household deity

Noun

household deity (plural household deities)

1. A minor tutelary deity watching over a household, usually conceived as a protective ancestral spirit or genius loci.
   • […] Ganesh (Pillayar in Tamil), here is not associated with militant Hinduism; Pillayar is a lovable household deity here, a free and familiar god who craves no chauvinistic devotion.1990, V. Geetha with S. V. Rajadurai, “Communal Violence in Madras: A Portent?”, in Economic and Political Weekly, volume 25, number 38, →ISSN, page 2122
   • [O]n this day, as throughout the New Year's period, rites of divination for the following year were performed along with rites for the spirits of ancestors and other household deities.2005, Michael Como, “Silkworms and Consorts in Nara Japan”, in Asian Folklore Studies, volume 64, number 1, page 127

   Synonyms:

   house god, household god, lares and penates, lar, penates

2. (figuratively) An icon or patron saint: a revered individual within a group.
   • In our day Roy Basler's The Lincoln Legend and Lloyd Lewis' Myths After Lincoln have demonstrated that the most popular and admired of all American heroes has long ago been made superhistorical in myth; he has become, at least north of the Potomac, a household deity.1954, Marshall Fishwick, “American Heroes:Columbia's Path”, in Western Folklore, volume 13, number 2/3, page 155
   • Sigmund Freud has replaced Darwin and/or Hegel as the household deity of sterilization.1967, Donald K. Pickens, “The Sterilization Movement: The Search for Purity in Mind and State”, in Phylon, volume 28, number 1, page 94

   Synonyms:

   exemplar