The holy site or wahi pana of Haleakala Crater is known to native Hawaiians as the “House of the Sun.” Located on the southeastern reach of Maui, the second largest of the Hawaiian Islands, the sacred crater and summit are where ancient priests or na Kahuna Po‘o have received spiritual wisdom and practiced meditation for over 1,000 years.
Mauna Kea, a volcano on the island of Hawai‘i, is sacred to Native Hawaiians as an elder ancestor and the physical embodiment—or kinolau—of deities revered in Hawaiian culture and religion.Mauna Kea, a volcano on the island of Hawai‘i, is sacred to Native Hawaiians as an elder ancestor and the physical embodiment—or kinolau—of deities revered in Hawaiian culture and religion.
In the vast northern reaches of Alberta, home to the Cree, Chipewyan Dene, Dunne-za and Métis peoples, one of the last remaining stretches of coniferous boreal forest has become a center of international attention.
Winding 1,560 miles across northern India, from the Himalaya Mountains to the Indian Ocean, the Ganges River is not a sacred place: it is a sacred entity. Known as Ganga Ma—Mother Ganges—the river is revered as a goddess whose purity cleanses the sins of the faithful and aids the dead on their path toward heaven.
In southwestern Siberia, along Russia’s border with China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, the Altai or “Golden” Mountains are home to the semi-nomadic Altai people and to many endangered species, including the totemic snow leopard and argali mountain sheep.
Dongria Kondh community councils voted to deny mining rights in their sacred Niyamgiri Hills to Vedanta Resources and forbid the company from extracting 73 million tons of bauxite from the hills.
The Xingu River system, which runs through central Brazil northward to the Amazon, is a vital part of the complex ecosystem that sustains the world’s largest rainforests and a great diversity of cultures.
In the forests of Guatemala’s El Petén region lie the ruined cities of one of the world’s great ancient cultures, the Maya. The tops of stone pyramids peer over a dense jungle canopy teeming with wildlife and diverse plant species.
Revered by four Asian religions comprising millions of people, Tibet’s Mount Kailash is certainly one of the world’s most sacred places. Pilgrims of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Tibetan Bön faiths come to Kailash to complete ritual walks around the base of the mountain.
Many visitors think of Machu Picchu and its mystical Incan heights as the spiritual center for the people of Peru. However, to the Quechua people, the glorious 20,945-foot Mount Ausangate in the Andes is the main apu (deity).