Bald Mountain (Święty Krzyż)

Świętokrzyskie · Polen · Natural site

On bare Łysa Góra the witches held their sabbaths with devils – until monastery bells silenced them, and one tardy devil's boulder was left on the slope.

Łysa Góra in the Świętokrzyskie Mountains was a pagan cult centre long before Christianisation, and in folk belief the memory of the old rites turned into tales of witches' sabbaths: on the mountain's bald crown, witches and devils danced in nightly revels. Only when the Benedictine monastery of Święty Krzyż was raised on the summit did the feasting cease – bell-ringing and the monks' prayers drove the evil powers away. One devil invited to the sabbath, legend says, arrived too late with his gift, a huge boulder meant to crush the monastery; when the rooster crowed he dropped the stone on the hillside, and thus were born the famous boulder fields, the gołoborza, that blanket the slopes to this day.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Bald Mountain (Święty Krzyż)?

Bald Mountain (Święty Krzyż) ligger i Świętokrzyskie, Polen.