holy corner

…as to whether the so-called holy corner (heilige Hinterecke)—i.e., the dark corner of a peasant’s house in which a deity or patron lives—belongs to pre-Christian concepts or not. On the other hand, various places in the house proper, such as the hearth and the doorstep, were considered to be abodes…

…grain kept in the “sacred corner” of the dwelling under the icon and venerated along with it, and also in noncultivated plant species that are kept in the house for propitiation or protection, such as branches of the birch tree and bunches of thistle. Such practices evidence the preagrarian…

…of Austria, and that the sacred corner—now occupied by the icon—was the place where they were kept.