Sacred mountains

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Holy Mountain.
The north face of Mount Kailash, a mountain in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China which is considered sacred by four religions.

Sacred mountains are central to certain

abode of the deities Shiva and Parvati, and is considered sacred in four religions: Hinduism, Bon, Buddhism, and Jainism. Volcanoes, such as Mount Etna in Italy, were also considered sacred, Mount Etna being believed to have been the home of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire
and the forge.

Themes of sacrality

Edwin Bernbaum, a preeminent scholar of sacred mountains around the world, suggests that although no single, universal theme underlies all sacred mountains across the globe, it is possible to identify certain patterns that help to clarify the principal roles that sacred peaks play in different cultures. Bernbaum identifies the following ten themes expressed through sacred mountains that are particularly widespread in cultures around the world, summarized below. A particular sacred mountain may have one or more of these themes represented in it; some may have nearly all of them.

  1. Height: When we look at a mountain the first thing to impress us is usually not its central location, but its height, which evokes an immediate response of wonder and awe. Poised above the surrounding landscape, set in a fluid realm of drifting clouds and flowing sky, its summit appears to float in another world, higher and more perfect than the one in which we dwell.[2]
  2. Center: The view of the mountain as the center appears in its most comprehensive form as a central axis linking together the three levels of the cosmos – heaven, earth, and hell or underworld. As the link between heaven earth, and hell, it acts as a conduit of power, the place where sacred energies, both divine and demonic, spew into the world of human existence.[3]
  3. Power: Many sacred mountains are revered as places of awesome power manifested in various ways – natural, supernatural, and even political.[4]
  4. Deity or abode of deity: As places of power and heavens on high, mountains serve as abodes of gods and goddesses, often situated at the center of the cosmos, world, or region.[5]
  5. Temple or place of worship: Mountains often appear in the form of temples housing the deities who reside on or within them. As centers and high places open to the sky, mountains provide altars for making offerings to gods and spirits. Also, mountains may take the form of places of worship, viewed or imagined as shrines, churches, and cathedrals.[6]
  6. Paradise or garden: Modern societies share with traditional cultures the widespread view of mountains as sacred gardens and earthly paradises.[7]
  7. Ancestors and the dead: Whether revered as heavens or feared as hells, mountains have a widespread and important role as hallowed places of the dead. In many cases, the resemblance of mountains to tombs, which often mimic the shape of hills, make them natural places of burial. In seeing mountains as abodes of the dead, people often regard them as the places from which their ancestors came – or as those ancestors themselves.[8]
  8. Identity: As divine ancestors, mountains provide many societies with their identity and cohesiveness.[9]
  9. Source: People throughout the world look up to mountains as sources of innumerable blessings, sometimes attributed to the ancestral spirits dwelling within them. For many cultures the most important of these blessings is water. Other blessings that flow from sacred mountains include fertility, health, and well-being, as well as treasures of various kinds.[10]
  10. Revelation, transformation, inspiration, and renewal: As places of power, close to heaven, mountains serve as dramatic sites of revelation, transformation, inspiration and renewal. The revelation or vision on a mountain often transforms the person who receives it. Hermits of traditions around the world seek out mountains as places to transform themselves through practices of physical austerity and spiritual contemplation. Poets and mystics have visualized the ascent of the sacred mountain as a symbol of the ultimate pilgrimage, leading to the heights of heaven and the final goal of spiritual realization. For lay people who do not aspire to the supreme heights of spiritual transcendence or enlightenment, mountains serve as places where they can find inspiration and renewal.[11]

Purpose and use

Community identity

History shows that mountains were commonly part of a complex system of mountain and ancestor worship. Having immortalized fallen brethren in the edifice, the people share a common allegiance with all the other people of a community. The meanings that were etched into the mountain and mound terrain connected the villagers. They were all subject to the same landscape and village history, which were bound together by their cultural significance. The history of

ancestors could be told by simply pointing at specific mountains and remembering the stories that were passed down throughout the generations. The worship of ancestors and the mountains were largely inseparable. An interconnected web between history, landscape, and culture was thus formed.[12]
One example is the Hindu belief that Mount Kailash is the final resting place for the souls of the dead, as well as the large cemetery placed on Mount Kōya-san.

Sacred mountains can also provide an important piece of a culture's identity. For example,

Jack Ives write, "The Armenian people regard Mount Ararat, a volcano in eastern Turkey believed to be the site of Noah's Ark in the Bible, to be a symbol of their natural and cultural identity".[13]
As a result of the mountain's role as a part of a cultural identity, even people who do not live close to the mountain feel that events occurring to the mountain are relevant to their own personal lives. This results in communities banning certain activities near the mountain, especially if those activities are seen as potentially destructive to the sacred mountain itself.

Pilgrimages

To date, Kailash has never been climbed, largely due to the fact that the idea of climbing the mountain is seen as a major sacrilege.[14] Instead, the worshipful embark on a pilgrimage known as the kora. The kora consists of a 32-mile path that circles the mountain, which typically takes five days with little food and water. Various icons, prayer flags, and other symbols of the four religions that believe Kailash is sacred mark the way. To Buddhists and Hindus, the pilgrimage is considered a major moment in a person's spiritual life. One circuit is believed to erase a lifetime of sin, while 108 circuits is believed to ensure enlightenment.[15]

Sacred Mountains are often seen as a site of revelation and inspiration. Mount Sinai is an example, as this is the site where the covenant is revealed to Moses.

tourists as much as they do religious pilgrims. However, in some cases, the financial revenue is overlooked and sacred mountains are conserved first due to their role in the community.[17]

Members of the Aetherius Society conduct pilgrimages to 19 mountains around the world that they describe as being "holy mountains".[18]

Mount Tomorr, a holy mountain for Albanians, is one of the most frequented sacred places in Albania.[19] Remarkable annual pilgrimages to this mountain take place during the second half of August.[20][21]

By country and region

Machapuchare, a sacred Nepalese mountain, viewed from foothills

Various cultures around the world maintain the importance of mountain worship and sacredness. One example is the

Taranaki peoples of New Zealand. The Taranaki tribe view Mount Taranaki as sacred. The tribe was historically sustained by this mountain's waterways. As in other instances in Māori mythology, the mountain is anthropomorphized in various stories. For the tribespeople, Mount Taranaki has a deep spiritual significance and is seen as a life force. It is viewed as the place where life is given and to where people are returned after death.[22]

America

Native American people hold numerous mountains as sacred, including the Black Hills in South Dakota, Devils Tower, and Mount Shasta.

Navajo

The

Hesperus Peak located in the La Plata Mountains
.

Each mountain/peak is representative of a color, direction, and correlates with a cultural light phenomenon dealing with the cosmic scheme of the rising and of the setting sun. Directionally, the mountains are described in a clockwise motion following the movement of the Sun beginning with the eastern mountain of Blanca Peak. Blanca Peak is associated with the color white and the "Dawn Man" referring to the rising of the sun. Next in the south is Mount Taylor, which is associated with the color blue and the "Horizontal Blue Man" referring to the daytime. In the west is the San Francisco Peaks, which is representative of the color yellow and the "Horizontal Yellow Woman" and is associated with the setting of the sun. And finally in the north is the Hesperus Peak of the La Plata Mountains which is given the color black and belongs to the light phenomenon of the "Darkness Woman" representing night-time.[23]

Inca

The ancient

Inca displayed a connection with death and their mountains. It is well known by scholars that the Inca sensed a deep reservoir of spirituality along the mountain range. Situating their villages in the mountains, they felt these places acted as portal to the gods. Ritual child sacrifices called Capacochas were conducted annually, where the most precious gift that could be given (innocent, blemishless, perfect human life) would be sacrificed to the gods. Tremendous effort would be taken as the sacrificial victims would be paraded alive throughout the cities, with multiple festivals and feasts taking place. The final destination would be the tops of some of the highest mountains near their villages, leaving these sacrifices to freeze in the snow. These would take place during great times of distress, during times of famine, violent periods of war, and even during times of political shift. This connection with the mountain as a sacred space is paramount. There would be no other place that would be sufficient or acceptable enough for the gods to accept these gifts. It is neither a surprise nor a coincidence that their honored dead were placed on the highest peaks of the mountains to express the shared connection between the sacred mountain, the gods, and the dead.[24]

China

See also: Sacred Mountains of China

In China, many different sets of sacred mountains exist, each associated with a different religious tradition:

Chinese expression
for pilgrimage (朝圣; 朝聖; cháoshèng) being a shortened version of an expression which means "paying respect to a holy mountain" (朝拜圣山; 朝拜聖山; cháobài shèng shān).

Buddhism

Chinese Buddhism recognizes four sacred mountains, which are each associated with a specific

Samantabhadra and is the location of the first Buddhist temple built in China in the 1st century CE.[26]
It is home to over 76 Buddhist monasteries, most of which were constructed during the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644).

Taoism

Khmer, and the Umayyad Caliphate.[30] This site is now home to over 22 temples, 97 ruins, 819 stone tablets, and 1,018 cliff-side and stone inscriptions. The other four sacred mountains are: Mount Hua in Shaanxi (associated with the west), Mount Heng in Hunan (associated with the South), Mount Heng in Shanxi (associated with the north), and Mount Song in Henan (associated with the centre). Another famous grouping of sacred Taoist mountains consist of: Mount Longhu, Mount Qiyun, Mount Qingcheng and the Wudang Mountains. In addition, numerous other mountains which are not part of any particular groupings have also been recognized as sacred in Taoism, such as the Kunlun Mountains, which is nicknamed the "Forefather of Mountains" in China[31][32] and is believed to be the abode of Xiwangmu (Chinese: 西王母; pinyin: Xīwángmǔ), a goddess who is associated with death, warfare, pestilence, shamanism as well as life and immortality.[33]

Greece

Mount Olympus

Hellenistic World". It was also considered the site of the War of the Titans (Titanomachy) where Zeus and his siblings defeated the Titans. Mount Othrys
is a mountain in Central Greece, which is believed to be the home of the Titans during that war.

Mount Ida, also known as Mountain of the Goddess, refers to two specific mountains: one in the Greek island of Crete and the other in Turkey (formerly known as Asia Minor).

Mount Ida is the highest mountain on the island of Crete is the sacred mountain of the Titaness Rhea, also known as the mother of the Greek Gods. It is also believed to be the cave where Greek God Zeus was born and raised.

The other Mount Ida is located in Northwestern

Virgin Mary then blessed the land and claimed it her own.[34]

In

Xerxes. Over time, Alexander the Great has become associated with the mountain for his worldly powers. The myth states that Greek architect Dinocrates had wanted to carve Alexander the Great's figure onto the top of the mountain in tribute to him.[35]

Japan

In

Sengen-sama. Annual fire festivals are held there in her honor. It is also the site of pilgrimages; reportedly, 40,000 people climb up to its summit every year.[36]

India

See also: Sacred rivers of India and Sacred groves of India

In

Tosham Hills, Adi Badri in Haryana
, etc.

Korea

In Korea, people have maintained ancient ways of worshiping mountain spirits. While they are not in fact worshiping the land itself, the gods associated with this worship are united to the land. These spirits are female entities to whom people pay tribute while passing by the mountains, asking for good luck and protection. People also travel to these mountains to ask for fertility. While people generally hold to these female deities for protection or to perpetuate life, one of their most important functions is to protect the dead. The ponhyangsansin is a guardian spirit that is protecting an important clan grave site in the village. Each mountain goddess has an equally interesting story that is tied to their accounts of war against Japan, and the historical legacy of their emperors. Each spirit learned difficult lessons and experienced some sort of hardship. These legacies in the mountains serve as a kind of monument to the history of Korea. While many of the accounts may be true, their details and accuracy are shrouded by time and ritual. While the inaugurations of new ponhyang san sin are not being conducted, fallen important clansmen and leaders are strategically placed in the mountains in order for these strong, heroine-like spirits may fiercely guard their graves. The history of Korea is in turn protecting its own future.[38]

Middle East

According to the

Greek Orthodox monks, as well as a large collection of Byzantine art, illuminated manuscripts, icons, and books; the collection of icons in particular has been proclaimed one of the oldest in the world.[citation needed
]

Tibet

Tibet's

enlightenment. Bon Po teaches that Mount Kailash is the home of a wind goddess. Followers of Sikhism believe the 1st Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak
arrived at Mount Kailash during the 3rd Uddasi (divine journey) and debated with the Siddhas.

mythology, it is believed that the sun, moon, and stars all revolve around Mount Meru. Folklore suggests the mountain rose up from the ground piercing the heavens, giving it the moniker "the navel of the universe".[40]

Vietnam

In

Maitreya Buddha opened the Hội Long Hoa, the final judgment, ending the hạ ngươn period (the end of the Dharma) and opened a thượng ngươn new life of happiness and peace. An indicator sign is that by that time, from the treasure mountain (Bửu Sơn) will emit a wonderful fragrance (Kỳ Hương).[41]

Albania

Mount Tomorr
, a holy mountain for Albanians, is one of the most frequented sacred places in Albania.

The cult of the mountain and mountain tops is widespread among

Shëndelli and many others. In Albanian folk beliefs the mountain worship is strictly related to the cult of Nature in general, and the cult of the Sun, the earth and water in particular. Every mountain is said to have its own nymph (Zana e malit), who get their specific name according to the top of the mountain where the nymphs stay. For instance Mount Pashtrik is the dwelling of Zana e Pashtrikut.[42][43][44]

List of sacred mountains

A non-exhaustive alphabetical list of sacred mountains is as follows:

Conservation

Sacred mountains often have restricted access. Climbing has been banned from Mount Kailash, the source of four major rivers in India, which are also protected from pollution.

A large forest has been preserved due to its proximity to Mount Kōya-san.

In the Sacramento Valley in the United States, Shasta Mountain was first revered by the Native American tribe, the Wintu. The Wintu tribe has voiced concerns[when?] and asked for support from the government to regulate the activities practiced on the mountain, saying that "they are disturbed by the lack of respect" shown for the piece of land. There is an ongoing debate on whether the more vulnerable and "spiritually desirable" places of the mountain should be closed and maintained only by the Wintu tribe, who see this land as a sacred graveyard of their ancestors, or open to all who seek spiritual fulfillment such as the modern-day group of the I AM.[48]

See also

References

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  16. ^ Quran Ch. 96
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  24. ^ Ceruti, Constanza.2004 Human Bodies as Objects of Dedication at Inca Mountain Shrines (North-Western Argentina). World Archaeology 36:103–122.
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  48. ^ Huntsinger, Lynn and Maria Fernandez -Martinez 2000 Spiritual Pilgrims at Mount Shasta California. Geographical Review 90: 536–558

External links

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