Something that represents or is imbued with the spirit of a community.
Lifted from Emile Durkheim:
> As Durkheim argues, society can only become conscious of these forces circulating in the social world by representing them somehow. The power of religion must therefore be objectified, or somehow made visible, and the object onto which this force is projected becomes sacred. This sacred object receives the collective force and is thereby infused with the power of the community. It is in this way that a society gains a tangible idea, or representation, of itself. – Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy 