An intergovernmental meeting of UNESCO has officially listed the ritual of hill worship as a Mongolian Intangible Cultural Heritage. The meeting is currently being held on South Korea’s Jeju Island, from 4-9 December.

In many parts of Mongolia, or other places where Mongol people live, such as in Russia’s Buryatia, carefully placed piles of stones can often be found on the tops of hills. These are called Ovoo and are sacred stone heaps used as altars or shrines in Mongolian religious folk practice and in the religion of other Mongolic peoples. The Ovoo are part of an ancient pantheistic religious tradition which recognizes the presence of spirits in different parts of the natural world; hills are particularly revered. Various rituals occur around the stone piles worshiping Heaven, the spirits of the place and ancestors; these are largely led by shamans, but sometimes Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies also take place.