Akan peoples — Ashanti, Fante, Akyem, Akuapem, Kwahu — Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire
Web / Network
Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo — coastal and forest zones of West Africa
Living tradition
The First Nations of Australia whose Country the songlines cross — many distinct nations, each with its own language, Country, Law and Dreaming. Among them: the Anangu (Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara), Martu and Ngaanyatjarra peoples of the Western Desert, whose custodians have shared the public story of the Seven Sisters songline, and the Yolŋu of north-east Arnhem Land.
Geographic
Oceania — Australia: the Western Desert (Anangu, Martu, Ngaanyatjarra) and Arnhem Land (Yolŋu), among many nations
Living tradition
Ancient Egyptian civilization — Nile Valley from the First Cataract to the Mediterranean Delta
Balance-Seeking
Nile River Valley, Egypt — one of the world's longest continuously inhabited civilizations
The Arabic and Persian storytellers of Baghdad, Cairo and the Persian lands, drawing on older Indian story-frames, whose tales flowed together into the great compilation of the Thousand and One Nights — a cross-cultural masterwork of nested storytelling.
Negotiation / Reciprocal
Middle East — Baghdad, Cairo and Persia (with Indian roots)
Living tradition
Babylonian civilization — Akkadian-speaking, central Mesopotamia
Cyclical
Middle East — Mesopotamia (modern Iraq)
BaKongo peoples — Kongo, Vili, Yombe, Woyo, Solongo — of the Congo River Basin, spanning the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Angola (Cabinda), and Gabon. The Kingdom of Kongo was one of Central Africa's great states from the 14th century.
Cyclical
Central Africa — the Congo River Basin and Atlantic coast
Living tradition
Chinese literary tradition — the classical poetics of the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), the golden age of Chinese poetry, and the qǐchéngzhuǎnhé four-part structure that shaped its regulated verse.
Non-Conflict
East Asia — China (the Tang Dynasty)
Living tradition
Chinese literary tradition — the wuxia genre of martial heroes, rooted in classical tales of chivalrous swordsmen (youxia) and the great vernacular novels, and flourishing in modern literature and film.
Multi-Trial
East Asia — China
Living tradition
The nations whose medicine wheels and four-directions teachings carry the circular story: the Crow (Apsáalooke), whose Burnt Face is told with the Bighorn Medicine Wheel; the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi), whose elders carry the teachings of the four directions; and the Plains and Woodland Cree. Each nation holds its own teachings.
Cyclical
North America — the northern Plains and the Great Lakes
Living tradition
The Desana (Wira) and their Tukanoan neighbours of the Vaupés (Uaupés) river — the Tukano, the Barasana and others — of Colombia and Brazil, whose healers, the kumu and the payé, carry the vision journey. The Yanomami of the highlands between Brazil and Venezuela, whose shamans travel with the xapiri spirits, hold a vision tradition of their own.
Negotiation / Reciprocal
South America — the Vaupés river, Colombia and Brazil
Living tradition
Diné (Navajo) people — Diné Bikéyah, the Navajo homeland in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado), within the four sacred mountains.
Balance-Seeking
North America — the American Southwest
Living tradition
Dogon people — Bandiagara Escarpment, Mali, West Africa
Cyclical
Bandiagara Cliffs, Sahel region, Mali — one of the most dramatic landscapes in Africa, cliff dwellings built into vertical sandstone escarpment
Living tradition
Finnish and Karelian peoples — Finno-Ugric tradition
Multi-Trial
Northern Europe — Finland, Karelia
Living tradition
Guaraní peoples — Mbyá, Ava (Ñandeva), Kaiowá, and Paĩ Tavyterã — of Paraguay, southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, and Bolivia. A major Indigenous nation of South America with a profound spiritual and poetic tradition.
Geographic
South America — the Paraná and Paraguay river basins, the Atlantic forest, and the interior of the southern continent
Living tradition
Haudenosaunee (the "People of the Longhouse," also known as the Iroquois Confederacy) — the Mohawk (Kanien'kehá:ka), Oneida (Onʌyoteʼá·ka), Onondaga (Onöñda'gega'), Cayuga (Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ'), Seneca (Onöndowa'ga:'), and later the Tuscarora (Ska:rù:rę') — of what is now upstate New York and the surrounding Great Lakes and St. Lawrence regions.
Web / Network
North America — Northeastern Woodlands
Living tradition
The voyaging peoples of the Pacific — Hawaiian (Kānaka Maoli), Tahitian (Mā'ohi), Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Marquesan and others, each with its own language and tellings — master voyagers who settled the Pacific across immense distances by non-instrument navigation.
Geographic
Oceania — Hawaiʻi, Tahiti, Aotearoa, Sāmoa, Tonga and the islands between
Living tradition
Sanskrit literary and religious tradition — attributed to the sage Vyasa, compiled from older oral tradition roughly 400 BCE–400 CE, pan-Indian in reach and influence.
Multi-Trial
South Asia — the Sanskrit / Vedic / Epic tradition of the Indian subcontinent
Living tradition
The Quechua-speaking Inca of Cusco and the peoples of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca realm, who used the quipu — an elaborate system of knotted, colored cords — to record numbers, information, and (in ways still being understood) narrative and account.
Negotiation / Reciprocal
South America — the Andes, from Cusco (Inca, Quechua)
The Indian (Sanskrit) dramatic and aesthetic tradition — the theory of rasa articulated in the Natyashastra (the ancient Sanskrit treatise on dramaturgy attributed to Bharata Muni) and developed across Indian poetics, drama, dance, and music.
Balance-Seeking
South Asia — India
Living tradition
East Asian literary tradition — originating in classical Chinese poetics (qǐ chéng zhuǎn hé) and developed in Japanese narrative, poetry, and art as kishōtenketsu.
Non-Conflict
East Asia — Japan (from classical Chinese poetics)
Living tradition
Japanese aesthetic and artistic tradition — developed across Noh theatre, ink painting (sumi-e), poetry, garden design, and music, and rooted in Zen and older Japanese sensibility.
Non-Conflict
East Asia — Japan
Living tradition
Javanese peoples — the island of Java, Indonesia, in a tradition synthesizing indigenous Javanese cosmology, Hindu-Buddhist epic (the Ramayana and Mahabharata, adapted into Javanese forms), and later Islamic and Sufi elements.
Balance-Seeking
Southeast Asia — Island Southeast Asia (Java, Indonesia)
Living tradition
The K'iche' Maya of highland Guatemala, whose sacred book the Popol Vuh preserves the creation cycle; and the broader Maya world.
Cyclical
Mesoamerica — the Maya highlands (K'iche' Maya)
Living tradition
K'iche' Maya peoples of the Guatemalan highlands, heirs to the broader Classic Maya civilization; the Popol Vuh preserves the sacred narrative of the K'iche', written down in the mid-16th century from far older tradition.
Multi-Trial
Mesoamerica — the Maya highlands of Guatemala
Living tradition
Yamato Japanese peoples — the Kojiki ("Record of Ancient Matters") compiled in 712 CE by Ō no Yasumaro from older oral tradition, drawing on myths far predating writing in Japan.
Cyclical
East Asia — Japan
Living tradition
Korean peoples — the pansori tradition flowered under the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1897), with roots in shamanic (mudang) ritual song, developing especially in the southwestern Jeolla region.
Spiral
East Asia — Korea
Living tradition
The Lakota (the Titonwan bands) and the Dakota (Santee, Yankton and the other bands) of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ — sovereign nations whose vision seeking is a living sacred ceremony. Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa, Santee Dakota) described the hambeday in his own voice in The Soul of the Indian (1911).
Linear
North America — the northern and eastern Plains (Lakota and Dakota country)
Living tradition
The Lakota — the Titonwan (Teton) bands, Oglala, Sicangu, Hunkpapa and the others, of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (the Seven Council Fires) — for whom the sacred hoop and the four directions carry deep meaning. The sacred specifics belong to the living Lakota and are kept by them.
Cyclical
North America — the northern Plains (Lakota country)
Living tradition
The Mandé peoples — Mandinka (Maninka), Bambara and Dyula — of the old Mali Empire: Mali, Guinea, Senegal, the Gambia, Burkina Faso
Spiral
Sahel and savannah zones of West Africa — the former territories of the Mali Empire (13th–17th century) and its successor states
Living tradition
Mandinka, Bambara, Dyula peoples — Mali Empire and successor states
Multi-Trial
West Africa — the Manden heartland (modern Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Burkina Faso)
Living tradition
Mbuti (Ituri Forest, Democratic Republic of Congo), Baka (Cameroon, Central African Republic, northern Congo, Gabon), Aka (western Congo Basin), Efé and Twa peoples — the hunter-gatherer forest peoples of the Central African rainforest. Distinct peoples with distinct languages, united by a shared relationship to the forest as living parent.
Spiral
Central Africa — the Congo Basin rainforest and Ituri Forest
Living tradition
Mbuti, Baka, Aka, Efé and related forest peoples of the Congo Basin (the Ituri forest and the wider equatorial rainforest of Central Africa).
Negotiation / Reciprocal
Africa — Central Africa (the Congo Basin rainforest)
Living tradition
Māori — the Indigenous Polynesian people of Aotearoa (New Zealand), organized in iwi (tribes) and hapū (sub-tribes), descendants of the Polynesian voyagers who arrived by waka (canoe).
Web / Network
Oceania — Aotearoa (New Zealand), Polynesia
Living tradition
The Mexica (Aztec) and wider Nahua peoples of central Mexico, and the broader Mesoamerican codex tradition (Mixtec and others) — makers of the painted books (amoxtli) that recorded history, calendar, cosmology, and sacred knowledge.
Cyclical
Mesoamerica — central Mexico (Nahua/Mexica)
Zulu (amaZulu), Xhosa (amaXhosa), Swazi (emaSwati), and Ndebele (amaNdebele) — the Nguni-speaking peoples of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Eswatini, and surrounding regions of southern Africa.
Multi-Trial
Southern Africa — KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Eswatini
Living tradition
Dinka and Nuer of South Sudan, Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania, Acholi of northern Uganda and South Sudan — Nilotic peoples of the East African savannah and the Nile Basin, defined by a profound relationship with cattle.
Spiral
East Africa — the Nile Basin, South Sudanese savannah, and the East African Rift grasslands
Living tradition
Norse peoples — the medieval Icelanders and the wider Scandinavian world, heirs to the Viking Age, who preserved the sagas and the Eddic mythology.
Linear
Europe — Scandinavia / Iceland (the Norse world)
The Pawnee (Chaui, Kitkehahki, Pitahawirata and Skidi), whose animal lodges, the nahurac, gave the people their teachings, and whose Dun Horse guides a poor boy to honour; and the Blackfoot (Siksiká, Kainai and Piikani), whose Scarface is shown the way to the Sun by the animals. Each nation holds its own stories and teachings.
Cyclical
North America — the Plains (Pawnee and Blackfoot country)
Living tradition
San — the Ju/'hoansi (!Kung), the Taa-speaking !Xóõ, the /Xam, the Naro and other San peoples of the Kalahari and southern Africa
Spiral
Kalahari Desert — Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola
Living tradition
Slavic peoples — the East Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians), West Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Sorbs), and South Slavs (Serbs, Croats, Bulgarians, and others), sharing a common pre-Christian mythological and folkloric heritage.
Cyclical
Europe — Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe (the Slavic lands)
Sufi Islamic mystical tradition — centered on Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–1273), who lived and taught in Konya (in present-day Turkey), wrote in Persian, and whose followers founded the Mevlevi Order (the "whirling dervishes").
Spiral
Middle East — Persian/Iranian cultural world, Anatolia (Konya)
Living tradition
Sumerian civilization — the city-states of Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Nippur, Eridu — of southern Mesopotamia (modern southern Iraq), roughly 3000–1750 BCE, and the Akkadian and Babylonian cultures who inherited and transmitted their literature.
Multi-Trial
Middle East — Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates
The Tagalog, Visayan (Bisaya, including the Sulodnon of Panay), Ilocano, Bikolano, Kapampangan and other peoples of the Philippine archipelago, whose cosmology centres on Bathala, the diwata and anito, and the babaylan who mediate between the worlds.
Cyclical
Southeast Asia — Island Southeast Asia (the Philippine archipelago)
Living tradition
Tamil peoples — Tamilakam (the ancient Tamil country of southern India and Sri Lanka), during the Sangam age (roughly 300 BCE–300 CE), under the Chera, Chola, and Pandya dynasties.
Balance-Seeking
South Asia — Dravidian / South India (Tamilakam)
Living tradition
Chinese Taoist tradition — Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou, c. 369–286 BCE) and Laozi (traditionally 6th century BCE), of the Warring States period of ancient China.
Non-Conflict
East Asia — China
Living tradition
The Trobriand Islanders of Kiriwina and the other Massim island peoples of Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, whose Kula exchange ties island to island; with the feast-giving and the earned leadership of the 'big man' that peoples of the Papua New Guinea Highlands and the Solomon Islands also know. Melanesia's peoples are many — more than 800 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea alone — and each holds its own traditions.
Web / Network
Oceania — the Trobriand Islands and Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea
Living tradition
Bantu-speaking peoples — Zulu (umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu), Xhosa, Ndebele, Shona (hunhu), Sotho (botho), Tswana, Swazi, Venda, Tsonga — Southern Africa
Cyclical
Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Eswatini — the southern Bantu-speaking zone
Living tradition
Celtic peoples — the Irish (Gaelic) and Welsh (Brythonic) traditions above all, heirs to a rich mythological and storytelling heritage preserved in the medieval manuscripts.
Spiral
Europe — the Celtic lands (Ireland, Wales, and the wider Celtic world)
Living tradition
Yoruba peoples — Oyo, Egba, Ijebu, Ile-Ife, Ekiti, Ijesa, Igbomina — southwestern Nigeria and Benin Republic.
Web / Network
West Africa — southwestern Nigeria, Benin Republic and Togo
Living tradition
Zapotec peoples — Oaxaca Valley; Monte Albán civilization
Cyclical
Mesoamerica — Oaxaca, southern Mexico
Living tradition
