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Mountain Research and Development Vol 26 No 4 November 2006: 304309
Edwin Bernbaum
Sacred Mountains: Themes and
Teachings
304
As the highest and most impressive features DC has developed with the US National Park
of the landscape, mountains have an unusu- Service innovative educational activities that
al power to awaken a sense of the sacred. highlight the spiritual and cultural meanings
Their soaring summits, the clouds and thun- of natural features of mountain environ-
der that swirl about their peaks, the life-giv- ments in different cultures. The purpose of
ing waters that flow from their heights, these the project is to connect a broad range of
and other characteristics imbue them with visitors with nature, enrich their experiences,
an aura of mystery and sanctity. In that aura, and give them deep-seated, sustainable rea-
people of diverse backgrounds, both tradi- sons for conserving the environment. Efforts
tional and modern, experience a deeper real- to conserve the environmental integrity and
ity that gives meaning and vitality to their cultural diversity associated with sacred
lives. Drawing on many of the themes asso- mountains need to involve the many diverse
ciated with sacred mountains around the peoples and traditions that revere and care
world, The Mountain Institute in Washington for them.
305
religious practices such as pilgrimage, bolizes for many the highest goal one can
meditation, and sacrifice. Primary exam- strive to attain, whether ones pursuit be
ples would be Tai Shan in China, Mount material or spiritual. Because of its impor-
Sinai in Egypt, and the San Francisco tance in the West as the ultimate high
Peaks in the United States. place, the Tibetan name of Mount Ever-
Secondly, mountains that may or may est, Jomolangma, is almost always mis-
not be revered frequently contain sacred translated in Western literature as God-
sites and objects such as temples, monas- dess Mother of the World. In fact,
teries, hermitages, stones, springs, and Jomolangma is short for Jomomiy-
groves, or are associated with the activities olangsangma, the name of the Tibetan
of important holy persons, such as Mount goddess of Mount Everest, one of the Five
Koya and Kobo Daishi in Japan. Great Sisters of Long Life and a relatively minor
numbers of people, for example, visit pil- deity, invoked for worldly benefits, such as
grimage shrines located in mountainous longevity, food, and wealth.
regions, such as the Hindu shrine of Center. An extremely widespread
Badrinath in the Indian Himalaya. theme is that of the mountain as center
Finally, mountains commonly awaken of the cosmos, the world, or a local
in individuals a sense of wonder and awe region. Although some scholars have gone
that sets them apart as places imbued with so far as to assert that every sacred peak is
evocative beauty and meaning. Many an axis mundi, a careful analysis shows that
tourists, hikers, and climbers today go to this hypothesis does not hold true: the 4
the Sierra Nevada in California, the Alps sacred mountains of the Navajo, for exam-
in Europe, and other ranges such as ple, determine the perimeter of the land
Huang Shan in China for esthetic and within which the Navajo live, not its cen-
spiritual inspiration and renewal, often ter. With this caveat, it is true that a large
regarding them as expressions of impor- number of mountains in Asia, such as
tant values enshrined in works of litera- Kailas in Tibet and Gunung Agung in Bali,
ture and art. As the writings of conserva- are patterned on the mythical Mount
tionists such as John Muir demonstrate, Meru or Sumeru, which stands as a cosmic
such views of mountains helped give rise axis around which the universe is organ-
to the environmental movement in the ized in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. As
United States and have played a key role a piece of Meru transported there by the
in galvanizing public support for the gods, Gunung Agung provides the Bali-
preservation of nature. nese with their sense of geographical and
People of different cultures experi- psychological orientationeverything on
ence the 3 general expressions of sacred- the island exists and finds its place in rela-
ness in mountains through the views they tion to the volcano.
have of them, such as the mountain as cen- Power. Many sacred mountains are
ter of the universe or source of water and revered as places of power, both natural
life. These views or themes differentiate and supernatural. In the 19th century,
the experience of the sacred and provide a Europeans in New Zealand were starting
starting point for developing a framework to buy up parcels of land on Tongariro,
for identifying mountain sites and deter- the sacred mountain of the Ngati
mining their potential for helping to con- Tuwharetoa. This threatened the mana or
serve environmental and cultural diversity. power of the chief and the tribe, which
In the course of studying sacred mountains depended on maintaining the integrity of
around the world, I have found 10 themes the volcano. In order to keep Tongariro
to be particularly widespread. They are whole, a European advisor counseled the
briefly described below. Paramount Chief, Horonuku Te Heuheu
Tukino IV, to give the mountain to the
Themes Crown as a park for the benefit of every-
Height. Many people revere mountains as one. He did so in 1887, and Tongariro
high places. Mount Everest, in particular, National Park became the first national
has assumed the status of a sacred moun- park in New Zealand. It later became a
tain in the modern world. Its summit sym- World Heritage site.
Edwin Bernbaum
306
307
and associations to evoke the experience biological and cultural diversity need such
of a deeper reality. For the sake of simplic- an understanding and appreciation to
ity, I have illustrated each theme with a gain the local and public support required
particular mountain. But in actual prac- to be sustainable over the long term.
tice these themes come in clusters linked
to each other in complex ways. The more Interpretive and educational materials
themes that gather like clouds around a and activities
peak, the more associations they bring to One of the first interpretive products
bear, making the mountain resonate with TMIs Sacred Mountains Program devel-
increasingly deeper significance. oped with the NPS was an offsite traveling
exhibit for Mount Rainier National Park
entitled Mountain Views that focuses
Applications to parks and
attention on the evocative spiritual and
protected areas cultural dimensions of Mount Rainier, a
Drawing on many of the themes associated prominent snow-clad volcano that is
with sacred mountains around the world, sacred for 6 local tribes and is also a pow-
The Mountain Institutes (TMI) Sacred erful symbol of place and identity for 3
Mountains Program has been working with million residents of this region of the
the US National Park Service (NPS) since United States (Figure 3). Park rangers
1998, developing innovative interpretive who specialize in interpretation take this
and educational materials and activities traveling display to fairs, community cen-
that highlight the evocative spiritual and ters, conventions, and other venues in the
cultural meanings of natural features of SeattleTacoma area in an effort to reach
mountain environmentsranging from a wider audience and encourage greater
peaks and rivers to forests and wildlifein visitation for the park.
American, Native American, Native Hawai- The exhibit has 3 sections: The
ian, and other cultures around the world. Mountain, Mount Rainier National
The purpose of the project is to connect a Park, and Mountains of the World. Each FIGURE 3 Mount Rainier
broad range of visitors with nature, enrich section employs images of people with traveling exhibit. (Photo by
Edwin Bernbaum)
their experiences, and give them deep-
seated, sustainable reasons for conserving
the environment. In addition to reaching
the general public, the project helps diver-
sify the National Park Services limited visi-
tor base by connecting with the heritages
and backgrounds of cultural and ethnic
groups who have not visited national parks
in high numbers, such as African Ameri-
cans and Latinos.
With more than 400 million visits a
year from around the country and the
world, US National Parks provide ideal
high visibility, high impact platforms for
reaching diverse sectors of the public with
messages grounded in spiritual and cultur-
al values that motivate enduring conserva-
tion, and for reaching other parks and
protected areas with models that inspire
them to create similar products suited to
their particular needs and resources.
TMIs project with National Parks has the
potential to enrich the experiences of mil-
lions of people and give them a deeper
understanding and appreciation of nature
and of other cultures. Efforts to conserve
Edwin Bernbaum
308
evocative quotes by each of them. The where there is despair, love where there is
Mountain section, for example, has a pic- hate, and dignity where before there was
ture of the well-known American conserva- only humiliation.
tionist John Muir with his impressions on A line at the bottom of the exhibit
seeing Mount Rainier for the first time, asks viewers to write down their comments
and a photograph of tribal elders with a on What does the Mountain mean to
quote on what the mountain, Tacobet, you? in order to engage the public and
means to the Nisqually Tribe. The quotes motivate support for the park and its envi-
in the Mount Rainier National Park sec- ronment.
tion show how The Mountain, as Rainier In 1999 the Sacred Mountains Pro-
is known in the Pacific Northwest, has gram initiated a collaboration among
inspired staff in different divisions of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
Park, ranging from interpretation to main- the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, the
tenance, to work at Mount Rainier. Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and TMI
In an effort to provide multiple per- to develop wayside exhibits that link
spectives and connect with the heritages Cherokee traditions and stories to fea-
and traditions of African and Asian Ameri- tures of the natural landscapesuch as
cans in the Pacific Northwest, the left- buzzards, trees, a mountain, and the river
hand section, Mountains of the World, itselfalong the 2 km Oconaluftee River
focuses on 3 mountains that stand out as Trail that runs from the Oconaluftee Visi-
cultural icons similar to Mount Rainier: tor Center in the Park to the Qualla
Mount Kailas in Tibet, Kilimanjaro in Boundary (the tribal lands of the Eastern
Africa, and Mount Fuji in Japan. A picture Band of the Cherokee). The waysides are
of Kilimanjaro, for example, is accompa- in English and Cherokee and are illustrat-
nied by interpretive text on its importance ed with artwork by local Cherokee artists
to the Chagga people who live on its selected by the Museum of the Cherokee
slopes and a quote by Julius Nyerere, the Indian (Figure 4).
first president of the modern state of Tan- As much as possible, the stories related
ganyika/Tanzania: We will light a candle on the signs are in the voices of living
FIGURE 4 Design for Oconaluftee
wayside exhibit on buzzard creating
on top of Mount Kilimanjaro which will Cherokee elders and storytellers in order
mountains and valleys. (Poster courtesy shine beyond our borders, giving hope to ensure authenticity and immediacy. One
of National Park Service)
FIGURE 5 Cherokee elder pointing out buzzards on the Oconaluftee River Trail.
309
(Photo by Edwin Bernbaum)