary people.
All of these places whether in America or abroad or new communities or ancient ones,
have become sacred through human agency.