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Hiis Sacred Groves of Estonia (Paluküla Hiiemägi)
Paluküla (Rapla/Juuru parishes) & nationwide, Estonia
Estonia
Active revival (Maausk/native faith)
Regional cluster
- Location
- Paluküla (Rapla/Juuru parishes) & nationwide, Estonia
- Coordinates
- ~58.95°N 24.8°E (Paluküla)
- Elevation
- End-moraine hill (low)
- Size
- 550+ hiis groves recorded nationally; Paluküla hill site
- Age / Founded
- Pre-Christian (before 13th-c. Livonian Crusade)
- Status
- Active revival (Maausk/native faith)
- Deity & Religion
- Estonian native religion (Maausk); nature/ancestral worship
- Community & Guardians
- Estonian rural villages; modern Maausulised
- Vernacular name
- Hiis / Hiiemägi
- Record type
- Regional cluster
Cultural practices & uses
Sacred hill/grove; trees not cut, hill not ploughed; ritual gatherings
Plant species
Native Estonian forest/hill flora
Biome & fauna
Boreal hemiboreal forest & moraine landscape
Threats & protection
Folkloric protection; revival & legal-protection campaigns (Hiite Maja / Sacred Natural Sites)
Source
Wikipedia 'Hiis (sacred site)'; Sacred Natural Sites — Paluküla