Thailand Plaza

Today I visited the Thailand Plaza at 5311 Hollywood Boulevard, which I discovered through the Folk Art Everywhere initiative of the Craft and Folk Art Museum.  I asked the young woman in the restaurant upstairs if she could tell me about the altar.  Not knowing the name of the deity represented, she took me downstairs and outside, bowed her head with prayer-hands to the altar, and then asked the parking attendant.  He informed us that the statue is the Hindi deity Brahma.  The woman asked if I'd like to make a wish, and explained that I could tell the Brahma anything, but should include my name and address when asking for help with a problem.  She gave me ten sticks of incense, showed me how to bow in prayer three times at the back of the altar, and told me to place my incense in the front when finished.   

 

Consulting the Dictionary: Altar Vs. Shrine

Altar: an elevated place or structure, as a mound or platform, at which religious rites are performed or on which sacrifices are offered to gods, ancestors, etc.

...from L. altare  (pl. altaria ), probably originally meaning "burnt offerings" (cf. L. adolere  "to worship, to offer sacrifice, to honor by burning sacrifices to"), but infl. by L. altus  "high." 


Shrine: any structure or place consecrated or devoted to some saint, holy person, or deity, as an altar, chapel, church, or temple.

...from O.E. scrin  "ark of the covenant, case for relics," from L. scrinium  "case or box for keeping papers," of unknown origin.