Salt lick (Bad Suderode)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Salt Lick, 2018

The salt lick , also known as the devil's stone , the devil's sink or sacrificial stone , is a historical salt lick in the Bad Suderode district in Saxony-Anhalt .

location

It is located in the woods south of Bad Suderode in the Harz Mountains on the Ölbergshöhe , south of the Prussian Tower . The salt lick lies on the ground on the way from the Prussian Tower to the viewpoint on the Ölbergshöhe.

layout

The salt lick is believed to date from 1573. Other details give more vague information to the middle of the 16th century. It is made of sandstone and almost square with an edge length of 72 centimeters and a thickness of about 42 centimeters. Towards the middle, the stone shows a 24 centimeter deep depression. Several grooves lead towards the middle of the stone. On the edge of the stone there are various symbols that could be interpreted as sun signs and runes. Also, two crossed hammers, possibly a symbol from mining , can be recognized.

history

There were several comparable stones in the area, fragments of which can be found in the forest area of Gloomy Mountain . They were used to supply animals with minerals. There is a documentary mention from 1607. In a letter dated October 17, 1607, the Gernröder bailiff Kaspar Gerlach complained to the abbess of the Quedlinburg monastery , Maria von Sachsen-Weimar, about the confiscation of three runaway Gernröder pigs by the Suderöder forester and demanded their surrender. The animals had been driven from the Gernröders to the Suderöder Schwedderberg to be acorn -fed. The abbess promised to hand it over, but asked for a deposit and damages. On October 20, 1607, Gerlach objects that the Gernröder have a customary right to fatten pigs on the Schwedderberg, near the current location of the salt licks, but that this does not include the use of the salt licks established 34 years ago. In a reproduction of the correspondence, however, the establishment of the salt lick in the sacrificial stone is noted, which would have previously had a different function.

Say

The unusual shape of the stone gave rise to various speculations and legends about the function of the stone. The function of an old Germanic sacrificial stone was considered possible. According to the legend The Sacrificial Stone of Suderode, the devil cut his claws into the stone out of anger about the building of the New Church in Bad Suderode and the disregard of the devil and the sacrificial stone for the old fathers' festivals, which created the grooves on the top. Then the devil turned the church so that its entrance today faces south, in the direction of the sacrificial stone, which reminds churchgoers when leaving the church that one cannot love something new without appreciating the old. The stone is also referred to as the sacrificial stone in the saga The Three Sieves . According to this legend, the sage from Olberg am Stein performed rituals. According to the legend, the sage advises a young woman to first filter a message to others through three sieves: Is she completely convinced of the truth? Is it a good customer? Is the message useful to the recipient?

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernd Schobeß, The "Sacrificial Stone" on the Olbertshöhe on www.wissenswertes.ausflugsziel-harz.de
  2. ↑ Bernd Schobeß, Bad Suderode and the surrounding area , 1995, p. 26
  3. ↑ Bernd Schobeß, The "Sacrificial Stone" on the Olbertshöhe on www.wissenswertes.ausflugsziel-harz.de
  4. ↑ Hike from Hagental via the Preußenturm to the New Pond and Försterblick at www.mz-buergerreporter.de
  5. ↑ Bernd Schobeß, The "Sacrificial Stone" on the Olbertshöhe on www.wissenswertes.ausflugsziel-harz.de
  6. ↑ Carsten Kiehne, fairy tales, sagas and stories around and about Bad Suderode , Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2014, ISBN 978-3-7322-9263-9 , p. 37 f.
  7. ↑ Bernd Schobeß, The "Sacrificial Stone" on the Olbertshöhe on www.wissenswertes.ausflugsziel-harz.de
  8. ↑ Carsten Kiehne, fairy tales, sagas and stories around and about Bad Suderode , Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2014, ISBN 978-3-7322-9263-9 , p. 34 f.
  9. ↑ Carsten Kiehne, fairy tales, sagas and stories around and about Bad Suderode , Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2014, ISBN 978-3-7322-9263-9 , p. 35 f.

Coordinates: 51 ° 43 '22.6 "  N , 11 ° 7' 7.4"  E