15 km long affluent of the left bank of River Talke, which starts in the vicinity of Umparte. The common name of the river is Viksnina, but it is also called – Viksna or Ellite (from Latvian: Little Hell). The mythological name ‘Ellite’ refers to the middle reaches of the small river, in the section upstream from the Vecumnieki-Skaistkalne road; the Catherine’s Hill (a medieval graveyard) is located on the left bank of the river.
The name of the river is often related to the Devil, which, as it is said, had had a big stone at the river. Nowadays most of the locals tell they do know nothing about a big stone, while the owner of the nearby house mentioned a relatively small stone lies on the riverbed, which cannot be spotted due to the ‘dams’ made by beavers. According to a story a bell from the nearby church on the Catherine’s Hill had drowned in the river. The bell had rolled into the river, because the dead were against the bell being relocated to the place of the new church. Another story tells a church had once been located at the river, and one night its clock was gone. They had brought a new one, but soon after the new clock was mounted the church had drowned. Whereas a third legend implies “a large stone had been located not far from the hillock, where the church had drowned. The Devil comes out of the River Ellite at midnight and goes straight to the stone, where he dries his money. Old men tell they had seen flickering lights, while passing by at night.”
The river is small, but in some section it is rather deep; scenic valley.
Archive of the “Cult Identity” project
