Is this an ancient sacrificial stone?

Kimmo Huosionmaa

The picture above advances a strangely shaped stone in southern Finland near capital city Helsinki. Its strange shape makes me think is that an old sacrificial stone from the pagan age of Finland. That will not so far away from truth than people normally think. Finnish landscape is moraine, and there is full of quite small stones. That stone what is in this picture is so-called black granite, what is very strong mineral. And stones doesn't face much erosion in this kind of places. An erosion is a very common thing, what destroys relics, but if the stone will crush by trees or ice, that erosive material must get its way inside that stone.


And if there are no scars in stone, the ice can't break it. That's why this stone might be very old sacrificial stone because it looks like handmade an object. Of course, it might be a stone from the old building site, what workers have throw to the forest, but that will not explain that kind of shape of that strange stone. Here on the southern coast of Finland is a very old tradition for settlements, because Estonian coast is so close, that in ancient times tradesmen sailed across Baltic Sea, to change their stuff from central Europe to squirrel fur and another kind of pelts. And of course, when Russian empire rises, the sea route to Tallinn was grown more important, because relations between Sweden and Russia were not very good during 15th. to 18th. century.


In those times Finland was a part of the kingdom of Sweden. And that time has much influence of nowadays Finland. When we are talking about the pagan time of Finland, we must remember that old tradition does not disappear in one night, and I'm quite sure that old pagan cults were in the mind of people long after crusades of Swedish in the 14th century. Those crusades officially ended paganism in Finland, and punishment of those rituals was execution, that kind of traditions are strong in people mind.


And maybe somebody still believes in those old gods. I know that this sounds quite crazy, but there are rumors that somebody has been sacrificed to some ancient gods even in nowadays. That might be some kind of joke, but there are stories, that in somewhere in Lapland have people found ritual executed animals. But those stories might be only jokes or rumors. But it is bad to say what is persons right attitude of religion.


Those sacrifices might also be some kind of Wicca or something else new-pagan hobbyist work. That kind of rumors doesn't mention when those ritual sacrifices have been done, but they are interesting to hear. somebody says that they happened in to begin in the 20th century and wildest rumors say that they were from the 21st century. But who wants to believe those things is that person's own business. But they could give a strong subject to some Hollywood's movie manuscript, where the hero finds old cults from modern society.