Religious pareidolia

Religious pareidolia is pareidolia (the perception of a pattern where none intended) involving religious themes, especially the faces of religious figures. Many instances that are reported involve images of Jesus or other Christian figures seen in food, but it has an equivalent in the Muslim world where structures in food and other natural objects are perceived as religious text in Arabic, particularly the word Allah or verses from the Qur'an.

Examples

Chicago underpass

An emergency turnoff area underneath the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago was the host to one depiction in April 2005. An image of the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared on a wall, though the authorities put it down to salt staining.

Mary and Jesus pretzel

In March 2005, Machelle and Crysta Naylor placed a pretzel on the internet auction site eBay claiming that it looked like the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. They found the item in a packet of Rold Gold Honey Mustard Pretzels when they opened it in their home in Nebraska. ^*

Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich

On 23 November 2004, the Virgin Mary grilled cheese sandwich was sold for ^*]28,000 in an eBay auction. Diana Duyser claimed to see the Virgin Mary toasted into the bread in 1994 and sealed it into a plastic bag. She placed the item on eBay, which promptly withdrew the auction describing it as a joke item. However, they were convinced by Duyser that she would deliver on the bid. The sandwich was purchased by the online casino, GoldenPalace.com, which is notorious for its publicity stunts. The company said that they planned to undertake a world tour with the sandwich and then sell it, with proceeds going to charity.

Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Ghana

A marble rock in the wall of the Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Dansoman, a suburb of Accra, Ghana, was alleged to show Jesus in November 2004. Reverend Father John Straathof was cautious about the find, but said of the thousands of visitors that "^* it makes them pray, that's okay".

The "NunBun"

The face of Mother Teresa was seen in a cinnamon bun at Bongo Java in Nashville, Tennessee. It was first discovered on 15 October 1996 by the store manager and was turned into an enterprise by the company, selling T-shirts and mugs. Mother Teresa contacted the company and asked them to stop these sales and they agreed to do so, but the bun remained as an attraction in their shop. On 25 December 2005 the bun was stolen during a break-in at the coffee house.

The owner of Bongo Java has offered a $5,000 reward for the return of the NunBun. Recently, photographs of the pastry have been sent to the Nashville, TN newspaper The Tennessean from a person identifying themselves as "Hu Dunet." It shows the NunBun near a statue of a woman, as well as a picture showing it being held by two men, their faces obscured by alterations to the photograph.

"Our Lady of Coogee"

In 2003 an apparition of the Virgin Mary was seen in a fence on a headland in Coogee, Australia. The owner of a laundrette across the road from the headland claimed that shadow created the appearance of a veiled woman in the fence every afternoon.^* The section of fence that created the image was eventually destroyed by vandals.

Pareidolia in Islam

In the Muslim community, a frequent form of newsworthy pareidolia is the perception of the word "Allah" in Arabic on natural objects such as fish vegetables [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/443173.stm, plants and clouds. This is made more likely by the general simplicity of letter forms in the Arabic alphabet (especially in the everyday Riq'a); a tradition of massive typographical flexibility in Islamic calligraphy; and the particular shape of the word Allah (الله). These factors make the word easy to read into many structures with parallel lines or lobes on a common base.

Created depictions

Icon-caviar

Icon-caviar by Alexander Kosolapov was a representation of the Virgin Mary holding a baby Jesus Christ and used caviar as its medium. It was taken down from the New Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow after they received complaints.