Sacralisation

Sacralisation, also sacralization, is the process by which something is made sacred or imbued with religious significance. The term is used across religious studies, anthropology, and sociology to describe how objects, places, times, persons, or practices become objects of reverence, devotion, or ritual authority. It contrasts with secularization or desacralization, which describe shifts away from sacred status.

Mechanisms of sacralisation include formal rites such as consecration or blessing, the attribution of sacred history or miracles, and the use of symbols, liturgy, and pilgrimage to embed sacredness. Authority figures or institutions, such as religious hierarchies or political leaders, can authorize sacral status, but popular practice also sustains it through ritual repetition. Sacredness can be anchored in spaces (temples, holy mountains), times (holy days, festivals), objects (relics, icons), or persons (saints, revered leaders).

The process can serve to legitimize authority, shape moral norms, and police boundaries between the sacred and the profane, thereby fostering social cohesion and identity. It can also produce exclusivity, coercive control, or conflict when different groups contest the sacred status of resources, sites, or symbols. In modern plural societies, sacralisation may coexist with secular or plural sacralities, or undergo desacralization or re-signification.

Examples include the sanctification of churches and relics in various religions, the consecration of kings or emperors, sacred landscapes and pilgrimage routes, and the sanctification of national symbols and monuments. The concept is also used in studies of ritual, tourism, and cultural heritage.