Living indigenous religions

The built and natural elements of the Kasubi Tombs site are charged with historical, traditional, and spiritual values. It is a major spiritual centre for the Baganda and is the most active religious place in the kingdom. (AB ev)

Criterion (iv): Pueblo de Taos is a remarkable example of a traditional type of architectural ensemble from the prehispanic period of the Americas unique to this region and one which, because of the living culture of its community, has successfully retained most of its traditional forms up to the present day. - AB Evaluation. Traditional ceremonies and rituals are performed at the pueblo's four kivas. Furthermore, events such as the Turtle Dance, Deer and Buffalo Dance incorporate beliefs of the Taos Pueblo tribe. "The Pueblo religion is very complex; however, there is no conflict with the Catholic church, as evidenced by the prominent presence of both church and kiva in the village." - Official Taos Pueblo website

bronze drum culture (AB ev)

The Bedouins living there are the descendants of some of the authors of the rock art and inscriptions, and the culture underwriting the rock art production still continues today. This is amply evident, for example through the continuing veneration of the fertility goddess Alia, which is a prominent feature in the Ḥimā rock art. (nom file p.12)

Chief Roi Mata's Domain still lives for many people in contemporary Vanuatu, as a source of power evident through the landscape (AB ev, Crit vi)

"the intertwined complex of practices, social rules, rites and beliefs that have helped the Bassari regulate the interaction between men and their living environment and have produced a cultural landscape shaped by and imbued with cultural traditions and spiritual meanings that persist in a lively dynamic of transmission" (OUV)

The landscape is considered to be sacred by the Blackfoot people, and centuries-old traditions are perpetuated today in various ceremonies and in the respect in which the place is held. (OUV)

several Sikkimese ethnic groups and a multilayered syncretic religious tradition (AB ev)

"The Kayas provide focal points for Mijikenda religious beliefs and practices, are regarded as the ancestral homes of the different Mijikenda peoples, and are held to be sacred places. As such they have metonymic significance to Mijikenda and are a fundamental source of Mijikenda's sense of "being-in-the-world" (Crit iii)

"based on the spiritual, ritual and cultural practices of the Wixárika, one of the Indigenous groups of Mesoamerica that has survived with vitality" (AB ev)

The dramatic monoliths of Uluru and Kata Tjuta form an integral part of the traditional belief system of one of the oldest human societies in the world (AB ev)

"The Tsodilo outcrops have immense symbolic and religious significance for the human communities who continue to survive in this hostile environment." (Crit vi)

The peaks are spoken of with the same reverence and feeling as tribal ancestors, ensuring that the connection is one of spirituality as well as culture.(AB ev)

"The ritual practices that are fundamental to the ancestor cult and the funeral rites are an integral part of the spiritual and temporal rituals that are specific to Kasena culture" (OUV)

... Polynesians who come in pilgrimage to the ancestral home of mā’ohi civilization. (AB ev)

crit vi: Pimachiowin Aki is directly and tangibly associated with the living tradition and beliefs of the Anishinaabeg (AB ev)

ceremonial sites on Mokumanamana and Nihoa Islands

The Osun Grove is a tangible expression of Yoruba divinatory and cosmological systems (AB ev)

it continues to retain religious and traditional significance (AB ev)

See www.everyculture.com

"based on traditional knowledge and belief systems that reserved certain parts of the forest as sacred areas" (crit iii)

Exceptional combinations of natural and cultural elements. The complex ritual relationships of the Dogon people with the environment include the use of curative and medicianl wild plants and the scared associations with pale fox, jackal and crocodile" (Crit niii)

"Although the Chongoni sites are still used for initiation, nyau and rain ceremonies, rock painting has ceased. " (AB)

Criterion (iii): Chiribiquete is even today considered to be of mythical importance by several groups (AB ev)

Obeah, strongly connected to Nanny of the Maroons

"They represent all that remains of the traditional shrine houses (Abosomfie) of the Ashanti people, each of which was traditionally regarded as the spiritual home of a particular Obosum, a minor deity who could mediate between a mortal being and the supreme god Nyame" see
See www.africanworldheritagesites.org

The Royal Hill of Ambohimanga is an exceptional example of a place where, over centuries, common human experience has been focused in memory, ritual and prayer (AB ev, Crit vi)