Ančiņi Devil’s Stone

Ančiņi Devil’s Stone lies on the road side and is a chapped quadrangle hornblende greiss with steep sides and biotite granite lead. Ančiņi Devil’s Stone has other names as well – the Big Stone, Sacrifice Stone or Devil’s Lap. Each of the names has a certain reason behind it. The Big Stone – the stone certainly is big (its length is 5.1 m, width 4.3 m, height 1.9 m, volume around 40 m3). The Sacrifice Stone – in earlier times the stone was used as a sacrifice site. A longish cavity was made into its flat surface (1.25 m x 0.5 m x 0.12 m) where water accumulates. Still in the 19th century the local people assembled around the stone in the evening and in the Midsummer Eve and made fire either on or at the stone. The Devil’s Stone or Devil’s Lap – the stone is associated with the legends about the devil and him bringing water; about the devil and carrying a stone. There are still other legends about the gold buried at the stone during the war which can be excavated only at midnight. Generally, Ančiņi Devil’s Stone is very picturesque and easily accessible. The diversity of folklore about it might indicate the different (possibly chronological) sacred roles of the stone.