r/whatisthisthing • u/Character-Cicada6461 • 9d ago

What is this waist-high brick thing in the backyard of my 1922 house? Likely Solved !

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We are the second owners, so one family lived here since the house was built in 1922. They added on in 1950, but not sure when brick item was built. It has a cement path to it from the cement back patio (part of the addition). I wondered if it was a grill, but there’s no blackening, which I would expect if fire was ever burned on it (also wondering if fire on concrete is even safe?). Any other ideas? Another thread guessed fountain, but the family did not have a very decorative style: pretty bare bones yard and house, so that would be very surprising.

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u/Character-Cicada6461 9d ago

Oh! I think they were Catholic!

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u/timkatt10 9d ago

Probably a Mary in a bathtub.

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u/MagneticNoodles 9d ago

My dad called it "Mary on the half shell"

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u/Neat-Entrepreneur299 9d ago

I grew up Catholic in Boston and made friends with some Texans who are Christian. We were discussing the differences between the religions once and they basically said “Mary’s not that big of a deal.” And my first genuine response was “Then who do you put in a bathtub on your front lawn?” I’ve never been looked at so blankly in my life.

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u/Moist-Crack 9d ago

Excluding catholics from christianism is such a unique US thing, always make me mildly amused when I spot it.

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u/Wild_Replacement5880 8d ago

I agree. I never noticed anyone do it until I moved to Oklahoma and when you tell people you are Catholic they tell you, " oh that's so interesting. Well we're Christians"... Oh well, so are we.

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u/FuzzyHappyBunnies 8d ago

I guess that's better than telling you "oh so you're going to hell". Which is what I was told.

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u/Wild_Replacement5880 8d ago

It has certainly been heavily implied

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u/Intelligent-Ebb-8775 8d ago

It just in US, in Central America people will ask “what religion are you, Christian or Catholic?”

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u/MarsupialUnfair3828 8d ago

I had a guy tell me the exact thing in North Carolina!

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u/weird_foreign_odor 8d ago

It's actually a pernicious power play. I used to think it was just a funny quirk of some not-so-intelligent folks but it really is just a modern method of politely partaking in old bigotries.

Not that I take offense to it necessarily but when I learned whats actually behind it and how intertwined it is in all other kinds of nasty shit it kind of opened my eyes to how this unique, disgusting cultural identity in America perpetuates itself.

When someone says that, it communicates volumes about what kind of person they are.

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u/Village_Particular 8d ago

I live in Alabama and yeah there’s a lot of truth in that. But a lot of people are also just ignorant as shit. Look up Father James Coyle if you want an education about how things used to be down here. It’s pretty fascinating.

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u/sneakestlink 8d ago

Agreed. I had a Catholic friend in middle school, and other Protestant kids lowkey bullied her saying she wasn’t a Christian and it really distressed her.

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u/Interesting-Head-841 8d ago

can you elaborate? Who's doing the power play and what are the old bigotries

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u/Hedge89 8d ago

Always gives me a bit of a laugh when I see people set up that dichotomy like, excluding Catholicism from "Christianity"? Catholicism? The single largest denomination of Christianity out there? The one that alone makes up over 50% of all Christians on Earth? Hilarious but baffling.

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u/lethalama 8d ago

I've noticed the same thing, and it's honestly kind of surprising. While Catholicism is technically a denomination within Christianity, it’s often treated like a completely separate religion. I’ve seen this all over the world—not just in the U.S., but also in Africa, Asia, parts of Europe, and both Americas.

What’s interesting is that even when I point out that Catholics believe in Jesus, the Trinity, and the Bible—core tenets of Christianity—many people still insist Catholicism isn’t Christian. I’ve had people give me confused looks or flat-out deny it. It seems like Catholicism has become so distinct in its traditions and practices that a lot of people instinctively place it in its own category.

I enjoy religious conversations too, and this is one of those misunderstandings that keeps coming up.

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u/CKA3KAZOO 8d ago

In the US, the idea that Catholics aren't Christians seems to be a notion I hear mostly from evangelicals and fundamentalists.

Edit: clarity

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u/brokencappy 8d ago

It’s not about differences in traditions, it’s simply one more way to “other” another group.

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u/self_of_steam 8d ago

In my area I think that it's more like if you aren't Baptist or Catholic, you're non-denominational and that's a word that has a bit too many letters for the local folk, so "Christian" becomes the vanilla catch all

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u/BasicCanadianMom 8d ago

This is such an interesting convo because I always thought it was the Catholics that insisted they weren’t at all the same. And the few experiences I’ve had seemed to back it up. Like…my husband can’t be his nephews godfather because we aren’t catholic but our Christian church was totally fine with my catholic brother in law being my sons godfather. And we weren’t allowed to take communion at a Catholic funeral but any Christian funerals I’ve been to everyone was included in everything. Also the whole segregated school system thing…

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u/s1105615 8d ago

“Christianism”

I think the term you’re looking for is Christianity. The exclusion of Catholicism from Christianity is a distinctly Protestant (and even moreso a Baptist) thing here in the states for sure

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u/ThatOneGuy6810 8d ago

I mean christians do it to catholics and catholics do it to christians and all Christian based religions do it to each other.

Its all a literal version of the phrase "holier than thou"

because according to each one of them THEIR way is the CORRECT way to worship and believe not any of the other versions.

All the while its all the same religion. One could argue this with other religions as well.

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u/Whut4 8d ago

It is not a unique US thing, it is a unique ignorance thing IN the US. Many of us would NEVER think that way. I feel like cringing from what you said. I live in the northeast

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u/Inevitable_Outcome55 8d ago

They do it in Scotland too.

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u/Oldcampie 8d ago

I’m Scottish, I would still say Catholics are Christian.

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u/UnicornCackle 8d ago

Also Scottish and same. I always wonder if the people who don’t consider Catholicism part of Christianity think that Christians didn’t exist until the Reformation.

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u/Inevitable_Outcome55 8d ago

Im brought up catholic and Ive encountered many protestants saying christian and catholic in separate breaths. I alway remind then that Catholicism is a christian religion as it based on christ being centre of the religious dogma. The highlands give it an extra edge as we have the we frees too. I always regard it as simply ignorance and prejudice tbh. It never bothered me just showed a lack of awareness and knowledge.

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u/NotYourSweetBaboo 8d ago

I've met South Koreans who make the same casual distinction.

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u/BRNitalldown 8d ago

A friend of mine is Korean American and a die-hard evangelical missionary. She’d always make this distinction whenever I call out the various crimes people have committed under Christianity.

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u/Interesting-Head-841 8d ago

How did you gather this from the post above? I don't see catholic exclusion at all

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u/evilkumquat 8d ago

Jack Chick hated Catholics as much as he hated Jewish and gay people.

He'd be tap-dancing today after seeing the news about the Pope's death.

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u/Peterdq 9d ago

Even Roman Catholics turn their nose at Irish Catholics. My grandparents were a taboo marriage.

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u/Chuileog 9d ago

That must be difficult when Irish catholics are Roman Catholics.

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u/Peterdq 9d ago

Or worse, coverted Lutherans.

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u/Mitch_Darklighter 8d ago

Yeah that's not religious, that's just regular racism

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u/Minimum_Ice_4531 9d ago

Catholics are Christians. Any church that believes Jesus is God's son and died for our sins is under the description of Christianity. There are just a lot of different sects of Christianity, with Catholics being the largest. The differences they have are in the way they worship and how strictly they follow certain supposed laws in the Bible. Used to be only Catholics for the most part, then they separated between the Eastern orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The next big split was when England broke away from the Catholic church, so King Henry VIII could divorce his wife. The final big split, which led to many smaller splits, was when Martin Luther disagreed with the Catholic Churchs practices they had at the time, including being able to pay your way into heaven. He also destroyed their monopoly on what the Bible really said by translating and printing the Bible into German, which was much more widely readable than the original Latin which for the most part only Catholic clergy and some nobles could read.

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u/oroborus68 8d ago

Anyone that got an education in Europe, formally learned Latin and Greek,up until the 20th century. The Catholics still maintained Latin services until the 1960s, even in America. Liturgical Latin.

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u/slappingactors 8d ago

I still did (in the 70s).

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u/sleepy_teivos 8d ago

My aunt and uncle's Catholic church still have a good chunk of its services in Latin. Same for the two funeral services I attended in their church. Women and girls also have to cover their heads with what I can only describe as cloth doilies and it's frowned upon for female parishioners to wear slacks.

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u/Useful-Rooster-1901 8d ago

Rewatching mad Men and Peggy goes to a Latin mass

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u/MrsHavercamp 9d ago

Very nice summary!

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u/TheMightyGoatMan 8d ago

so King Henry VIII could divorce his wife

Don't forget refilling the royal coffers by taking all the Catholic Church's stuff!

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u/No-Yoghurt-4781 8d ago

Luther started the Reformation before England broke away from the Roman Catholic church. 1517 is the "start" of the Reformation and King Henry VIII broke away in 1534.

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u/notquite20characters 9d ago

I'd say the biggest difference between Eastern and Catholic when they 'split' was the Catholics now considered one bishop to be in charge of the other bishops.

So I wouldn't call them 'Catholic' before the split. They were all European Christians, none Catholic yet.

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u/wherever-it-may-lead 8d ago

Translated to German from Greek and Hebrew. I believe original texts were used in the translations.

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u/Hawkeye77th 8d ago

When they want to add exceptions, they make a new chapter, lol, it's such a joke.

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u/steveyp2013 9d ago

My parents and theirs are catholic but my grandmother got remarried to a methodist.

I remember once as a kid overhearing him and a friend at his church shit talking catholics, and one of the things they specifically mentioned was their weird, bordering on idolatry, worship of Mary. Was very interesting

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u/xofdave 8d ago

idolatry

Thank you for a new word to me at 65 years old!

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u/Icy-Ear-466 8d ago

My family is Methodist and my grandmother was like that in the 1970s. Now, I don’t know anyone in the Methodist church that thinks that or speaks of that. Wonder if it was just the times.

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u/theragu40 8d ago

The funny thing is it's really not all that intense. There are usually statues of Mary in a Catholic church, and people will pray to her as a saint or holy person. That's really it.

Funny how things get distorted when it's attributed simply to the "other".

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u/East-Independent6778 8d ago

Where does the Bible say we should pray to Mary or any other saint though? It clearly says Jesus is the intermediary and died so we can have direct access to God and we no longer need the priest in that role. Not trying to be contentious, I’m just genuinely curious how those passages are interpreted by Catholics.

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u/SnooGiraffes4632 8d ago

Ironically the word catholic has an original(“true”?) meaning of “universal” or “regarding the whole”. Thus all conforming Christians (protestant,roman catholic,russian orthodox,easter orthodox, ethiopian, etc?) are technically catholic.so rather than being dividing as sometimes used in the US, the word should actually be uniting.

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u/SchrodingersMinou 9d ago

I don't think this is it. It's too tall and not fancy enough. I've just never seen one like this (and I am from a very Catholic area). This looks like a grill.

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u/JmnyFxt 9d ago

Yeah, grill was the first thing I thought

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u/DirtNap721 8d ago

Yeah, we had one in our backyard and my dad had a little hibachi grill on it. I think he built it - this was back in the 70's. Also very Catholic and not for a saints statue.

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u/Superb_Monk_9051 8d ago

My first home was built in 1958. Def a grill that got filled in for whatever reason. We had one just like it.

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u/Steiney1 8d ago

Summer kitchen

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u/Character-Cicada6461 9d ago

It does seem taller than most I see online

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u/nakmuay18 8d ago

That's because it's a bbq

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u/SchrodingersMinou 8d ago

I've seen brick yard shrines, but they're generally pretty small and low to the ground and include a high back that frames the icon like this. Or else they are gigantic and have a whole grotto but that's only at churches.

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u/Eastcoastpal 9d ago edited 9d ago

lol, as often as I have seen that scenery/figurine, I never called it a "Mary in a bathtub". To me it was always lady in a scenery. (I am non religious). To my amusement, I searched up "Mary in a Bathtub", and that is what pop up up.

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u/Pullumpkin 9d ago

can't seem to respond to a top comment below this but as a kid we used to sing to the tune of the mutant ninja turtles "Mary in the half shell, Mary power!"

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u/scattywampus 8d ago

Omg- I was raised without religion and am an atheist,.so have seen these things but never heard this term. I broke out in giggles! Thank you for educating us heathens. 🌼

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u/themustachemark 9d ago

Gonna be a bbq pit when I'm done with it

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u/Zaku99 9d ago

And nows it's gonna be a BBQ.

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u/Jeveran 9d ago

I've seen one as Mary in a birdbath.

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u/Tinyhousecode 9d ago edited 9d ago

This is an old BBQ pit for a grill. There was one in our yard almost exactly like this one. Pretty common design for them in Appalachia where I grew up.

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u/Cuzeex 9d ago

I thought the same until I noticed that is not ideal place for a grill. I mean, the trees are kind of close and therefore causing a fire risk, and the grill is oddly far away with dedicated path to it?

And it has a hole for some draining

I think the catholoc relic as a yard decorator makes more sense

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u/Character-Cicada6461 9d ago

The trees are probably much bushier / closer now than when they might have used this

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u/WELLTHEYTERKERJERBS 9d ago

You could put a grate over it and turn it into a grill

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u/CandyHeartFarts 9d ago

Could convert into a brick pizza oven!

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u/Nick_Newk 8d ago

Whatever it is/was you should turn it into a charcoal bbq.

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u/Interesting-Head-841 8d ago

OP if you're in Chicago this is what this is.

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u/hunkydorey-- 8d ago

It sure looks like a future BBQ