Female Spaces in Ethnically and Religiously Mixed Shrines in the Western Balkans: Cases in Montenegro and Kosovo

This paper discusses female spaces and rituals in two sacred sites in the Albanian-Slavonic borderlands that are shared by Christian and Muslim communities. Based on fieldwork material, the article first gives an overview of the infrastructure, various functions and female interrelations of the ‘Ladies’ Beach’ in the city of Ulcinj, Montenegro, which brings together stable local and spontaneously emerging female communities from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. The second part explores an example of a mixed pilgrimage in the village of Letnica in Kosovo, paying special attention to female ritual practices related to fertility and childbirth as an integral context for the different scenarios in which the shrine is visited. By examining rituals experienced by women, the paper shows that female practices aimed at reproductive well-being play a specific role in inter-group contacts in shared shrines and have an impact on the process of sharing by different ethnic and confessional communities.

Alternative Archaeology and New Age Traditionalism in Contemporary Russia

This article examines how esoteric traditionalism in contemporary Russia searches for legitimisation using alternative archaeology. Although New Age spirituality is often considered a private religion, some of its manifestations have a significant impact on the public sphere. The author demonstrates that the New Age in Russia contributes to redefining of categories of religion, science, and cultural heritage through the construction of sacred sites and discursive opposition to academic knowledge. The research is based on analysis of media products that present esoteric interpretations of archaeological sites in southern Russia and ethnographic data collected in a pilgrimage to the dolmens of the Krasnodar region.

The Siberian Village of Okunevo as a Place of Power and its Sacred Landscape

The paper deals with contemporary places of power and New Age sacred landscapes in Russia.* It focuses on the Siberian village of Okunevo, its sacred sites, and their worshippers. Formation of this place of power was a result of the activity of individuals (both academics and adherents of new religious movements), combined with the specific interpretation of archaeological sites and the natural landscape of the area. The landscape around the village of Okunevo affects the interaction of people with the sacred loci and the ways the signs, symbols and narratives about them are created.

Retrieving Intangibility, Stemming Biodiversity Loss: The Case of Sacred Places in Venda, Northern South Africa

Sacred sites and landscapes mirror indigenous peoples’ identity, well-being and sense of place. In Venda, northern South Africa, such places are preserved through myths and legends. Following a scoping study, which also involved engagement with indigenous communities, we reveal how human-driven destruction of biodiversity contributes towards significant losses of such heritage. Large-scale agriculture, mining and commercial plantations around Thathe forest, Lake Fundudzi and Phiphidi waterfalls are not only destroying these places, but also impoverishing indigenous peoples. This is not sustainable from the perspective of heritage conservation, survival and well-being of indigenous communities. Recognising intangible values expressed through myths and legends is necessary in heritage conservation and in addressing some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Continuity and Change in Orthodox Christianity in Contemporary Russia: Enduring Legacies and New Developments in the Making

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in two cities of European Russia, this article analyzes continuity and changes in Orthodox Christianity. In so doing, we emphasize property restitution, the renovation of sacred sites, and the importance of religious education in public schools and parishes. Based on that ethnographic material, we address three related research topics. First, we would like to discuss the importance of Orthodox Christianity for contemporary Russia. Second, we aim to show that an understanding of the Russian Orthodox Church as a national church underscores the local and internal differences as well as the complexities of everyday interactions. Finally, we address the notion of postsocialism and discuss its limits and potentials for the analysis of contemporary Russia.

NAVIGATION PATHS AND URBANISM IN THE BASIN OF MEXICO BEFORE THE CONQUEST

The island nature of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, is an under-studied aspect in our understanding of this unique urban space, located in the Mexican highlands of Mesoamerica. The island location induces cross-links from aquatic and terrestrial paths to create connectivity and continuity within the lacustrine cultural landscape of the Basin of Mexico during the Postclassic period (a.d. 900–1521). Although Cortés described this city as the “Venice of the New World,” no specific and systematic investigation of facilities related to water transport has been carried out. In this article, I fill this gap through a study of navigation routes which were conceived to facilitate the continuous movement of people and goods through the numerous canals crisscrossing the Aztec capital, and which are identifiable by means of anthropic markers that respond to functional needs. Transition zones (piers, quays, shoreline areas), coordination zones (ports), and activity zones (customs facilities, warehouses, bridges, sacred sites) are all related to the practice of water transport and intimately related to terrestrial roads. I identify and locate these areas using a multidisciplinary methodology based on archaeological data, ethnohistorical testimonies, and pictographic and iconographic documents.

Through the Eyes of a Mapmaker: Maritime Shrines on Cyprus during the Late Middle Ages

Cyprus acquired special importance, especially from the thirteenth century onwards, on the Eastern Mediterranean’s pilgrimage network. Described by contemporary pilgrims as “Terra christianorum ultima”, the island was considered to be the last Christian land in the south-eastern Mediterranean on the pilgrims’ itinerary on their journey to the Holy Land. This study is concentrated on two maps of Cyprus dated to the fourteenth century and preserved in Milan: Biblioteca Ambrosiana, A95 sup. and Venice: Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, gr. XI.21. It aims to explore the physical and spiritual mobility and interconnectivity in Cyprus during the late Middle Ages and to consider how these contribute to the development of pilgrimage sites directly related with maritime routes, seamen and travellers. These unique nautical maps captured the sea voyage which had Cyprus as a stopover, bringing to light new insights into fourteenth century Cyprus. The maritime shrines discussed in this article, which are usually “mixed” sacred sites, are directly related with sailors’ needs. They integrate into a wide network of communication, removing them partially from their local dimension.

The grass versus the people: sacred roots of environmental conflict in the Chilonga communal lands in Zimbabwe

This article analyses a conflict that erupted in 2021 between the government of Zimbabwe and the people of Chilonga in the south of the country over the expropriation of their ancestral for the production of lucerne grass. The people of Chilonga resisted being displaced from land to which they are deeply attached and have a sacred connection. This conflict provides a rare opportunity to analyze the often marginalized, muted and misunderstood sacred roots of the environmental conflict that shape collective agency. The article uses the concepts of emplacement and disemplacement to comprehend the deeper and more intangible impacts of displacing people from their grazing lands, sources of water and traditional herbs and medicines, and sacred sites—natural resources they claim to be sacred. Thus, while disemplacement has been used to explain why people find themselves moving, the article uses it to show the opposite: why they resist moving and demonstrate the not easily measured losses upon which resistance to moving hinges.

Participatory Conservation of Sacred Natural Sites: A Study of Haritha Poonkavanam Project of Sabarimala, Kerala, India

Biodiversity and the environment are inextricably linked to human cultural diversity. Traditional cultures have frequently preserved or kept untouched portions of their natural surroundings. Most of these civilizations regard some locations as holy, prohibiting most or all human activities. As evidenced by the sacred mountain environment and sacred vegetation, traditional culture plays an important role in biodiversity conservation. Sacred forests are part of a long-standing practise of protecting certain geographical regions with cultural and religious importance. A number of studies have shown that sacred forests are significant refuges for biological variety, particularly medicinal plants, amid highly anthropogenic environments, in addition to their cultural value. While sacred natural sites have been effective conservation sites in the past, there are various dangers to these ecosystems now, ranging from demands for the use of timber and other forest products to agricultural clearance and general changes in cultural practises as well pilgrimage to these sacred areas. The significance of natural sacred sites, particularly sacred groves, is gaining attention in international conservation organisations such as UNESCO and the IUCN, and has significant implications for the implementation of Article 8j of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which emphasises the utilisation of traditional knowledge and practises for conservation and long-term usage. Keywords: Sacred natural sites, Cultural diversity, Biological diversity, Vana Samrakshana Samithi.

Imaging Indigenous Sacred Sites: A Tale of Clay, Silt, and Sand

When studying indigenous sites, especially sacred sites such as burials, the needs and wishes of the indigenous people are paramount; the site integrity must be respected and the site must be left intact and undisturbed. Non-invasive, non-destructive geophysical imaging is well suited to such investigations, but suspicion within indigenous communities because of past transgressions are a barrier to widespread use; scepticism is not uncommon, but we always managed to convince the sceptics. We present an overview of results from 10 Maori (indigenous peoples of New Zealand) sites in the South Island of New Zealand: 1 historic burial site, 6 modern burial sites that also had historical use, 1 historic battle site, 1 prehistoric site that may have been a burial site, and 1 prehistoric site used for food storage that was tapu (sacred). Our approach was to let them ask us to delineate areas of importance, e.g., old burial sites. There are, naturally, processes and protocols, cultural and technical, that we followed. The sites comprised a range of lithologies and soil types: 1 site where clay soil overlay limestone; 5 sites where loess (airborne silt) overlay basalt; 1 set of inland silty soil sites; 1 site on peat soils overlying sandy gravels; and 2 sites in coastal sands. The geophysical responses of the sites cluster into three groups: Horizontal loop electromagnetics (HLEM) and magnetic field methods worked well for the clay soil site, and once the effects of the conductive clay response were removed by filtering, ground penetrating radar (GPR) worked well. HLEM and magnetic results were good to equivocal on the silty and peaty sites, whereas GPR excelled at delineating anomalous features, particularly burials, which yielded clear characteristic diffraction responses. Finally, results for coastal sand sites were disappointing. Such sites appear to be too dynamic to yield useful results.