Spiritual experience and sense of place

Agriculturally-related diets are central to many world religions. For example, Dewi Sri, the rice goddess, is venerated in Bali, where rice is the staple crop. During the harvest, villages are festooned with flags, and simple bamboo temples dedicated to the goddess are erected in the upstream, most sacred corners of the rice fields. Small dolls of rice stalks representing Dewi Sri are placed in granaries as offerings.

The social significance of livestock among East African dryland pastoralists includes, but is not limited to, the following: rainmaking ceremonies, cleansing of families or communities, protection against curses or disease outbreaks, oral traditions, customary law and values, treating sick persons, naming ceremonies, initiation ceremonies and rites of passage, sacrifices as per the community’s cultural beliefs, as a source of life, without which life has no meaning, as a measure of wealth, use in bull dances and other festivals, social sharing of livestock breeds by exchanging males and females to enhance social links, source of dowry, bride wealth, birth celebrations and other life cycle ceremonies such as funeral feasts.

Society has always been linked to aquatic systems. Many societal structures are based on traditional management of fish and fisheries, such as the Qoli Qoli, the pacific island customary tenurial systems, Indonesian Panglima Laut etc. In addition, there are important traditions and festivals linked to annual fish harvesting cycles and important culinary traditions (specialized dishes and menus) have developed out of traditional ways of preserving and curing/processing fish to cope with gluts and lean periods. In addition, many proverbs, prayers, and tales attest to the cultural importance of fisheries around the world. There is also a strong individual identity as a fisher or fish farmer around the world and fisheries villages/communities are often at the heart of local development and identity.

Nature and wildlife have always had a part in ancient cultures hosting good and bad spirits.