Kārku pagasta svētvietas un to folklora
Sacred Places in Kārķi Parish and Their Folklore

Summary/Abstract: Kārķi parish is situated in Valka region in northern part of Latvia. The current article deals with the objects of sacred landscape of the parish and their folklore. Folklore collected during the expeditions between 2002 and 2004 a:, well as that from the Archives of Latvian Folklore has been used as a sourer to identify sacred places (trees, stones, hills etc.) in the landscape of Kārķi parish. The research revealed that Kārķi parish is quite rich in places that could have been considered sacred in the past. One can find different types of sacred places here either characteristic of whole territory of Latvia or of Northern Vidzeme only, e.g. stones that are believed to be moved by Veins (Devil) (stones at farm-of Dišleri and Strautmali) or used by Veins as chair (Kalējiņi Devil's Chair and Dišleri Devil's Chair) are typical for whole territory of Latvia, so called Swedish trees (Strautmali Swedish Lime and Vēveri Swedish Oak) are typical for Vidžeme while so called Witch hills (Kalnapelēdu Raganu Kalns and Āran- Raganu Kalns) which are connected with place legends which tell about washing clothes and dancing on the hill are typical for northern part of Vidzeme only.

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