Sacredness in Laponia mixed World Heritage Site
Résumé
In the Laponian Area, a Mixed World Heritage (WH) Site in Northern Europe, sacred sites are notable as outstanding components of the landscape. These places are important in the traditional Saami culture and are called sieidi in the Saami language. They relate to rock formations and reliefs that the Saami indigenous people-who traditionally live on reindeer herding and from the land-encounter when they move or migrate within their lands for reindeer transhumance. Sacred values associated with these sites are inherited from the time when the traditional shamanist religion was practiced by the Saami. Sieidi are still of great importance in understanding the Saami's cultural perception of landscapes. Some of these spectacular places are also valued for their aesthetic and ecological values since the beginning of the 20th century, when the area started to become a tourist destination, and were included in the first national parks created in Europe (1909). Today, they are part of the mosaic of protected areas listed as the Laponian Area WH Site in 1996, and crystallise part of the cultural and natural values of Laponia's landscapes.