Proposal:Votive sites and type of votive offering

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Votive sites and type of votive offering
Proposal status: Proposed (under way)
Proposed by: LikhtarStar
Tagging: amenity=votive_offering
Applies to: node area
Definition: Designated area for designated offerings to be displayed and deposited for religious purposes
Statistics:

Draft started: 2025-09-15
RFC start: 2025-09-15
Vote start: 2025-10-06
Vote end: 2025-11-06


Proposal

To approve and introduce the following 2 tags: amenity=votive_offering and its derivative votive_offering=*. These tags will encompass all possible votive sites and offering types.

Rationale

As explained in the definition above, many places of worship around the world contain designated zones for visitors or adherents to deposit votive offerings. Currently, there is no general consensus on how to map these votive sites, which are usually ignored and untagged because of a lack of description tags. Meanwhile, there has been a mention of tagging votive offerings in the single use case of sacred_tree:offerings=* for place_of_worship=sacred_tree.

These sites are meant for present-day visitors to deposit their offerings. They are not meant for tagging historical votive sites that are no longer in use e.g. favissae.

amenity=votive_offering

The first proposed tag, amenity=votive_offering, belongs to amenity=* because it provides a specific function within an existing place of worship. Usually, this would be a node or a small area within a larger religious site. This larger religious site will usually be tagged amenity=place_of_worship, but since the votive site occupies a separate node/area, no dual-tagging will be involved.

However, there could be cases where the entire place of worship is itself a votive site, e.g. the Hill of Crosses in Lithuania. In this case, dual-tagging is possible with amenity=place_of_worship;votive_offering in which amenity=place_of_worship would take precedence over amenity=votive_offering especially when rendering.

votive_offering=*

The second proposed tag, votive_offering=* is meant to convey information about what type of votive offering is supposed to be deposited there. Votive offerings from across different cultures can be classified rather neatly into universal categories e.g. money, candles, incense, tablets, and so on. Please see the "Tagging" section below for the list of values which represent each offering category.

Tagging

Possible values of votive_offering=*

This list can be expanded to add more values if necessary. Please refer to the "Example Gallery" section below for photos corresponding to some examples here.

Comparison with current tagging schemes

Please see the single use case of sacred_tree:offerings=* as mentioned above under "Rationale". Hopefully, if this proposal is approved, the tags here can replace it to conform to a more universal standard as explained in the table below under the "Pages Affected" section.

There is also the separate amenity=give_box which is not meant for votive purposes whatsoever, and does not include non-votive money donation boxes either. However, it is a good reference for how to categorise and label different types of items.

When other tags should be used instead

When a money donation box is not intended as a votive offering, it should be tagged as amenity=donation_box and not votive_offering=money.

Additional tags used in combination

For votive sites that only form a small part of the place of worship, the existing tags which are likely to be used in combination are:

For votive sites which encompass the entire place of worship, the existing tags which are likely to be used in combination are:

Example Gallery

  • Buljeonham donation box in front of the altar in Seonbonsa temple, Gyeongsan, South Korea
    Buljeonham donation box in front of the altar in Seonbonsa temple, Gyeongsan, South Korea
  • Candle rack in Grace Episcopal Cathedral, Kansas, America
    Candle rack in Grace Episcopal Cathedral, Kansas, America
  • Incense burner in front of An Sơn Temple, Côn Đảo, Vietnam
    Incense burner in front of An Sơn Temple, Côn Đảo, Vietnam
  • Tsatsa offerings near the Membartsho holy site, Bumthang, Bhutan
    Tsatsa offerings near the Membartsho holy site, Bumthang, Bhutan
  • Flower offerings at the sacred site of Pathala Ganga near River Krishna, India
    Flower offerings at the sacred site of Pathala Ganga near River Krishna, India

Pages Affected

Page Action
amenity=votive_offering Create page
votive_offering=* Create page
amenity=place_of_worship Edit to include this tag as a possible combination
place_of_worship=sacred_tree Edit the "How to map" section to replace sacred_tree:offerings=* with amenity=votive_offering and votive_offering=cloth instead
place_of_worship=holy_well Edit the table under "Values" to include amenity=votive_offering and votive_offering=money as possible tags to include, especially if visitors throw coins into the holy well (henceforth treating it as a wishing well).
historic=wayside_shrine Edit to include this tag as a possible combination. Note that despite the historic=* tag, this includes modern-day shrines.
historic=wayside_cross Edit to include this tag as a possible combination. Note that despite the historic=* tag, this includes modern-day crosses.
amenity=give_box Edit to add a sentence directing mappers to use amenity=votive_offering and votive_offering=* instead, if they mistakenly believe that a votive donation box should be tagged as a give box

Changes during RFC Process

Changes based on Community Feedback

Changes not based on Community Feedback

External Discussions

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.

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