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The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe Proceedings of the Third Workshop of the Delos Initiative – Inari/Aanaar 2010 Inari/Aanaar 2010 Inari/Aanaar Edited by Josep-Maria Mallarach, Thymio Papayannis and Rauno Väisänen International Union for Conservation of Nature World Headquarters Rue Mauverney 28 1196 Gland, Switzerland Tel +41 22 999 0000 Fax +41 22 999 0002 www.iucn.org The Diversity of Sacred Lands of Sacred in Europe The Diversity YMPÄRISTÖMINISTERIÖ MILJÖMINISTERIET MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe Proceedings of the Third Workshop of the Delos Initiative The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN, Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services, The Delos Initiative or other participating organisations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN, Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services, The Delos Initiative or other participating organisations. This publication has been made possible by funding from the Ministry of the Environment, Finland, and Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services. Published by: IUCN, Gland, Switzerland in collaboration with Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services, Vantaa, Finland. Copyright: © 2012 All authors for their respective contributions, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services. Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorised without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Citation: Mallarach, J.-M., Papayannis, T. and Väisänen, R. (eds) (2012). The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe: Proceedings of the Third Workshop of the Delos Initiative – Inari/Aanaar 2010. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN and Vantaa, Finland: Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services. 292 pp. ISBN: 978-2-8317-1423-3 Cover photos: Clockwise from the top: Fadil Sarki, Mikael Hintze/Metsähallitus, Knut Helskog, G. Porter, sanniopropone.com, Heiki Maiberg, Ervin Ruci/FunkMonk, Thymio Papayannis and Sebastian Cataniou in the middle. Back: Riina Tervo/Metsähallitus. Layout by: Taittotalo PrintOne, Minna Komppa Translation: PasaNet Oy, Spencer Allman Coordinaton and Liisa Nikula, Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services text editing: Produced by: Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services Printed by: Edita Prima Oy Available from: IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Publications Services Rue Mauverney 28 1196 Gland Switzerland Tel +41 22 999 0000 Fax +41 22 999 0002 [email protected] www.iucn.org/publications Med-INA 23, Voukourestiu Street 106 71 Athens Greece Tel +30 210 360 0711 Fax +30 210 362 9338 [email protected] www.med-ina.org The text of this book is printed on Galerie Art Silk 130 gsm made from wood fibre from well-managed forests certified in accordance with the rules of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe Proceedings of the Third Workshop of the Delos Initiative Inari/Aanaar, Finland, 1-3 July 2010 Edited by Jose-Maria Mallarach, Thymio Papayannis and Rauno Väisänen table of contents 7 All creation groans and sighs… Kari Mäkinen 15 Introduction to the proceedings of the third workshop of the Delos Initiative in Inari/Aanaar, Lapland, Finland Josep-Maria Mallarach, Thymio Papayannis and Rauno Väisänen 25 Part One: The Sámi people and their relation to nature 27 Greetings from the Saami Parliament Juvvá Lemet – Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi 33 Words of welcome Tarmo Jomppanen 37 Indigenous Sámi religion: General considerations about relationships Jelena Porsanger 47 Archaeology of sieidi stones. Excavating sacred places Tiina Äikäs 59 Part Two: Ancient, indigenous and minority sacred natural sites 61 Conserving sacred natural sites in Estonia Ahto Kaasik 75 Use and reuse of ancient sacred places in Mikytai, Žemaitija National Park, NW Lithuania Vykintas Vaitkevicˇius 85 Zilais kalns – Blue Hill in Latvia Juris Urtaˉns 95 Alevi-Bektashi communities in south-eastern Europe: spiritual heritage and environmental consciousness Irini Lyratzaki 109 Part Three: Managing lands of mainstream religions 111 The cultural and spiritual sites of the Parco Nazionale della Majella, Italy Vita de Waal 125 Holy Island of Lindisfarne and the modern relevance of Celtic ‘Nature Saints’. Robert Wild 139 Landscape linkages between cultural and spiritual values. The wetland of Colfiorito and the Lauretana pilgrimage route in the Plestian Plateaus. Chiara Serenelli 155 Part Four: Managing lands of monastic communities 157 Monastic communities and nature conservation: Overview of positive trends and best practices in Europe and the Middle East Josep-Maria Mallarach 175 Managing the heritage of Mt Athos Thymio Papayannis 189 Special Nature Reserve Milesevka and the Mileseva Monastery Nadezda Pesic, Svetlana Dingarac and Dimitrije Pesic 203 Part Five: Europe: a wealth of sacred natural sites 205 Diversity of sacred lands and meanings in Northern Europe: Challenges for the managers of protected areas Rauno Väisänen 217 The Carpathian Mountains, a realm of Sacred Natural Sites Sebastian Ca˘ta˘noiu 231 The ‘sacredness’ of natural sites and their recovery: Iona, Harris and Govan in Scotland Alastair McIntosh 245 Synergies between spiritual and natural heritage for habitat conservation in the Barents Euro-Arctic Region Alexander N. Davydov 259 Part Six: Other related issues 260 Applicability of the IUCN-UNESCO Guidelines for Protected Area Managers on Sacred Natural Sites: first assessment Josep-Maria Mallarach 271 Inputs and comments from the workshop 275 Conclusions 285 Appendices 291 The ecological footprint of the Delos Proceedings All creation groans and sighs... Humanity and borders In the Finnish language, the early semantic strata associated with the concept of pyhä (’holy’) relate to a place on the landscape. The reference is to a border. Many place names, such as Pyhäjärvi or Pyhäjoki, bear this out. These are partic- ular places in the wild, as far as which people have been permitted to travel, though no further. Holy outlines an area belonging to man – demarcates it. The word in this sense is still valid today, although it is no longer literally associat- ed with a place on the landscape. When we speak of the ‘holy’ we are still ex- pressing the idea of the borders of human existence. A holy day (for example Sun- day) or holy object signifies a spiritual terrain isolated from others that speaks of somewhere beyond, a place that does not belong to man. It is a border which de- mands that we step back – we have to pause, just as we do at a geographical one. It requires our humility, sensitivity and respect. A sense of the holy and its protection are essential if people are to understand who they are. To be human is to stand before what is holy and to relate to it. That is the only way we can identify the borders of humanity and human activity. Holy spaces are the doors to the meaning of everything The Christian interpretation of life is not detached from these archaic, distant meanings of the Finnish word pyhä - holy – but actually relates to them. This is the case with the stories of creation in the beginning of the Bible, which are basic de- pictions of human existence. They even use imagery that recalls the ancient mean- ings of the word. In the beginning, according to the stories, man is part of the same reality in which God is walking in cool of the afternoon. The holy is not somewhere on the outside. The world does not exist by chance but by the will of God. All creation is holy, be- cause it reflects the holiness of its Creator. But man’s tragic destiny is to become separated from this, to be expelled from God’s garden. As is well known, it hap- pens in the account of the Fall, the apple and the serpent acting as its agents. Its core meaning is that man will rise to the position of God and above everything else. The stories describe the basis of existence. Man is totally dependent on his Creator and creation, and his relationship with these is the most fundamental of all. It is a relationship with what is holy. The relationship is not simple or calm; it is con- tradictory, broken. 7 It is for this very reason - because of the hubris that shatters the basic relationship - that man needs to be able to identify and interpret the holy and those symbols that denote its reality: there is something more, something beyond our reality. The separately defined spaces, times and places that are recognised as holy are those that allow people, and the whole of creation, to breathe out, groan and sigh and create something new. They are doors to the deep meaning of life. Does the holy have a place in modern-day living? From the perspective of those first stories, we might ask how in today’s western culture a person can understand his or her existence in relation to what is holy. As the foundations of the ecological system shake, there are good arguments for saying that God plays no part in our culture. The basic dimension of human exist- ence, a sense of the holy, is absent, and in its place are merciless consumerism and the logic of exploitation. Where God is absent, people and nature only have a utility value, and no other. Nevertheless, we should not succumb to romantic ideas about history and claim that people used to have a sense of what was holy but now God is conspicuous by his absence. The modernisation of western culture has not buried the holy, but its place has changed.
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