Bānūži Holy Spring

In the written sources of the 19th century it was mentioned that near the Bānuži Hill Fort there used to be the Jānis’ Hill with a large old oak, at which people used to sacrifice. The Holy Spring, Bānūži Hill Fort and the Jānis’ Hill with the oak used to be, probably, parts of some unified sacred site complex. (Urtāns, 1993) A tale narrates that the spring can treat all diseases. It was blessed by an Orthodox Church priest (Cēsis Tourism Information Centre, 2012b). The water of the Bānūži Holy Spring was taken by people home in tubs since ancient times. In winter time those tubs were placed in the cold antechamber. The water taken from a well froze up, but the water taken from the spring did not freeze. The nearby area of the Bānūži Holy Spring was ameliorated in 1960s, thus the spring became weaker (Jansone, 2012). “In the meadows of the Bānūži manor house there is a spring named Holy Spring. Once a shepherd pastured cows in the meadow around the spring and noticed that a barrel with money appeared jingling from the spring. At that very moment wolves ran into the cattle and attacked a bull. The shepherd started to shout and baited the wolves with dogs. The wolves left the cattle. At that very moment the barrel rolled back into the spring. Since that time the spring has been called the Holy Spring.” (Latvian Folk Tales (Latviešu tautas teikas). 1991)

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The proprietor of the homestead near the Bānūži Devil’s Stone (“Mūrnieki” according to GPS, but according to balticmaps.eu — “Stūriņi”) gave directions to the location of the spring. She herself has never been to the spring, because they have a well of their own; the water is taken from the spring mostly by those people who have no wells of their own or people from Taurene, because in the spring situated at the former brewery on the bank of the Gauja River there used to be some chemical pollution. She also said that, probably, it would not be easy to reach it and find. She has not been there herself and thus does not know that in reality it is facilitated and access is very easy.

Archive of the “Cult Identity” project

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  Bānūži Devil's Stone (Devil's Gate Stone)