Abstract
Aquatic Sacred Natural Sites and their associated traditions have many striking similarities around the world. As sites of biocultural diversity, sacred springs and holy wells are places where cultural beliefs and practices are both shaped by local biota and also help protect and maintain stocks of particular flora and fauna (because these are perceived as curative, numinous, or as totems). Rituals at watery sites that encode Local Ecological Knowledge and perpetuate biodiversity conservation deserve our attention. This paper identifies patterns in panhuman hydrolatry and asks how cultural perceptions of water’s sacrality can be employed to foster resilient human-environmental relationships in the growing water crises of the twenty-first century.
Presenters
Celeste RayChair of Environmental Arts & Humanities, Anthropology, Sewanee: The University of the South, Tennessee, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Multiple Legacies: Heritage, Traditions, Local Ecologies, Knowledge, Values, Protection
KEYWORDS
Sacred Water, Biocultural, Local Ecological Knowledge
