The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe - IUCN

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Zilais kalns – Blue Hill in Latvia Juris Urtāns Introduction Zilais kalns, Valmiera municipality, is the highest point of NW Vidzeme, Latvia. Geologically it has formed as the result of the movements of the glacier and under-ice streams. The top of Zilais kalns rises 127 m above the sea level. The relative height of the hill is 66 m, which is significant for the topography of Latvia. The hill is surrounded by boggy areas. Zilais kalns by itself is a block of hills, which extends ca. 1.6 km in W–E direction, and about 2 km in N–S direction. The top of the hill is plain. The northern side of the hill is very steep and 36 m high, whilst the other sides are gently sloping. The Latvian name Zilais kalns means Blue Hill. Blue colour in place names is very often one of the marks to identify a place as holy, not only in Latvia, but also in many other parts of Northern Europe (Kursīte, 2008). The blue colour was associated with sky, holiness, nobleness, etc. In Baltic German literature Zilais kalns has been mentioned since the end of the eighteenth century (Börger, 1778; Hupel, 1782). Folklore and written records on Zilais kalns Several hundreds of folklore records about Zilais kalns have been collected < Upurkalns (Offering Hill) on the top of Zilais kalns. 85
in the Archive of Folklore of Latvia. The main motifs in folklore are connected with the hill as an ancient holy place. Very often a holy spring was mentioned, which was used in folk medicine. When the spring dried up, the people continued to use the sand from the spot of the spring for healing. See folklore collections in German and Latvian languages (Balodis, 1909; Hunnius, 1912; Ancelāne, 1988; Ruberte, 1999) and numerous folklore reviews (Ašmanis, 1930; Cukurs, 1930; Cukurs, 1936; Meisters, 1971; etc.). The Blue Hill as the unofficial cemetery of local peasants was mentioned in the seventeenth century written records. In this cemetery the local people have been buried without acceptance of the Church (Bregžis, 1931). This cemetery was situated on the top of the hill, where archaeological findings and human bones have been discovered since 1874 (Grewingk, 1876). In 1973, during trial archaeological excavations conducted in the place of forthcoming tower, 28 burials from sixteenth to seventeenth centuries were unearthed (Cimermane, 1974). There are written records of the seventeenth century mentioning the hill as a meeting place of witches (Straubergs, 1992). The same was evidenced also in folklore records (Šmits, 1937; Ruberte, 1999). It is quite possible that a Christian chapel or cross once stood on the hill (see Kurtz, 1924; Bregžis, 1931; Mannhardt, 1936). This was the praxis for Christianising an ancient ‘pagan’ holy place throughout Europe. In folklore big and regular markets are described close to Zilais kalns, which go back to medieval times or even earlier. Those markets were connected with orphans, who came to this holy place from very distant places. The rule was that the visitors of the market had to give donations to the orphans (Abbuls, 1921; Ruberte, 1991, etc.). Those folklore texts have been partly influenced by the socalled folk Christianity. Perhaps the existence of a medieval chapel on Zilais kalns has also provided basis for the existence of folk Christian tradition. There are a lot of folklore records telling about several objects with sacral meaning, like Upurkalns (Offering Hill), Svētavots (Holy Spring), stones, trees, etc. on Zilais kalns. There are folklore records telling that the local people used mud from the bogs close to Zilais kalns for healing purposes (Ruberte, 1999). Unfortunately those places in the bogs have not been localised. Part of folklore is connected with the stories about witches, who used Zilais kalns as an assembling place (Šmits, 1937, 263; Ancelāne, 1988, 102; Ancelāne, 1991; Ruberte, 1999; etc.). Perhaps it may not be a coincidence that in the 1960–1980s not far from Zilais kalns lived a woman who practiced healing and was famous all over Latvia. Her nickname was Zilā kalna Marta (Marta of Blue Hill). Her memory is living in present day folklore and also in literature (Zālītis, 2001; Plaudis, 2002; Plaudis, 2008; Plaudis, 2011), exhibitions and theatre performances. Since the end of the nineteenth century Baltic German and Latvian investi- 86
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The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Eu
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The designation of geographical ent
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table of contents 7 All creation gr
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All creation groans and sighs... Hu
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The borders of science In two areas
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ment. Their intention is the same a
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Introduction to the proceedings of
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have preceded the establishment of
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unique position in Northern Lapland
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Greece, the only monastic republic
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References Aikio, A. (2000). The ge
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Greetings from the Saami Parliament
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Lake Inari. Some of them are planne
Page 34 and 35: Words of welcome Tarmo Jomppanen Th
Page 36: threatened. It is extremely importa
Page 39 and 40: The concept of indigenous religions
Page 41 and 42: Kola Sámi oral tradition it is nat
Page 43 and 44: tic religion today; it is thought t
Page 45 and 46: References Bäckman, L. (1975), Sá
Page 48 and 49: Archaeology of sieidi stones. Excav
Page 50 and 51: fell tops, rock formations, islands
Page 52 and 53: to know more about the way their an
Page 54 and 55: jects, cigarettes, alcohol, candles
Page 56 and 57: place have been considered importan
Page 58: Manker, E. (1957), Lapparnas heliga
Page 62 and 63: Conserving sacred natural sites in
Page 64 and 65: abies), but they can also be from o
Page 66 and 67: Sacred natural sites and customs In
Page 68 and 69: were carried out. It was concluded
Page 70 and 71: The sacred grove (hiis) of Tammealu
Page 72 and 73: cial conservation area (IUCN Catego
Page 74: Glossary Looduslik pühapaik - a SN
Page 77 and 78: The location of the Mikytai Site in
Page 79 and 80: The Mikytai Alka Hill in the landsc
Page 81 and 82: The topography of sacred places in
Page 83 and 84: the mid-seventeenth to the first ha
Page 88 and 89: gators in many publications have be
Page 90 and 91: It is worth to mention that the ric
Page 92 and 93: Cukurs, R. (1936). Valmiera - Burtn
Page 96 and 97: Alevi-Bektashi communities in south
Page 98 and 99: Additionally, the central concept o
Page 100 and 101: tine state. By the eighteenth centu
Page 102 and 103: The most venerated natural elements
Page 104 and 105: people) (Kressing, 2002) and Bektas
Page 106 and 107: Balkans and Asia Minor. Most of the
Page 108 and 109: Mélikoff, I. (1998), Bektashi/Kizi
Page 110 and 111: Part Three: Managing lands of mains
Page 112 and 113: The cultural and spiritual sites of
Page 114 and 115: has been dedicated and since time i
Page 116 and 117: December 1991. It was founded in 19
Page 118 and 119: ison, elephants, rhinoceroses, lion
Page 120 and 121: These places often became places of
Page 122 and 123: 1200 BC to AD Iron AD to 476 Roman
Page 124 and 125: As was mentioned above, there is a
Page 126 and 127: Holy Island of Lindisfarne and the
Page 128 and 129: es facing Holy Island Lindisfarne.
Page 130 and 131: somehow helps sanctify a geographic
Page 132 and 133: ality into early Christian forms ar
Page 134 and 135: gree of reconstruction of the (redi
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housing the islanders established T
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UNESCO, (2011), Durham Castle and C
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Landscape linkages between cultural
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asin to be connected with other num
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The only remnant of the ancient Ple
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The Quadrilatero Project, threats H
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an ensemble, as they lack connectiv
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servation of the wetland ecosystem
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The wetland. Steps of protection. 1
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Sargolini, M. et al. (2006), Reti E
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Part Four: Managing lands of monast
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Monastic communities and nature con
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or ‘wild’ terrain, the longevit
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natural shelter, such as in caves.
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verse ancient Coptic monasteries in
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Therefore, ‘the actuality of mona
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The Holy Island of Arran, UK. Tibet
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Conclusion An analysis of the manag
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Mallarach, J.-M. (2005), The Way of
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Acknowledgements I am deeply indebt
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Managing the heritage of Mt Athos T
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miskis, the area has been dedicated
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the Athos authorities who have atte
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1992), and to promote the certifica
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the necessary arrangements for moni
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tive - and decisive - involvement o
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Παπαγιάννης, Θ. και
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Special Nature Reserve Milesevka an
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Serbs. From the eleventh century to
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monastery. The Venetian diplomat Ra
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Muslim populations of the region, w
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community. Thanks to the enormous e
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different needs of the stakeholders
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References Cmiljanovic, M. (2009),
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Part Five: Europe: a wealth of sacr
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Diversity of sacred lands and meani
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A rock painting portraying an elk f
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the protected areas of Finland. In
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management and conservation of the
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culture is a part of the duties of
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References Anonymous (2010a), The v
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The Carpathian Mountains, a realm o
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Throughout history, the Carpathian
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In Ceahlău National Park, Romania,
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Christian sacred natural sites Nowa
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grims; Wadowice, the birthplace of
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The Dacian King Decebalus, Porţile
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References Borsa, M., Chifelea, C.,
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The ‘sacredness’ of natural sit
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experience as part of the healing o
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Fox’s experience wears very diffe
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The word, sacred, has an etymology
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St Clement’s Church and Mt Roinea
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point of human ecology. From here a
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Posey, D. A. (ed.) (1999), Cultural
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Synergies between spiritual and nat
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A map of the Barents Euro-Arctic Re
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is associated with an area filled w
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tected area was included in the UN-
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Finland. The pictures on the rock w
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Concluding remarks Sometimes common
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Федотов Г.П. Будет л
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Part Six: Other related issues 259
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On the other hand, the UNESCO-IUCN
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the world (Eliade, 1959), there are
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to assess the applicability of the
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plicable as they are, eight would r
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References Burckhardt, T. (1958). P
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Inputs and comments from the worksh
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equally effective tool as interpret
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Conclusions Results The Delos3 Work
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growing, even within legally declar
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ny, beauty and the interconnectedne
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the world, make to the conservation
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2.7. Friday 09.00-10.30 Session 4:
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Appendices Appendix I: Workshop par
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Pirjo Seurujärvi Park Superintende
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P. 102 Ggia: el.wikipedia.org/wiki/
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The ecological footprint of the Del
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International Union for Conservatio
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