Anything that cannot be explained scientifically raises a lot of questions in people. Among the objects that have puzzled many researchers is Seydozero. Located on the Kola Peninsula, it magnetically attracts tourists and lovers of the unknown. Which, in the end, gives rise to even more speculation and legends.
The lake is a place with a special climate
Seydozero is one of the components of Seydyavvr (Seydyavr), that is, a state natural complex reserve of regional significance in the Murmansk region, on the Kola Peninsula. The lake itself is small, its length is about 8 km, its width in different places reaches from 1.5 to 2.5 km. Altitude above sea level – 189 km.
The places are classified as the tundra zone, but the lake itself and the surrounding areas have a special microclimate due to the adjacent mountains. Thanks to this, rare species of animals maintain their populations here, and there are conditions for the survival of plants that are not typical for polar latitudes. Seydozero also has a very high level of fish stocking.
Beautiful photo collage about the lake
Legends surrounding the lake
The Legend of Kuiva
Kuiva is a mythological giant from Sami legends, depicted on a rock bas-relief that resembles a human figure in motion. Its height is about 75 m, so the outline of Kuyva is clearly visible from afar, especially in winter.
The legend of Kuiva is retold by the local Sami people. It talks about the giant Kuiva, who tried to kill the ancestors of the Sami in the Seydozero valley. Kuiva gained the upper hand in the fight and then the Sami called on their gods to protect them. The gods were angry with the giant and turned him into an image on a rock.
Today Kuiva is considered one of the main seids in Sami culture as the resting place of a giant. Local residents are afraid of Kuivu and try not to walk near it unless absolutely necessary, especially women, so that nothing inside becomes petrified.
Modern research has shown that Kuiva may have a natural origin associated with the colonization of mosses and lichens characteristic of the tundra. But science cannot completely refute the legendary origin of Kuiva.
Legends about seids
The name Seydozero comes from the Sami “seid”, which means sacred. The Sami call stones, stumps, lakes and other remarkable places seids, which mean “inaccessible afterlife paradise.”
The most common seids are pointed pyramids or rock blocks on “stone legs.” In Russia, they can be found on the Kola Peninsula or in Karelia. It has been proven that some of them are of modern origin and created by local residents in order to attract tourists. The same cannot be said about seids with a thousand-year history near Seydozero.
It is believed that each of them had its own legend. In general, the Sami seids were divided into 2 types: personal and public. They tried to hide the first from prying eyes, while others placed them on elevated surfaces so that they could be seen from afar.
The Sami attended public seids with a certain frequency and almost always made sacrifices to them. As evidenced by the remains of deer skulls and antlers.
Legend of the Underground City
The existence of an underground city on Seydozero is associated with the Hyperborean civilization. Many believe that it has not disappeared anywhere, but continues to exist off the coast of Seydozero or at its bottom. According to another hypothesis, Sami shamans live in the ancient underground city.
As a result of many scientific expeditions, it was possible to collect some facts that indirectly indicate the possible existence of underground cities near Seydozero. So, in the 90s of the last century, scientists found rock writings, ruins of stone structures and rectangular slabs with even holes.
Also near the lake, researchers discovered fragments of a wall that could have been a protective structure and a well with a foundation. All these terrestrial finds are unlikely to be of natural origin.
Underground cities of Hyperborea
Scientists have not given up hope of finding evidence of the existence of the city at the bottom of the lake. As a result of his examination in the early 2000s, it was possible to discover some wells 70 cm wide that went downhill. A large amount of silt prevented deeper exploration.
As a result of examining the valley near the lake, the instruments recorded a certain void that began after 9 m of soil. The lower limit of the conventional cave was never recorded by sonars and echo sounders.
From a scientific point of view, there cannot be such objects in this area, but still the evidence found is not enough to confirm the hypothesis about the existence of underground cities.
Mysterious Cave Barchenko
Alexander Barchenko is considered a great researcher of Seydozero. It was he who first organized a scientific expedition to this area. In his memoirs, he shared that local residents discouraged them from going along the intended route. But Barchenko was a fanatical researcher, and continued his work to find traces of Hyperborea.
As a result of the survey, the following were discovered: Kuyva rock, a stone paved road, and cairns. The expedition members eventually made friends with the local Sami and they led them to the most mysterious place. In appearance, it resembled a column in the form of a candle; a mysterious stone lay nearby. There was a passage to the cave right there, but no one dared to get inside. All members of the expedition panicked, and they simply took pictures near the hole.
Some researchers believe that Barchenko was close to solving the existence of an ancient civilization, but the Soviet government sentenced him to execution and most of the knowledge was lost.
The Legend of Mogilny Island and the Goddess of Waters
Mogilny Island is the largest on the territory of Seydozero. This place is considered forbidden for the Sami. Shamans performed rituals on it, so the island is full of traces of sacrifice.
Legend has it that at times the island begins to move and is ruled by the beautiful Goddess of Water. She seduces men and drowns Seydozer in the water.
The Legend of the Local Bigfoot
The Sami believe that in the areas around Seydozero there lives a certain forest spirit Mets-vuinas. He does not harm those who do not make noise or disturb sacred places. But troublemakers may be prevented from leaving the area.
One of the employees of the Tundra reindeer herding state farm, Vasily Galkin, recalled how local residents forbade children to make noise in the evening so as not to disturb the forest spirit.
Other tourists recall suddenly losing their way and walking in the same place for hours. All these phenomena are associated precisely with the anger of Bigfoot.
There are suggestions that the Kola Peninsula was once inhabited by Hyperboreans. It is with the activities of this mythical people that some of the main legends about Seydozero are connected.
Hyperborea - a northern country from ancient Greek mythology
Hyperborea is mentioned in the works of antiquity as a marginal country near the Arctic Circle. Some authors believed that it was located in Greenland, others - on the territory of modern Karelia, but most localized it precisely on the Kola Peninsula near Seydozero.
Video story about the mysterious Hyperborea from ethnologist and candidate of historical sciences Svetlana Zharnikova
Hyperborea was praised as rich and beloved by the gods, and the inhabitants were considered close to Apollo himself. He, according to mythical legend, often visited the country. The Hyperboreans, like their patron, had high talent for art, sang and danced well and led a carefree, rich life. Death for the Hyperboreans was a relief from satiety with pleasures.
The Greeks believed that the best assistants and patrons of Apollo - Abaris and Aristeas - came from Hyperborea. They taught the ancient Greeks the cultural values of their people and possessed superpower.
The fact that Hyperborea, or rather some of its descriptions, is a creative fiction can be found out from some mentions of the sages. Thus, in Natural History, the ancient Roman scientist Pliny the Elder mentions the country as a place with sunny and friendly weather, rich vegetation and fertile soil.
The thinker Timagenes in his works mentioned Hyperborea as a country where rain falls in the form of copper drops. Local residents collected them and used them as coins.
Lucian of Samosata, who became famous as a satirist and public figure, in his writings compared the way of life of Hyperborea and Ancient Greece. At the same time, he endowed the Hyperboreans with superpowers, for example, the ability to fly or summon the spirits of the dead.
Modern historians consider all of the above mentions of Hyperborea as an attempt by ancient peoples to describe something unprecedented, which in this case is the outskirts of the continents.
Seydozero is a place where legends and scientific facts hang evenly in the balance. A place where tourists go not just for new experiences, but to search for a philosophy of life that is stored in the waters of the lake and its surroundings. The depths of Seydozero cannot be immediately understood, but you can fall in love with the mystery and rich world of either the mythical Hyperboreans or the original Sami at first sight!
Where is it located and how to get there from Moscow or St. Petersburg
The lake is located in the Murmansk region, on the Kola Peninsula.
- Airplane or train. You can get to Murmansk by plane or by train to Olenegorsk. Next by bus or ride.
- Bus. Regular buses run from Murmansk and Olenegorsk to the villages of Revda and Lovozero 2 times a day. Also, there is a regular bus service between these two villages 3 times a day in both directions. Further only on foot or by boat.
- On foot or by boat. From the village of Lovozero by boat on the lake of the same name, then 1 km on foot along the tundra. You can walk from the village of Lovozero directly across the tundra - about 25 km. Some people prefer to go from Revda on foot, the path is a little shorter than from the village of Lovozero. There used to be a railway from Revda to the lake, but it is now destroyed.
- Local transfer. If you are staying at the Yulinskaya Salma tourist center (located in the central part of Lovozero, on the eastern shore), then they organize a transfer from the village of Lovozero, in winter and summer.
What the village of Revda looks like (in the first part of the video)
Video about how the local Sami people live
The Kola Peninsula was first mentioned in the 9th century in written sources of Western Europe. The King of the Anglo-Saxons, Alfred, described the inhabitants of the peninsula - the Terfinns - skilled fishermen and hunters, and called the reserved region itself a place of terrible mysteries and the domain of terrible pagan gods.
Ancient legends
For many centuries, Christian beliefs and pagan rituals of worship of the ancient gods, once powerful rulers of these lands, have happily coexisted with the indigenous population of the Kola Peninsula - the Sami and the Lapps (or Loppis).
A number of legends are associated with ancient beliefs that still exist today. Thus, the legend about the terrible giant Kuiva, who in ancient times attacked the inhabitants of the peninsula, seems very interesting. The Sami, despairing of defeating the enemy with their own strength, turned to the gods for help, who, throwing a sheaf of lightning at Kuiva, incinerated the giant. From Kuyva on Angvundaschorr - the highest peak of the Lovozero tundra - only an imprint remained, which, despite weathering and shedding of rock, has been preserved in excellent condition to this day. According to local residents, the spirit of a formidable giant sometimes descends into the valley, and at this time Kuyva’s imprint begins to glow ominously. Therefore, the valley at the peak of Angvundaschorr is considered by the Sami to be a bad place where hunters do not wander and where animals are not even found.
There is one unusual myth that is associated with the underground inhabitants of this region, the Sami and Lapps call them saivok. This mysterious people used to live on the surface of the earth, but after a strong natural disaster, the memories of which were preserved in Lapland legends, they went into underground caves, leaving behind granite megalithic structures in the north of the peninsula.
Oral folk epics describe saivok as small creatures that live deep underground. They understand human language, and their witchcraft has terrible power, capable of stopping the Sun and Moon, as well as killing people who have always been afraid of meeting them. But even today, from time to time information appears about meetings of local residents, scientists and travelers with mysterious saivok.
Mysterious encounters and unexplained deaths
In 1996, Yegor Andreev (surname changed) visited the Kola Peninsula, who, as part of a group of “black meteorites” in the Khibiny Valley, was illegally searching for the remains of a meteorite that fell in those parts during the Ice Age. From Yegor’s memories, one summer night he heard strange sounds near the tent that sounded like a magpie chattering. Looking out of the tent, Andreev suddenly saw three furry creatures that vaguely resembled beavers. But within a moment Yegor was seized with horror - the creatures, which he mistook for animals, had human faces with pointed noses, small lipless mouths, from which two long fangs protruded, and eyes glowing in the darkness with a greenish light. Taking a step towards them, Andreev suddenly realized that he was unable to move...
It was only in the evening of the next day that Egor’s comrades found him lying unconscious at a distance of three kilometers from the parking lot. Yegor could not explain what happened to Andreev after he left the tent. The circumstances of the young man’s meeting with mysterious creatures were erased from his memory...
A real tragedy occurred on the Kola Peninsula in 1999. At that time, four tourists died on one of the passes near Seydozero. No signs of violent death were found on their bodies, but horror was etched on the faces of the unfortunate people. Near the bodies, local residents noticed strange footprints that vaguely resembled human ones, but were very large. Immediately after this tragedy, they remembered a similar incident that happened in the summer of 1965, when three geologists who mysteriously disappeared from the camp died in the Lovozero tundra for an inexplicable reason. Their fox-gnawed bodies were found two months later. Then the official version was put forward, according to which the geologists were poisoned by poisonous mushrooms...
Mysteries of expeditions
The Soviet authorities knew about the strange phenomena that were observed on the Kola Peninsula back in the 20s of the last century. In 1920–1921, a geographical expedition visited those places, led by the head of the neuroenergetics laboratory of the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine, Alexander Varchenko. The official goal of the expedition was to study the influence of the climate of northern latitudes on the physiology of the human body. But in reality, Professor Varchenko was interested in the occult practices of the Sami shamans, as well as such a mysterious phenomenon as measuring and the associated changes in human consciousness. It was Varchenko’s expedition that first proved that measuring is a special form of zombification used by shamans, and also caused by strange granite structures, the discovery of which belongs to Alexander Varchenko. Thus, in one of the gorges of the Manpupuner ridge, scientists discovered yellowish-white columns that looked like candles, opposite which there were structures that looked like walled-up crypts. All the group’s attempts to get to the columns and further to the walled crypts were unsuccessful: either the weather suddenly began to deteriorate, or people and loaded horses were suddenly seized by causeless panic, driving them away...
Already in 1992, a Magadan expedition led by Pavel Udaltsov in those parts managed to get almost close to several small hills that were located in the tract and had a clear artificial origin: they were made of granite stones of regular shape and resembled pyramids, overgrown with moss and small stones. bush. According to the Lapp guide, in one of the hills there was supposed to be a hole - an entrance to the underworld, where in former times his fellow shamans often visited. However, the members of the expedition, who stopped a couple of hundred meters from the hills, were unable to move further: a sudden malaise that gripped the people forced them to return to the base...
Kola superdeep
The drilling of an ultra-deep well, which began in the 70s of the last century on the Kola Peninsula, caused strong discontent among the local population. Its main reason was that the elders of the Sami and Lapps feared the wrath of the disturbed underground inhabitants, rumors of whose existence constantly reached the drillers who arrived from the mainland. But at one time nothing was reported about this “secret enterprise”. So, various ridiculous rumors were floating around, such as “and the devil will jump out of there!”, which even the grandmothers at the entrances did not believe.
Special object
About thirty, forty years ago, it was almost impossible to get a job at least as someone at the Kola superdeep well. Out of hundreds of highly qualified workers, two were chosen, and one engineer. The head of the well was appointed by the Central Committee of the CPSU. Each person hired immediately received a separate apartment with furniture, special rations and a salary equal to two general’s salaries on the “mainland”. It is known that 16 research institutes were simultaneously working on the well.
Was the location for drilling a super-deep well chosen by chance? Of course not! Experts know that the Kola Peninsula is located on the so-called Baltic Shield, which is 3 billion years old.
The appearance of the Kola drilling rig can disappoint the average person. The well is not like the mine that our imagination pictures. There are no descents underground, only a drill with a diameter of a little more than 20 centimeters goes into the thickness. The section of the Kola superdeep well looks like a tiny needle piercing the earth's thickness. A drill with numerous sensors, located at the end of a needle, is raised and lowered over several days. You can’t go faster: the strongest composite cable can break under its own weight.
What is the Earth made of?
At the beginning of the 20th century, it was believed that the Earth consisted of a crust, mantle and core. And at the same time, no one could really say where one ends and the other begins. Scientists did not even know what the layers themselves actually consisted of. Some 40 years ago they were sure that the granite layer begins at a depth of 50 meters and continues up to three kilometers, and then there are basalts. Perhaps there is no stronger stone on the planet than granite. Try to drill into a palm-thick piece of granite and you will curse it a hundred times. And we are talking about several kilometers!
The mantle was expected to be encountered at a depth of 15–18 kilometers. In reality, everything turned out completely different. And although school textbooks still write that the Earth consists of three layers, scientists from the Kola Superdeep Site have proven that this is not so. The well showed that almost all of our previous knowledge about the structure of the earth's crust is incorrect. It turned out that the Earth is not at all like a layer cake. From eyewitness accounts, up to four kilometers everything went according to theory, and then the end of the world began. Theorists promised that the temperature of the Baltic Shield would remain relatively low to a depth of at least 15 km. Accordingly, it will be possible to dig a well up to almost 20 kilometers, just up to the mantle.
But already at five kilometers the temperature exceeded 700 degrees Celsius, at seven - over 1200 degrees, and at a depth of 12 kilometers it was hotter than 2200 degrees - 1000 degrees higher than predicted. Kola drillers questioned the theory of the layered structure of the earth's crust - at least in the interval up to 12,262 meters.
At school we were taught: there are young rocks, granites, basalts, mantle and core. But the granites turned out to be three kilometers lower than expected. Next there should have been basalts. They weren't found at all. All drilling took place in the granite layer. This is a very important discovery, because all our ideas about the origin and distribution of minerals are connected with the theory of the layered structure of the Earth.
Another surprise: life on planet Earth, it turns out, arose 1.5 billion years earlier than expected. At depths where it was believed that organic matter did not exist, 14 species of fossilized microorganisms were found - the age of the deep layers exceeded 2.8 billion years. At even greater depths, where there are no longer sediments, methane appeared in huge concentrations. This completely destroyed the theory of the biological origin of oil and gas.
By the way, the French scientist, historian and writer Joseph Roni Sr. wrote back in 1961 that the Earth is older than its estimated age and that life appeared on it much earlier. Alas, without convincing argumentation. He also put forward a theory of the structure of the Earth, corresponding to the scientific data obtained when drilling a well on the Kola Peninsula.
Paranormal or coincidence?
It is not known for certain what is happening in the depths. Ambient temperature, noise and other parameters are transmitted upward with a minute delay. Nevertheless, the drillers said that even such contact with the underground can be seriously frightening. The sounds that came from below really looked like screams and howls. To this we can add a long list of accidents that plagued the Kola Superdeep when it reached a depth of 10 km.
Twice the drill was taken out melted, although the temperature at which it can melt is comparable to the temperature of the surface of the Sun. Once the cable was pulled by something from below and broke. Subsequently, when they drilled in the same place, no remains of the cable were found. What could have caused these and many other accidents still remains a mystery.
There were even louder sensations. When the Soviet automatic space station brought back 124 grams of the lunar pound to Earth in the late 1970s, researchers at the Kola Science Center found that it was exactly like samples from a depth of three kilometers! And a hypothesis arose: the Moon broke away from the Kola Peninsula. Now they are looking for where exactly. By the way, the Americans, who brought half a ton of soil from the Moon, did nothing meaningful with it. They were placed in airtight containers and left for research by future generations.
There was also mysticism in the history of the Kola Superdeep. Officially, as already mentioned, the well was stopped due to lack of funds.
Coincidence or not, but it was in 1995 that a powerful explosion of unknown origin was heard in the depths of the mine. Journalists from a Finnish newspaper broke through to the residents of Zapolyarny, and the world was shocked by stories about a demon flying out of the bowels of the planet. There were also “eyewitnesses” of the incredible phenomenon. This is where researchers of anomalous phenomena, esotericism, mysticism, etc. took their souls away! Even the “convincing to the point of hoarseness” ufological publications did not know such sophisticated details!
Quite unexpectedly for everyone, Alexei Tolstoy’s predictions from the novel “Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid” were confirmed. At a depth of over 9.5 km, a real treasure trove of all kinds of minerals, in particular gold, was discovered. A real olivine layer, brilliantly predicted by the writer. The gold in it is 78 grams per ton. By the way, industrial production is possible already at a concentration of 34 grams per ton. Perhaps in the near future humanity will be able to take advantage of this wealth. For now the station is closed.
“They are afraid to dig!”, “The earth does not allow you to approach it!” - say the jokers. Is this a joke? And can we hope that in the near future (and even in the distant future!) we will find out what is really happening in the bowels of the Earth? In the meantime, in our time, every year dozens of sensation hunters come to the Kola Peninsula: some for fragments of the famous meteorite, some in search of the bones of fossil animals, and some with the goal of becoming more familiar with the mystical mysteries that abound in this ancient region.
Mystic. Journey into the unknown
Noidas are shamans who once inhabited the Kola Peninsula, who helped the peoples living there, guiding them on the path of truth. All residents of the peninsula obeyed them unquestioningly and knew virtually no troubles. But all good things come to an end.
Sorcerers, famous for their close connection with nature, a special technique of hypnosis and the ability to turn into animals, at one time attracted the attention of both the Soviet NKVD and the Nazi occult organization Ahnenerbe. Both sides wanted to master the secret knowledge of the shamans and use them for military purposes, but even under the threat of death, the captive noids did not tell their secrets to strangers.
Mysterious measurement (hypnosis) was sent with the help of spirits with whom the noids communicated during certain rituals. They forced the lazy to work, reconciled enemies and punished criminals, turning them into obedient puppets. The shamans said that it was impossible to hypnotize someone against the will of good - the spirits would not allow this. For refusing to cooperate, almost all the noids were exterminated, and the survivors disappeared without a trace, but to this day traces of their former existence can be found on the Kola Peninsula.
On some rocky peaks, huge stones are placed in a strange way, which are called seids. The largest ones reach 10 meters in height and weigh about 30 tons. It was the seids that were used by the noids to obtain their supernatural abilities.
As the instruments showed, the stones emit a radioactive background, which, for unknown reasons, can change over time. Psychics claim that seids have a unique energy that can be enhanced by sacrifices. Moreover, all these mystical boulders form a kind of mental network.
The Lapp Sami living on the Kola Peninsula now have many legends on this topic. They tell about spirits and creatures of the underworld that, at the request of mortals, they created seids to worship higher powers and conduct rituals. The word “seid” itself is translated from the Sami language as “sacred”.
One may recall Blavatsky’s expression “Stone is crystallized Time.” Taking into account the statement of the brilliant Russian scientist Nikolai Kozyrev that time is the most powerful energy in the Universe, it is quite logical to assume that seids were created for creatures capable of contacting the Energy of Time or the so-called stone power. Without a doubt, the noids could also use the power of the seids.
Nowadays, huge boulders miraculously balancing on mountain ledges and ancient legends are all that remains of these mysterious shamans.
Video – Mysticism of the Kola Peninsula
Some time ago, a strange tragic incident occurred on the Kola Peninsula: four tourists died under mysterious circumstances. They lay in a line from the pass to the nearest housing. The last of them ran seven kilometers, apparently hoping to find salvation, but he never made it to the nearest house. Horror was etched on the faces of all the people, although no signs of struggle or violence were found. But what’s surprising is that there were footprints around the lying bodies that were clearly not animal prints, but even for a human they were gigantic. A similar incident occurred more than 30 years ago in the Northern Urals (up the Pecho-ra River). A group of tourists disappeared there. A rescue team went to the area and they were found dead a few days later. On the pass of Mount Otorten there were two tents, the walls of which turned out to be rugged. On the descent, half-naked tourists lay in the snow, their faces also frozen in horror. And no signs of violence or struggle.
These two tragedies have common features. Near Mount Otor-ten there is the Man-Papunier tract, which the local Mansi people consider sacred. There are six huge stone pillars rising there. According to the legends of the peoples of the north, once in ancient times six mighty giants were chasing one Mansi tribe. The Mansi tried to hide from their pursuers behind the belt of the Ural Mountains, but the giants almost overtook them at the pass. And when the situation already seemed hopeless, a short shaman with a white face suddenly blocked the path of the giants and turned them into six stone pillars. Since then, every shaman from the Mansi tribe without fail came to this sacred place for them, and the inhabitants of the underworld: the secret of Mount Otorten drew their magical power from him. Seid Lake still evokes a feeling of awe among local residents. There is a legend that its southern shore was the last refuge of local shamans. In the 20s of the 20th century, a geographical expedition visited here. A participant in this expedition, astrophysicist Kondiain, noted that in one gorge they encountered inexplicable things: along with the snow, a yellowish-white column was visible, reminiscent of a giant candle, and next to it there was a cubic stone. On the northern side of the mountain, according to the scientist, at an altitude of more than 400 meters, a gigantic cave could be seen, and next to it something similar to a walled crypt. Scientists were struck by the fact that people who found themselves near ancient structures experienced unaccountable fear. At a short distance from the tract, the expedition discovered a number of small hills resembling pyramids, undoubtedly of artificial origin. At the foot of the hills, members of the expedition experienced malaise, dizziness and an uncontrollable feeling of fear. According to Condiain, the weight of a person in this mysterious place increased or decreased. In addition, the expedition discovered a narrow hole going deep into the rock. No one was able to penetrate it, since anyone who tried to do this experienced an insurmountable horror: he had the feeling that his skin was gradually being torn off. The expedition had to refrain from further research... A similar effect was observed in another mysterious place - the Sumgan cave, located in the foothills of the Urals. Speleologists repeatedly tried to explore this cave, but were forced to stop for the same reason as in the previous case.
Seid Lake: the legend of giants and a shaman To try to understand the essence of what is happening, perhaps you should turn to the legends of the Kola Peninsula. These places are inhabited by Lapps and Sami, whose legends speak of dwarfs - inhabitants of the underworld who settled underground. People claim that sometimes they heard voices coming from underground and the sound of metal. This was a signal for them to immediately move the yurt to another place, since, in their opinion, it blocked the entrance to the underworld of dwarfs, who, according to legend, were powerful wizards. The Komi people living in the Pechora Lowland have similar legends. They also talk about the existence of little men who live in the underworld and can perform miracles. The Komi claim that it was they who taught people how to forge iron.
Legends about small inhabitants of the underworld, who know how to process metal and have supernatural abilities, have been preserved among all northern peoples. Who are these dwarfs really? It's hard to say for sure. However, given the supernatural fear that people experience in connection with these invisible entities, as well as the cases with tourists, it is better not to try to get to know the inhabitants of the underworld better...
The Kola Peninsula, located in the north-west of the European part of Russia, in the Murmansk region, is a unique and rather mysterious place where amazing archaeological monuments are collected in one place, the purpose and origin of which is still unknown.
The most ancient pyramids in the world, located on the Kola Peninsula, and the fact that it was here that the ancestral home of man could be located, was written in the article below. But as it turns out, that’s not all that can surprise this small peninsula in the north of the country!
- On a steep cliff, near Lake Seydozero, in the Lovozero tundra of the Kola Peninsula, you can see an image of a character from the mythology of the Lapp tribes that lived here, the legendary giant - Kuiva!
Kuyva can be seen from almost anywhere in the northern lake. The figure has the shape of a man and is 74 meters high. Its bas-relief protrudes from the wall by 3-4 meters in some places, and this is very clearly visible, especially in winter. Kuyva is called the “Dancing Lapp” - if you swim on the lake and look at him, it seems that he is moving.
In 1923, academician A.E. Fersman, who examined the image of Kuyva, confidently stated that the giant’s figure is of natural origin. In his book, the academician wrote:
“As we saw during our expedition, the dark figure is formed by a combination of lichens, mosses and wet streaks on the rocks.”
But it’s strange, Fersman was in those places a long time ago, and 90 years have passed since then! The rocks weather and fall, but the figure of Kuyva remains.
There are many legends about how the giant ended up on the rock, and here is one of the most interesting:
“In ancient times, the giant hunter Kuyva came to the Sami lands. For a long time he instilled fear and horror in the local population. And the people were tired and prayed to the gods, asking for help. The gods heard the prayers of the people and incinerated the giant Kuyva with lightning from the waters of the sacred Seydozero. And since then, a trace of the incinerated Kuyva has remained on a steep cliff on the shore of Seydozero."
But what’s interesting is that in ancient Greek mythology there is a legend about the giant hunter Orion, who went to Hyperborea for brides and was incinerated by the lightning arrows of the goddess Artemis for offending the Hyperborean maiden.
Isn't it true that the legend about the giant hunter Kuiva is very similar to the ancient Greek legend about the giant hunter Orion? And the ancient drawing of the constellation Orion by the Muslim astronomer Al-Zufi is almost identical to the image of Kuyva. And here’s another interesting fact: many researchers suggest that the mythical northern country of Hyperborea could be located anywhere other than on the Kola Peninsula!
- Another unusual prehistoric monument, which is found in Russia - in Karelia and on the Kola Peninsula, as well as in Scandinavia, is called seids
Seids are stone structures of natural and man-made origin ranging in size from tens of centimeters to six meters in diameter, weighing from tens of kilograms to tens of tons.
Stone seids are found singly, but are often grouped into large clusters numbering tens and hundreds of objects. Thus, the largest concentration of seids are located on the islands of Nemetsky and Russky Kuzov, 30 km east of the city of Kem - Karelia. Several hundred accumulations of stones have been discovered here, although usually single seids are found in the areas inhabited by Lapp tribes.
The choice of location for the seida is also of interest - as a rule, they are all located in geologically active points, in obligatory proximity to some body of water.
In some places of the Kola Peninsula, seids are a kind of lighthouses, indicating an unknown road - if you go from seid to seid, then each one offers a view of the next one.
But the main canon of the seid is its instability - boulders are partially raised or placed in an unstable position at an angle of up to 45 degrees. And as a rule, three “stone legs” serve as a stand for boulders.
Scientists have not come to a consensus on the purpose of seids.
1. Some consider them to be household gods, patronizing either a family or a person.
- There are versions that seids were patrons of the clan, giving commercial happiness to the sacrificer, in this case, buildings similar to animals were patrons of crafts, and those similar to humans served for the worship of ancestors
3. Another possible purpose of seids is to serve as directional road signs and demarcation “border signs”.
4. There are also versions about the magical purpose of the buildings.
3) The culture of labyrinths also originates in the North. It was from here that they spread to all continents.
Mysterious and expressive objects - labyrinths - are often called the legendary "Northern Babylons". These are complex spiral formations of stones and peat, creating paths leading to the center of the structure, which has a diameter of 5 to 30 m.
And despite the fact that the design is called a “labyrinth,” the creators of the “Babylons” did not leave any exits in it.
The configurations of the labyrinths differ from each other. Their shape can be horseshoe-shaped, round-spiral, kidney-shaped or concentrically circular. The “classic type” includes horseshoe-shaped labyrinths. It is precisely such labyrinths, as well as concentrically circular and kidney-shaped ones, that can most often be found on the Kola Peninsula. The age of the labyrinths dates back to the 2nd - 1st millennium BC.
Labyrinths are located on the islands and shores of the White, Barents and Baltic Seas, and are also found in the continental regions of Southern Finland. More than 600 such structures have been discovered in northern Europe. It is only unknown when and what people left them and what their exact purpose was. Here are some versions:
- Models of fishing traps
- Altars, giant altars. Entrances to the otherworldly realm
- A place of purification and redemption
- Monument to historical events
- Ancient symbol of Peace
- Calendar - 360 stones
- Model of our solar system
- Projection of the wandering Sun across the polar sky
- Movement of planets across the sky
