Gulbji Cross Stone Tobacco Dosage

Description

Local archaeological heritage (State Inspection for Heritage Protection, No 164). The Gulbji Cross Stone is also called the Tabakdoze. The stone had been artificially split, it is a pillar-type stone (height of 1 m). On its front smoothed side there is a cross carved. The base of the cross had been carved deeper than the other cross lines and form a small hollow – “‘tabakdoze” (“tobacco dosage”). It is quite a small stone. It is hidden in the trees (we missed it twice when driving by, although it is situated on the roadside). On the surface there is a well visible cross and a peculiar hollow (its depth is of about the length of a pointing finger).

Narrative

No recorded folklore materials have been found. The local people cannot tell anything about the site. A tale proves that the Gulbji Cross Stone is considered to be an ancient stone commemorating some tragic event (J. Urtāns, 1990, pp. 65–66).

Status

Informācija Nacionālā kultūras mantojuma pārvaldes reģistrā.

Location

Koordinātas: 57.34477, 26.96660

Waze Google Map Sygic Car Navigation

Comments

As Jānis remembers from what his mother and grandmother told him, nearby there used to be a tower and a church (it, probably, explains the cross issue). But about the hollow there is a legend that there some man, a passerby, died because of the lack of a tobacco dosage (hence the second name — Tabakdoze (Tobacco Dosage)). Jānis with other guys used to put cigarettes there.

Photo, video

Archive of the “Cult Identity” project