Lawsuit Filed to Protect Chumash Sacred Condor & Sacred Sites

Posted November 13, 2009 By Nancy

A coalition of groups filed a lawsuit to stop an exclusive development project that was to include high-priced homes, golf courses and hotels. The development called, Tejon Mountain Village resort, is slated to be built high in the pristine mountains of Kern County, located in southern California.

The groups fighting the development include the Chumash Indian Wishtoyo Foundation, the Center for Biological Diversity, the TriCounty Watchdogs and the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment.

Mati Waiya of the Wishtoyo Foundation says the development threatens Chumash sacred sites and the endangered condor whose habitat would be gravely disturbed. The condor is central to the perpetuation of Chumash culture and ceremonial practices. The magnificent bird features prominently in Chumash oral histories and in sacred cave paintings.

Condor

You can read more about the issues surrounding the lawsuit and the destructive development in the press release from the Center for Biological Diversity.

Categories: Chumash, Environmental, preservation
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Aboriginal Elders Say Quarry Will Destroy Sacred Sites

Posted November 12, 2009 By Nancy

Perth Aboriginal Elders and Nyoongar Elders say the German quarrying firm Hanson Construction recently filed an application with the Department of Indigenous Affairs seeking approval to destroy cultural heritage sites.

Aboriginal Elders fear the blasting will endanger sacred stones, fragile plants and animals central to their culture. The quarrying will contaminate their water flowing from a brook that feeds into the Swan River.

The site complex at Red Hill in the Darling Range includes petroglyphs, ceremonial sites, grinding stones and ochre deposits used in spiritual practices. Of special interest is the Guardian Ancestral Owl Stone. You can learn more at Perth Independent Media.

For more information please visit the Susannah Valley website.

Petrochemical development has been threatening other sacred sites in Australia. The Dampier Rock Art, Burrup Peninsula located in Murujaga, Australia was included on the Sacred Sites International 2005 Most Endangered List. The site was again listed on the SSIF 2008 List of Sites because it is still highly endangered.

Dampier Australia Petroglyph

Categories: Australia, Environmental, preservation
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Wampanoag Sacred Sites & Rituals Threatened

Posted November 11, 2009 By Nancy

The Wampanoag of Massachusetts are known as the People of the First Light because of their sacred rituals that require an unobstructed view of the sunrise. These rituals are performed at secret sacred sites at key dates such as summer and winter solstices.

A proposed off-shore wind farm is proposed several miles off of Nantucket Sound and the Wampanoag are protesting the proposal as interfering with tribal religion. The development project calls for 130 wind turbines, each over 400 feet in height. The Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag claim the turbines will block their view of the sunrise and interfere with their ancestral burials on Horsehoe Shoal.

The Wampanoag are hoping to get Nantucket Sound listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Traditional Cultural Property. Such a designation would come with new regulations preserving views of the sun rising over the Nantucket Sound horizon thus assuring the continuance of their sacred practices.

You can read more about this in the San Francisco Chronicle article “Tribes Upset Over Wind Turbines.

Categories: Environmental, american indian
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Tara Hill, Ireland, Endangered Again

Posted November 10, 2009 By Nancy

Tara Hill, Ireland

In 2005 SSIF featured Tara Hill on our Most Endangered Sacred Sites List. The threat at that time, a freeway built right next to the sacred hill, is still the threat. Yet, another freeway!Fresh from the Irish government’s disgraceful ruination of the Tara-Skryne Valley sacred landscape, they’re planning another assault on the area containing many of Ireland’s primary ritual sites.Take a look at the link below. And watch this space; we’ll post details of who to contact as and when we know them.The Hill of Tara is not the only important heritage threatened by the Leinster Orbital Route. The Heritage Town of Trim is to be bisected.Check this story on Indymedia:http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94705UN MUST SAVE TARA PETITIONhttp://www.savetarapetition.net

Categories: Environmental, Tara Hill, preservation, site updates
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Urgent Action Needed for Lascaux Cave

Posted November 9, 2009 By Nancy

Lascaux Bulls

The magnificent prehistoric painted cave of Lascaux, located near Montignac, France, is in serious danger of being destroyed. The paintings are deteriorating from an overgrowth of black spots from fungus and bacterial growth. You can read more about this at the International Committee for the Preservation of Lascaux.

Urgent-Action Letters are desperately needed to urge the French Minister of Culture to work with the International Committee for the Preservation of Lascaux. Send letters to: Mr. Frederic Mitterand, Minister of Culture, 3 Rue de Valois, 75033 Paris Cedex 01, France.

Please send polite letters making the following points: 1) Please convene a committee of international experts to develop a study on the causes of the damage. 2) An effective scientific treatment must immediately be developed and employed to stop the proliferation of black fungus. 3) There must be scientific supervision of the cave; this is immediately needed and needs to be part of the ongoing management of the site. 4) An overall management plan for the cave should be developed and implemented with independent expert monitoring.

Categories: Lascaux Cave, Letters Needed, Uncategorized, World Heritage Site, letter writing, policy, preservation
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What is a Native American Healing Garden?

Posted November 8, 2009 By Nancy

Someone in Berkeley recently told us about a local church that wants to build a Native American Healing Garden as part of their sacred space. The project seems to be based on the idea that all Native America culture is the same and that all Native American communities regard the same plants as having healing properties. Perhaps the design of this garden will incorporate Native American sacred symbols and forms?

This project makes many assumptions that are not based on fact. Each Native American Nation and Tribe is unique, having their own identity based on centuries of oral history, based on the environments in which they live and based on their sacred ceremonies, spaces and symbols. Taking these elements out of their cultural context leaves them devoid of their fundamental meaning. Native Americans from one tribe usually do not consider using the sacred plants of another tribe to perform their ceremonies; so why do Christians believe that it is appropriate to do so?

We have spoken over the years with many Native Americans who consider cultural appropriation disrespectful and deeply hurtful. Why not design a healing garden based on western forms and western healing plants? There are many sacred forms such as the labyrinth that could form the basis of such a garden and endless choices of healing plants historically used in Western Culture.

Recommended resources: Sacred Objects and Sacred Places: Preserving Tribal Traditions by Andrew Gulliford (a benefit of Membership in Sacred Sacred International at the $50 level). We also recommend the excellent book by architect and Sacred Sites Board Member, Tony Lawlor, The Temple in the House.

Categories: Environmental, Resources, american indian
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