Santal religious identity is articulated above all through a sacred landscape and the elements that inhabit it. The Jaher or Jaher Than, the village sacred grove, stands as a living emblem of the presence of deities and ancestors, often centered on the sal tree and other revered trees. Within this space, stones and simple earthen mounds can serve as aniconic seats of spirits, while rice, water, flowers, and vermillion mark offerings of life, purity, and devotion. The Manjhi Than and other village shrines, typically defined by upright stones or modest platforms, further anchor religious life in specific points of the terrain rather than in monumental temples. Together, these places and materials form a visual theology in which nature itself becomes shrine, altar, and symbol.

This religious vision extends into the architecture and decoration of the home and village. Walls are adorned with murals and painted motifs, especially during festivals such as Sohrai and Baha, where animals, birds, trees, and floral designs appear alongside geometric patterns like triangles, diamonds, and circles. Floor designs—alpana or rangoli—are created with earth-based pigments or rice paste, their geometric forms evoking auspiciousness, order, and connection to ancestors and spirits. Thresholds and courtyards receive special attention at ritual times, when smearing and painting with red earth, cow dung, or other natural substances mark spaces as protected and blessed. In this way, everyday surfaces become canvases for a continuous dialogue between household, land, and the unseen world.

Body and dress also serve as potent markers of Santal religious identity. Tattooing with geometric and floral designs, along with distinctive jewelry in silver or other metals, inscribes symbolic patterns directly onto the body, echoing the motifs found on walls, textiles, and ritual objects. Dance costumes and ornaments worn during ceremonial dances visually express communal joy, reverence, and solidarity, turning the moving body into a ritual image. Musical instruments such as drums and flutes, sometimes decorated with simple carved or painted designs, accompany these dances and songs, binding sound, movement, and visual form into a single sacred expression.

Craft traditions and everyday objects further deepen this symbolic world. Basketry, woodwork, textiles, and clay or bamboo vessels often bear repeated geometric and nature-based motifs that mirror those in murals and body art. Scenes of village life—dancing lines of figures, musicians, sowing and harvesting, hunting and festivity—appear in decorative art, affirming that work, celebration, and worship are not separate realms but interwoven aspects of a single way of life. Through this dense network of symbols, motifs, and art forms, Santal religiosity manifests as a holistic aesthetic in which environment, community, and spirit are mutually illuminating.