Sacred Lakes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lake Manasarovar

Though all of these lakes are regarded as sacred in some way or another and though all of them are found within the high altitudes of the Himalayas, Lake Manasarovar is perhaps one of the most important to the Hindu because of its location and because of the god associated with it. Believed to be the home of Shiva, the God of Destruction, it sits adjacent to Mount Kailash slightly north of the Nepalese border with Tibet.

The Ganges River begins upstream from Manasarovar, but the lake is believed to be where Shiva calms the river's waters for the remainder of its nearly twenty-five hundred kilometre length.

The lake is also important to Buddhist and Jain followers.

Answer: Oregon

A volcanic crater found at the site of what was Mount Mazama, Crater Lake formed nearly eight thousand years ago when the volcano there erupted, creating what would become the deepest lake in the United States. The Klamath people, who occupied the region long before overseas explorers reached the continent, occupied the vicinity while it was still a volcano, believing the eruption to be the site of a battle between the god below the earth and the god above it. Since then, for thousands of years, the Klamath visited the lake and scaled the cliffs surrounding it in pursuit of visions. Today, Crater Lake National Park protects the natural beauty of this area and it's regarded as one of Oregon's most-recognized natural landmarks.

Answer: Chaac

Found in the Yucatán site of Chichen Itza, the Sacred Cenote is, today, a beautiful limestone sinkhole frequented by tourists off the beaten path on Mexican vacations, but it did, at one point, have a much more significant purpose as a site of sacrifice.

In addition to artifacts of varied valuable materials (like gold, jade, and obsidian), archaeologists researching pre-Columbian Mayan ruins found evidence of human remains in Cenote Sagrado. It's believed that, during Mayan times, this specific site was used to pay respects to Chaac, who would have brought rain to the people of the Yucatán, a necessity to ensure crops grew in this part of the world.

Answer: Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America, has long been a lifeline for Peruvians and Bolivians alike, straddling the border between the two Andean nations at an altitude nearly four kilometres above sea level. In addition to being associated with a number of Incan gods, the lake's Isla del Sol became the resting place of the founder of the Incan civilization, Manco Cápac, who set up the Incans near Cusco, chosen because it's said to be the place where the Sun God, Inti, was born.

Inti wasn't the only one though.

It's also believed that the great Con Tiqui Viracocha rose from the lake, creating humanity as a result.

Answer: Diana

Found south of Rome in the Alban Hills, Lago di Nemi formed in the crater of a volcano and was frequented by visitors as far back as Rome's ancient era. One time the site of the Temple of Diana Nemorensis, Lago di Nemi was considered a sacred site for Diana of the Wood, the Goddess of the Moon, and was surrounded by stretches of woodlands in all directions.

The Festival of Nemoralia, also known as the Festival of Torches, was held in the midsummer and it's believed to have originated the Catholic Feast of the Assumption.

A Temple of Diana would also be built on the Aventine Hill in Rome, being more reachable for Roman citizens while the one in Nemi would be forgotten for centuries.

Answer: Australia

The largest lake in Western Australia, Lake Mackay is due west of Alice Springs and, like much of the Great Sandy Desert, is dried out as a salt flat for a large portion of the year. A site featured in Pintupi Dreaming stories, Lake Mackay (known as Wilkinkarra) is often symbolized as a location of rebirth, believed to have formed and filled after a colossal bushfire.

The Pintupi people of the Outback resided in the desert south of the lake until the 1980s, being amongst the last Aboriginals to reside in isolation in the country.

Answer: Colombia

Another lake of creation, this one for the Muisca people of Colombia who occupied the mountains east of what would become Bogota, Lake Iguaque is in the Colombian Andes. The people who occupied these mountains thousands of years ago believed it was the lake from which Bachué, the mother of humanity, emerged, bringing with her a boy who would help her bring forth humankind.

The lake, now part of a larger protected sanctuary, is considered a site of spiritual pilgrimage.

Answer: El Dorado

Found close to Lake Iguaque and similarly considered sacred by the Muisca people, Lake Guatavita holds very different significance. While Lake Iguaque was a lake from which life was born, Lake Guatavita was said to be a location where life ended. Legend has it that the wife of an early Muisca chieftain drowned herself in the lake. Further complicating the legends here is the fact that later chieftains would cover themselves in gold dust and bathe in its waters as part of their indigenous rituals and, when people tossed in their belongings, they would come out gold.

These stories would reach the conquistadors when they arrived and lead to the stories of El Dorado

Answer: Violet Lake

Known locally as Ki'owaiokihawahine, Violet Lake is found high upon Maui on the volcanic Mauna Kahalawai. The lake was regarded by the Hawaiian people to be a key place in meetings between the heavens above and the earth below, being the home of the goddess Kihawahine. Kihawahine, formerly a Princess to a Hawaiian chieftain, became a Mo'o, a shapeshifting lizard goddess upon her death.

It's with this power that she's believed to have power over not only the water of Violet Lake, but the weather around it.

Answer: Lake Tiberias

The Christian Gospels are very specific about noting the Sea of Galilee with its shores being the site where Jesus not only collected a number of his Apostles, but also performed several of his miracles-- Jesus walked on water on the Sea of Galilee. The coast next to the sea is also the site where Jesus taught his people the Sermon on the Mount.

It's unsurprising that the location is a site of pilgrimage amongst many others in Israel. Before it was known as the Sea of Galilee, the Hebrew Bible referred to the waters there as the Sea of Kinneret.

The name Lake Tiberias came around the same time when Roman emperor Tiberius established the city of Tiberias on its shores.