peristyle

Noun

peristyle (plural peristyles)

1. A colonnade surrounding a courtyard, temple, etc., or the yard enclosed by such columns.
   • One cannot, for example, see the Temple of Æsculapius as one stands in the fine open courtyard as it was intended one should do; the interstices on that side of the peristyle have been blocked by Venetian Gothic buildings.1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 143
2. A porch surrounded by columns.
3. (voodoo) A sacred roofed courtyard with a central pillar (the potomitan), used as a space for voodoo ceremonies, either alone or as an adjunct to an enclosed temple or altar-room.
   • The peristyle is a roofed structure, open at the sides, in which most of the ceremonials and dances take place.1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 47
   • Most peristyles in Haiti have hard-packed dirt floors that can soak up libations when they're poured on the ground in honor of the spirits.2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 35