- Introduction
- Lithuanian leyline
- Astronomical leyline orientation
- Mark points of leylines
- Mark points of the Lithuanian leyline
- The past ritual journeys
- Conclusions
- References
Introduction
In the beginning of XIX century Alfred Watkins in Great Britain observed an interesting phenomenon: old cultural monuments were aligned into ideally straight lines. These lines could extend 10-30 kilometers and even more. The first scientific publication about the phenomenon appeared in 1974 in A. Watkins book "The Old Straight Track" by. He proposed a term "Ley" for such a straight line. The name was accepted in scientific literature, and today such lines are called "Leylines". A. Watkins thought that these lines were the old trade routes, which passed through publicly important places (Watkins, 1974). He suggested that the fire had been nursed on artificially made or natural hills and the light had been reflected from small lakes, found close to the hills. The light had helped to orientate during a night. Watkins observed that close to these places there were found such names of the places as "Cole", "Dod", "Black" and others (Watkins, 1974). According to him, these names meant the fire maker. In Great Britain, leylines often cross roads and crossroads. The previous roads could be observed the most easily at the beginning of the spring, when color, appearance and composition of vegetation is different at the leylines.
Up to now, leylines are mostly found at the British islands. One of the most well known is the Stonehenge Ley, which crosses Stonehenge and is longer than 30 km. Often it is thought that leylines are present only in Great Britain (Westwood, 1998).
Not so far analogous leyline was discovered in Lithuania (Porutis, 2006). The phenomenon is completely new in Lithuania, thus, there are no terminology for the names in Lithuanian language. G. Porutis is proposing a name "ilgjuoste", or "juostile" for such lines. Traditionally, the first discovered leyline of a country is called after that country name. Spain leyline, Belgium leyline and others were found outside the British islands and were named after these countries names. G. Porutis his discovered leyline is proposing to call "Lithuanian Leyline". In the text below I am describing the Lithuanian leyline using mainly data from his article (Porutis, 2006).
In Great Britain, cultural objects in a leyline are called Mark points. These are different stone monuments (menhyrs, dolmens etc.), old cemeteries, churches, which were built on previous sacral places, and other monuments. Lithuanian leyline was discovered at the border of Vilnius town, Vilnius district and Kaisiadorys district. It is composed of six mark points. Four mark points are churches, three of them- existing at the present day (Porutis, 2006). It was found, that five mark points could have been cultic centers in the past.
Some of world leylines are astronomically orientated according to the rise/ setting down directions of the sky objects during some calendar festivals. Lithuanian leyline has a direction of 122-302 degrees.
Astronomical leyline orientation
In the past, the time for the main festivities was set according to the Sun rising and seting directions, which could have been marked (Lietuvos krastotyros draugija, 1997). Mark points of the Lithuanian leyline could have served such purpose.
The monument has an orientation of 122-302 degrees. The Sun rises at this direction 25-29 of January and 13-16 of November, while it sets down 3-7 of August and 5-9 of May (Porutis, 2006). These dates are changing several days because of present day calendar properties. The discoverer of the leyline asks a question: "What socially important events could have been celebrated during these days?" Such festivities were discovered:
- Pusiauziemis, or The Midwinter (calendar middle between the astronomic beginnings of the winter and the spring);
- Jurgines (calendar middle between he astronomic beginnings of the spring and the summer);
- Prapjovos (calendar middle between the astronomic beginnings of the summer and the autumn);
- It is not known (calendar middle between the astronomic beginnings of the autumn and the winter).
At Vilnius town, a direction of 122-302 degrees is significant, since the sun rises or sets down there during all three known festivities, which are connected to agricultural works.
At the end of the Lithuanian leyline it is a hill, called "Saules kapines" (in English, the cemetery of the Sun). The Sun is rising at the direction of 122-302 degrees during Jurgines and Prapjovos.
On Sunday before 6 of August the festivity of Marija Sniegine is celebrated at the Church of Paparciai (Porutis, 2006). Since the festival could migrate only several days, one could think, that the time for it is taken from an ancient festival.
Lithuanian leyline altitude above the sea level is about 120 m. The biggest part of the leyline goes by plain superficial, thus the differences between the real and the theoretic horizons are small, smaller than the differences, made by the migration of astronomic events due to the present calendar.
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Mark points of leylines
It is interesting to note, that similar culture objects are found across Great Britain and at Lithuanian leyline. Moreover, their names are semantically similar and they have analogous legends.
Menhyrs
Specifically erecter stones at a particular place are called menhyrs. It is a Breton word, meaning a long stone (Gilbert, 1964). "Men" means stone, and "hir"- long. It is thought that in Lithuania there were about 80-200 menhyrs (Porutis, 2006). K. Tiskevicius was traveling by the river Neris in 1857, and nearby he found a stone circle with a central stone in the middle (Tiskevicius, 1992). It is very similar to the Boscoven- Un stone circle in Cornwell, England (the code of it is SW434351). The circle did not remain, but the place of the stone circle could be found today. The biggest part of menhyrs in Lithuania were destroyed at the beginning of the Middle Ages, many of them were destroyed during the Soviet Union occupation. In Lithuania, menhyrs usually were not higher than a man, while in Great Britain they were from one meter to 4-5 meters height.
Common motifs exist among the fairy stories about Lithuanian and England menhyrs (Porutis, 2006). The most common motif is about petrified women, maidens or brides. Fairy stories about Intuponiai (Prienai district) and Geidukoniai (Alytus district) petrified maidens are very similar to the Happy Maidens at Lamorna, in Cornwell (Cooke, 1987; Porutis, 2006). In Liukonys, Sirvintai district, it is a pair of menhyrs, called "Petrified people"; In Kornwell, 0.25 miles to the West from Lower Drift town, it is analogous pair of menhyrs, called "Sisters" (the code is SW437283; Weatherhill, 1989; Porutis, 2006).
The stone circles or menhyrs could mark leylines (Watkins, 1974).
Stones with a hole
Other type of mark points are so called stones with a hole. These stones have a hole in the centre. The water in the hole is thought to be sacred. These stones are found in Great Britain and in Lithuania as well. In Lithuania, archeologists found remnants of prehistoric culture close to some of these stones (Urbanavicius, 1971 and 1972). In Great Britain, the human activity at these stones is dated 1500-3500 BC (Weatherhill, 1989). Often they are lying in the forests, fields, they are difficult to find and there are little information available about them. In Lithuania quite many stones with a hole, taken away from their original place, could be found at Moletai Astronomic Observatory. Stones were transferred there by prof. V. Straizys.
Churches
It is known, that Christian churches were erected at previous cult places: at the places of destroyed temples, cemeteries and other cult objects (Watkins, 1974). In such a way, later built churches are found at leylines. San Michael church in Cornwell, churches of old towns (Oxford, Herefordshire and other) are among them (Watkins, 1974). Such cases are also found in Lithuania, where churches are the most common mark points from all cult objects. They are found in the Lithuanian leyline.
Mark points of the Lithuanian leyline
(A) Paparciai church. The church is standing outside the town, 1 km to the North from the historic centre of the town (Porutis, 2006). As other churches of a leyline, it was built at ancient cult place. The last construction of the church was finished in 1916 m (Porutis, 2006). Around it there are many ancient cult objects (Lietuvos krastotyros draugija, 1997).
Aerial photo above shows that Paparciai church is standing outside the town, at inconvenient place, unreasonably far from the centre of the village. But only being at this place, it could stand in the leyline and still be close to the village at the same time. In the past, the old cemetery was at this place (Lietuvos krastotyros draugija, 1997).
It is interesting to note, that in Laukagalis another group of objects is found, aligned in the same direction as Lithuanian leyline. These objects are mythological stone of Laukagalis, called "The big altar", and the stone with feet marks (Porutis, 2006). The direction between these two objects is 306 (126) degrees, very similar to the direction of the Lithuanian leyline (Porutis, 2006). The distance between these two stones is 1360 meters (Porutis, 2006). The stone with the feet marks could be transferred there, or the stone, found originally at this place, could have been marked with a feet sign. Since the direction of 122-126 and 306-302 degrees is repeated two times, the discoverer of the Lithuanian leyline thinks, that it was significant for people, who made these lines (Porutis, 2006).
(B) Marks in the field. They could be observed during the spring, when vegetation revives after the winter. It could be, that they are because of an ancient way, as Watkins suggested. Remnants of the roads, present roads, going along leylines, and crossroads are considered to be mark points.
(C) Dukstai church. The Lithuanian leyline crosses the church of Dukstai town (Porutis, 2006). V.Sirokomle in 1860 described the construction of this church, which was built at the place of the previous church, built in 1647 (Sirokomle, 1860). Ethnologist, archeologist and geographer K. Tiskevicius, traveling by the river Neris in 1857, visited Dukstai and described archeological object, found there (Tiskevicius, 1992). The surroundings of Dukstai have a big concentration of historic cult objects: moulds, marked stones and others. The well known stone with a "runic inscription" is found about 600 m apart from the Lithuanian leyline (Urbanavicius, 1971; 1972). This reinforces the suggestion, that the centre of a religious cult could have been there, and the leyline crossed it (Porutis, 2006).
(D) and (E) Churches of Suderve. The present church of Suderve was built in 1812 in the middle of the town, on a hill (Kulturos paminklu enciklopedija, 1997). The cemetery is found close to it. The old church of Suderve (E) was destroyed in 1822; at the same time the new one (D) was blessed. The place, where the old church stood, is 210 meters away from the present church along the direction of the leyline (Porutis, 2006). The architectural style of the temple (D) resembles the Vilnius cathedral. In the middle of this church it is found a stone with a hole, which function is to keep sacred water. On the stone it is found a date 1726, thus, it is older that the church itself (Porutis, 2006). Close to the church there are found more stones with the holes. Mikulioniai stone is found 12 km to the North-East from Dukstai; Paduobuzis village stone is found one km from Moletai town (Porutis, 2006). Paduobuzis village stone has a legend, that it was a stone of a church; the church burned, and only the stone remaines. Its name is "Moletai church". In 1972, archeological expeditions were held around both of these stones, and some religious cult remnants were found (Urbanavicius, 1971; 1972). Now these stones are removed from their original places.
V.Sirokomle in his book was investigating the origin of the name "Suderve" (Sirokomle, 1860). After him, it means a pitchy torch, which could have been used during rituals.
These facts suggest that in Lithuania the Christian churches also took the place of the previous cult objects.
(F) The cemetery of the Sun. Going by the leyline to the South-East, after 17.6 km there are cemetery, called "The cemetery of the Sun". It is thought, that the name derives from the Sun, since it rises exactly at this hill during some of above mentioned festivals.
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The past ritual journeys
The discoverer of the Lithuanian leyline G. Porutis is proposing one more function for the leyline. It could have been that humans were performing ritual journeys during calendar festivals in the past. They may have been visiting some of temples, found at the leyline, and at the end of a trip could have seen the rising Sun. It could be the reason to call the hill "The cemetery of the Sun".
J. Balys wrote that people were visiting crosses in the fields, going from one cross to another (Balys, 1993). They were doing this on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays before the festivity "Sestines".
Other prooves for ritual journeys also exist. Up to XX century Christian church ceremonies were visiting Mitkiskiai mythological stone and the cross close to it, which are located at Sukra spring (Tarasenka, 1923). This archeological object is about 200 m apart from the leyline (Porutis, 2006).
Analogical journeys could have been held at other leylines. In Laukagalis, close to Paparciai, it is another pair of objects with the same orientation (Porutis, 2006). The present festivals (Velykos (Easter), Sestines, Devintines) are based on the Moon-Sun calendar, and their date is changing from year to year. The author of the article thinks, that previous festivals, connected to nature- agriculture cycles, were fixed, since migrating date over a month would not correspond between agricultural works and the weather conditions (Porutis, 2006).
It is also proposed, that leylines could have served for funeral ceremonies, when the corpses were carried along leylines.
- A leyline, found in Lithuania, is similar to British islands leylines according to its size, astronomic orientation and mark points. It is proposed to call it Lithuanian leyline (Porutis, 2006).
- The discovered leyline is similar to the Spain leyline:
a) both of them contain many churches;
b) between mark points- big distances;
c) other objects, orientated as leyline orientations, are found close to leylines;
d) both are going up to the hill;
e) both are found out of the British islands. - This unique Lithuanian culture heritage object needs governmental and non- governmental institution protection.
References
Balys, Jonas (1993), Lietuvių kalendorinės šventės. Vilnius, p 187 – 190.Bunka, E, Lopaičiai. Sustingęs laikas.
Cooke, Ian (1987), Journey to the stones. Penzance, p 142.
Dundulienė, P. (1990), Lietuvių šventės: tradicijos, papročiai, apeigos. Vilnius, p 83, 195.
Gilbert, Max (1964) Menhirs et dolmens dans le Nord – Est de la Bretane, p 12.
Kultūros paminklų enciklopedija, Rytų Lietuva (1997), Vilnius. I t., II d., p. 333.
Lietuvos kraštotyros draugija, Paparčių ir Žąslių apylinkės (1997). Kaišiadorys, p 45, 48, 240.
Matulis, Rimantas (1990), Istoriniai akmenys. Vilnius, p 133, 140.
Porutis, G. (2006), Anglijos kraštovaizdžio linija Lietuvoje. Liaudies Kultūra, Nr. 4
Sirokomlė, Vladislavas (1860), Iškylos iš Vilniaus po Lietuvą. Vilnius, p. 126, 131.
Tarasenka, Petras (1923), Alko akmenys Trakų apskrityje. Kultūra, Nr.1, p 27-29.
Tiškevičius, Konstantinas (1992), Neris ir jos krantai. Vilnius, p 137, 237.
Urbanavičius, V. (1971; 1972), Senovės lietuvių spėjamų kulto vietų kasinėjimo ataskaita. Kultūros paveldo centro archyvas, fondo nr.7, aprašo nr.1, p. 51, 57, 152.
Vyšniauskaitė, A. (1990), Lietuvių kalendorinės šventės, Lietuvių liaudies kultūros centras. Vilnius, p 6, 31.
Watkins, Alfred (1926), The old straight track London. Abacus, p 16, 63, 77, 78, 93, 193.
Weatherhill, Craig (1989), Cornovia Ancient sites of Cornwall & Scilly. Penzance, Cornwall, p 7, 92, 102.
Westwood, Jenifer (1998), Paslaptingos vietovės. Vilnius, p 128.
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