Studying seids on the island of German body. There are several important reasons for this! Body archipelago. What to see nearby

On the way out seaport Kem on the Solovetsky Islands is an archipelago of the body, which includes 16 uninhabited islands. The largest and highest of them are the islands German body, Russian body and oleshin. The unique natural landscapes of the archipelago always delight tourists. Most of the island territories are occupied by spruce forests. Karelians believe that the name of the archipelago comes from the Karelian “Kuusi” (spruce.

What is remarkable about the islands of the archipelago.

The main feature of the islands is the many cult complexes that were worshiped by the locals who lived here two thousand years ago. Their beliefs included the worship of sacred seids - stones similar to human figures. They believed that seids brought good luck in hunting and fishing and protected against diseases. Throughout the archipelago, scientists have counted more than 800 cult stone monuments.

Island Russian body.

Russian body - largest island in the archipelago. On its territory, Mount Lysaya visibly stands out. Having climbed to the top of the mountain, travelers will see a large ancient sanctuary with a vertically placed granite stone in the center. This stone was called "Stone Baba". According to scientists, it was a symbol of the supreme deity of the Sami, who lived here thousands of years ago.

The island is a large German body.

Without exaggeration, this island can be called the ancient city of Seids. Most of them are large, angular boulders on legs of small stones. Several small stones are placed on the top of such a stone, and under them there are small multi-colored pebbles. Other idols located here are smaller in size and shape.
Interesting Pomeranian legends surround the idols, which are nicknamed “Petrified Germans” because of their resemblance to a sculpted bust of a man. Also here you can see seids, the upper part of which resembles the head of a dog, deer and bird.
Having climbed to the 140-meter top of the German body, the tourist finds himself in a unique pantheon of Sami deities, in which there are more than 150 idols and seids. All of them are cult monuments of all-Russian significance.

Oleshin Island.

Perhaps the most mysterious island archipelago is Oleshin. On its small territory, in addition to seids and ancient sanctuaries, there are two ancient labyrinths - large and small. They are located on a flat rocky plateau at an altitude of about 20 meters above sea level. According to some scientists, these labyrinths were built as fish traps during high tides. The small labyrinth is about 6 meters in diameter and is barely noticeable in the thickets. Not far from it there is a large labyrinth with passages about 190 meters long. It took about 1000 boulders to build it. The labyrinth is perfectly preserved - a traveler will find it interesting to walk through the ancient man-made structure. Researchers believe that both labyrinths in those distant times were considered sacred and were intended for shamans.

The best time to visit the archipelago is from the end of May to the beginning of October, when the weather here is favorable for relaxation and the sea is calm.

We spent our last day in Solovki on the Kuzov Islands. We came to the boat straight with our things. Yes, there were only two backpacks. This excursion lasts seven hours, therefore, upon returning to the island, we had to reload onto the ship and sail again to Kem.
At eight in the morning the boat “Savvaty” set sail from Solovetsky Island to the Kuzov archipelago. The weather was cloudy, and a cold wind was blowing at sea, as always. That's why he's north.

It takes about two hours to get to Kuzovy by boat. The people mostly scattered to their cabins, but I stayed on deck, because... The cabin is stuffy, the motion is more noticeable. But apparently it doesn’t have the same effect on children.
Captain's cabin. Let's follow the navigator
An hour and a half later they appeared on the horizon round shape islands. It was as if oatmeal cookies were floating in the sea.



We were met on the island by the director of the film studio “Pharaoh” from the St. Petersburg University historical film studio. She and the group have been living on the island for several days and are filming some kind of scientific film. They greeted us very cheerfully with exclamations of “Hip-hip hurray!” Our group did not remain in debt and did the same.





Next we had to climb to the very top of this island. Here we followed the saying: “a smart person won’t go up a mountain, a smart person will go around a mountain,” and we also went around, gradually gaining height. The ascent was carried out at a fast pace, but there were frequent breaks, and you could admire the sea views, as well as listen to the exciting stories of kodola about the Sami seids. And the views from the mountain were simply cosmic. Of course, I wanted to wander around the island slowly, or even better, live there in a tent for a few days.




The archipelago consists of sixteen islands. The largest known ones are the Russian Body and the German Body. We landed on the German Body. The islands are granite at their base. The island has many seids - sacred objects of the ancient Sami in the form of stones. There are many large boulder stones, as well as small ones built in the form of pyramids. But, unfortunately, almost all stone pyramids are remakes, made by tourists or tour guides. But a multi-ton boulder can hardly be moved from its place without the help of special equipment.

And here these stones are delicately installed on 3 fulcrum points, and they were installed hundreds (if not thousands) of years ago…. Miracles, incredible things. No one lives on these islands except tourists. And even then there were only a few of them, but they managed to pile up a mountain of garbage.




Our guide gives a lecture about these places

This is heather


When we returned back, a strong wind was blowing and the sea was a little rough. Our boat rocked quite well to the sides, but these camouflaged women bravely withstood the bad weather.

Body archipelago. What to see nearby

The Kuzova archipelago is located on the way to the Solovetsky Islands, so tourists who want to visit the sites of ancient Sami sanctuaries will simply be unforgivable not to visit the spiritual center of the Russian North - the Solovetsky Monastery, which also has a harsh historical history dating back to the 20th century.

The White Sea is practically the only place on globe, where tourists can not only touch the northern beluga dolphin, but also swim with it. To get to know these cute creatures better, we have even developed special tours.

The journey to Kuzova starts from Kemi, so be sure to check out this old City, the same “Kem volost”, whose history dates back to the 15th century. Be sure to visit the 300-year-old wooden Assumption Cathedral, which belongs to monastery New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

Those traveling around Karelia by car should definitely make a stop near Belomorsk. to admire the famous petroglyphs. In order to decipher the writings on stones left several thousand years ago, we recommend booking a petroglyph tour at a local museum.

Come to Kuzova. Just to see nature, to please the eyes with landscapes. And in order to touch the ancient secrets, try to hear the names of the former gods in the noise of the waves and wind. They are still here, in their homes - washed by the rain and penetrated by the sun.

We hope this article was useful to you. We are always ready to receive you in Karelia and share a piece of love for this northern region, which you want to return to after visiting only once.

The Kuzova archipelago is located in the White Sea at a distance of approximately 30 km from Rabocheostrovsk, near the city of Kem.
The archipelago consists of 16 small islands, two of which - Russian Body and German Body - are the largest. The highest points of the archipelago are Russian Body - 123 m, German Body - 118 m.

The territory of the archipelago is a nature reserve; entrance to it is paid.

Walking around the islands without an accompanying egir is dangerous, since there are many bears on the islands, which come from the forests on the mainland in winter, when the sea is covered with ice. There are no bears on Russky Island.
You can get to Kuzovy from Solovetsky Island by private boat. You can come with a tent and live like a savage for several days.

The islands have been known from documents since the middle of the 15th century (formerly Solovki).
The name "Kuzova" comes from the Sami Kuz-oive ("Spruce Heads"). Sami oyve (head, top).

The bodies are rightfully considered one of the most mysterious places throughout the White Sea Karelia. On the territory of these deserted and harsh spaces it was found great amount evidence of the religious activity of ancient people. According to historians, the buildings were built approximately 2-2.5 thousand years ago by the ancient Sami who lived on the shores of the White Sea. According to estimates, about 800 stone structures related to the pagan cult worshiped by the inhabitants of this archipelago were discovered. harsh land.

Labyrinth of the Kuzova archipelago. What are the remarkable islands of the Archipelago

The main feature of the islands is the many cult complexes that were worshiped by the locals who lived here two thousand years ago. Their beliefs included the worship of sacred seids - stones similar to human figures. They believed that seids brought good luck in hunting and fishing and protected against diseases. Throughout the archipelago, scientists have counted more than 800 cult stone monuments.

Numerous tourists are also amazed by the mysterious labyrinths of the archipelago. Scandinavian legends say that they were laid out by ice giants - this is how they marked the path to the entrance to the underground palaces.

Body is one of island groups in the White Sea, east of the city of Kem, west of the Solovetsky Islands. The archipelago is part of the Republic of Karelia. It consists of 16 small islands, two of which - Russian Kuzov and German Kuzov - are the largest. The archipelago is unique for its ancient monuments of Sami (Lapp) culture.

Ancient sites and religious buildings, labyrinths and seids were discovered on the islands. The seids and idols discovered on the Big German Body and the Russian Body have no equal either in the originality of their construction, or in their diversity, or in their quantitative composition. The islands have been known from documents since the middle of the 15th century (formerly Solovki). The name “Kuzova” comes from the Sami Kuz-oive (Spruce Heads). The Kuzova Archipelago is a specially protected area where valuable natural landscapes, unique animal and vegetable world and unique Neolithic monuments. In the sea near Kuzov you can find ringed seals, bearded seals (the largest seal in Arctic waters) and beluga whales. The coastline is undoubtedly dominated by seagulls. There are also ptarmigan, auk, guillemot, common eider, etc. In 1991, to preserve valuable natural landscapes and the uniqueness of the flora and fauna of the islands White Sea The Kuzova State Landscape Reserve was created. Organization of recreation areas, parking for tourist groups, installation of tents, making fires, is allowed only on the territory of the islands of Russian Kuzov, German Kuzov and Chernetsky, and only within specially designated places for this purpose and outside the territory of object protection zones cultural heritage.

Body Islands

Not only the mainland lands, but also the islands have always played a major role in the history of the White Sea region. On the sea route from the port of Kem to the Solovetsky Islands lies the Kuzov archipelago, which includes 16 uninhabited islands, the largest of which are Russian and German Kuzov. The highest points of the archipelago are German Kuzov - 140 m and Russian Kuzov - 123 m. These are the highest points in the entire Karelian White Sea region.

The archipelago surprises with its nature. Relief features, geographical location islands provide both the aesthetic and landscape uniqueness of each island, giving the overall impression of a harsh but harmonious world of northern nature. An integral part of the island landscapes are forests. Even the name of the archipelago, according to one version, comes from the Karelian “kuusi” - spruce, i.e. "spruce islands"

The archipelago is famous for its ancient sites, labyrinths, religious complexes, as well as the abundance of sacred stones - seids. About 800 different stone structures were discovered here, occupying 2% of the entire territory of the archipelago. Basically, seids were cliffs or large boulders, with outlines resembling human figures. However, there were also man-made seids - stones stacked one on top of another, or idols carved from wood. Religious objects were created by the ancient Sami population, which appeared in the White Sea region 2-2.5 thousand years ago, hunting, fishing and owning small herds of reindeer. Religious monuments of the ancient Sami are included in the list of protected sites of all-Russian significance.

At the top of the Big German Body Mountain there was a real pantheon of Sami deities. Despite the fact that part, perhaps the best part, of the monuments of the sanctuary was destroyed, up to one and a half hundred seids and other stone idols were preserved on the top of the mountain.
According to the belief of the Sami, the ancient inhabitants of the White Sea region, seids and other idols help people in fishing and on the hunt. Therefore, seids were placed on high banks and islands of reservoirs so that they were visible from afar. Sacrifices were made to seids and idols. Therefore, it is not surprising that high rocky mountain The Great German Body, dominating all the Kem Islands, became a sanctuary. And the places in the Kuzov area have been the center of marine industries since ancient times.

An interesting Pomeranian legend about “petrified Germans” is associated with idol seids. Tradition tells that once upon a time, “German people” (as the Pomors called the Swedes in the past) wanted to attack the “holy Solovki”. A storm overtook them at sea. The Germans took refuge in the northern Kuzovs. From the top of the mountain of the island they could see the white stone walls of the Solovetsky Monastery. But frequent storms at sea, sent from above, did not allow the Germans to sail further. One day, when the “German people” were sitting around a fire having a meal, God punished the enemies by turning them into stones. This is how the “petrified Germans” sit to this day on the top of the mountain of the island, which has since been called the Big German Body.

Seids on the Big German Body are huge angular boulders placed on small stones - on “legs”. On the upper surface of the seid stone, as a rule, there are several small stones, and under them, in some cases, small multi-colored pebbles.
Other idols have different shapes and combinations of stones and are smaller in size. Notable among them are idols that have the appearance of a crude sculptural bust of a person; according to Pomeranian legend, “petrified Germans.” These are boulders that resemble the upper part of a person’s torso in shape and size. On them are stones shaped like the heads of a person, a bird or a dog. On the front of some idols, two cylindrical stones have been preserved, resembling arms outstretched forward.
In addition to the seids, mysterious labyrinths have been preserved on Kuzov. According to ancient Irish and English legends, fairies danced on the spirals of labyrinths in the light of the moon; according to Norwegian beliefs, the stone ridges were laid out by ice giants; In Swedish tales, labyrinths mark the entrances to underground palaces.
Scientists are still arguing about what purpose ancient people pursued by laying concentrically twisted stone paths on a perfectly flat surface. There is no doubt that this is also part of the ancient Sami culture - in total, about 500 similar labyrinths have been discovered in the Scandinavian countries. However, according to foreign archaeologists, the labyrinths found on Kuzov are of the greatest historical value. They are almost untouched by time and people. The language of labyrinths is deciphered in different ways. In the composition and arrangement of the structures of the sanctuaries of the Body, a certain orderliness and design can be discerned.
Some scientists believe that this is a kind of cult of sea fishing and it is associated with the sea coast. Others see the labyrinths as a cult of the dead. According to researchers, the soul moves to another world along a similar winding path. There is a version that the stone paths were laid out by deer herders as a talisman for the herd. Perhaps the labyrinths are somehow connected with the ancient people’s idea of ​​astronomy and the universe...
A unique cult complex was discovered on the top of Oleshin Island. There are two labyrinths here, one of which has its own design features has no analogues in Northern Europe.

Secrets of the Russian Body Island (07.07.06), Oleniy Rogue2006 - the path continues

After we returned from Bolshoy Solovetsky Island, in the evening at the hotel Volodya and Natalya unexpectedly announced that they wanted to take a little break from active impressions and intended to devote the next day to studying Kemi.
Well, the remaining participants in the trip did not change their plans - of course, because we were about to land on one of the largest and most mysterious islands of the Kuzov archipelago - Russian Kuzov. Initially, the talk was about dropping us off on a Kazanka, and we, on the one hand, tormented by the desire to be on the legendary Bodies, on the other hand, understood perfectly well what an hour-long trip in a motorboat in a fresh breeze could turn out to be. However, at the last moment the stars aligned themselves with our luck, and we set out to sea on the same ship that took us the day before to Solovki - the Anna Maria. Especially for this, the battleship, which had a group of tourists on board B. Solovetsky, had to change course and make an approach to Kuzova.
The first thing we discovered when we boarded was a large rubber boat. Since on Kuzov, of course, there were no piers or piers, we decided that the ship would anchor not far from the island, and we would get to land by boat. There was hope that the “elastic band” would stay with us - then we could go to other nearby islands of the archipelago. However, as the crew arrived from the city on the ship, each sailor asked the others the same question: “what kind of boat is this?” It turned out that no one - including the captain - knows where it came from (and even in an inflated state) and why it is needed. As a result, the boat was placed on its edge, so that it would not interfere with opening the ventilation hatch into the car, and they forgot about its existence.
Before we had time to leave the pier and go out into the open sea, we immediately saw large sea animals appearing and disappearing in the waves on both sides. These were beluga whales, the population of which in the White Sea currently numbers about 800 individuals. Unfortunately, we did not have time to photograph them, since the beluga whales were quite far away and, moreover, were not inclined to pose in front of the lenses, completely immersed in the hunt for fish.
As I already said, the Anna Maria was transporting a group of tourists to Solovki. One of the women (in her words, the leader of the group) asked who we were, where we came from and where we were going. I briefly explained our circumstances. After that, she asked several questions about the sights of Karelia and the Solovetsky Islands, and said that their group arrived by train from Moscow, and at three o’clock in the morning no one met them at the station, and then some randomly caught bus brought them to the wrong hotel , and now they are in a semi-disassembled state. This comment was especially suitable for one young man from among the travelers, on whose face traces of a fun time spent on the train were clearly visible, and in his hand there was an open bottle of beer. Meanwhile, the cruiser entered the archipelago and maneuvered between the islands. Not long after, the rocky mass of the Russian Body grew straight ahead, the entire coastline of which, on the side of deep water, was littered with titanic stone blocks. However, instead of stopping the car, the captain continued to drive the Anna Maria at right angles to the shore.

The echo sounder in the cabin helped the helmsman avoid dangerous proximity to bottom boulders, and as a result, after some time, the frigate’s bow literally hung over a huge boulder lying on the shore. After this, the car was stopped, and we were given the command to “run to disembark,” since the ship was not anchored and could move onto the rocks. We grabbed our luggage and began to squeeze through the tourists to the front. And they, overwhelmed by curiosity, also began to move to the bow of the ship, along the way asking each other “where did we sail to” and “is this really Solovki.” Suddenly I felt that someone was holding me by the sleeve. Turning around, I saw the former sufferer with beer, who unexpectedly asked in a sober voice:
- Is it true that you will be looking for Bigfoot here?
I almost dropped the case with the camera from my hands.
- No, tell me - is it true or not? - the tourist continued to ask.
“True,” I answered, struggling to maintain a serious expression on my face. - Do we look like idiots to land on bare rocks without any purpose?
“They don’t look alike,” my interlocutor agreed. - So, it’s true after all... Well done.
Then I had no time to continue the dialogue and, apologizing, released my sleeve and ran to the nose. The guys were already below, I handed them a sealed tank with equipment and a camera, and then climbed down from the two-meter height of the ship’s bow onto the rock.

Then the same guy with the beer squeezed through to the railings and asked another question: “Do you have a weapon?” - but the senior sailor began to drive all the tourists away from the bow of the ship, since the Anna-Maria had received a trim and could have hit the rocks. The onlookers dispersed, the engine started and the ship moved in reverse from the shore, turned around and headed for Solovki.
We had about five hours at our disposal, after which the battleship was supposed to take us off the island. Just in case, the captain gave me his mobile number, and I gave him mine (paradoxically, Megafon was working on the Russian Body). But all the same, when the Anna Maria disappeared behind the neighboring island, a strange feeling arose in his chest: this is how Robinson probably felt when he realized that the piece of land that sheltered him was uninhabited and surrounded on all sides by water.

Now, perhaps, it’s worth saying a few words about the island itself.
The Russian Body rises above the sea by 123 m (according to some sources - 150 m) - this is the highest point in the water area and coast of the Southern White Sea region. In plan it has the shape of an irregular triangle measuring 3x2.5 km. The height of other smaller islands of the Kuzov archipelago ranges from 15 to 63 m. The rock domes of Kuzov are part of the Late Archean intrusion of granites - a magmatic body frozen in the folded strata of the White Sea gneisses about 2.7 billion years ago. The last ice sheet retreated from the territory of Kuzov about 11,600 years ago - from that time on, an archipelago was formed, surrounded by the waters of a periglacial basin. And only about 2800 years ago the archipelago acquired outlines close to modern ones.
In total, there are 16 uninhabited islands in the archipelago, the largest of which are Russian and German Kuzova.

By the way, the name of the archipelago, according to one version, comes from the Karelian “kuusi” - spruce, and not at all from the name of the wicker box.
Bodies gained their fame after three islands Archaeologists discovered ancient Sami sites, labyrinths, cult complexes, as well as single sacred stones of the Lapps - seids. About 800 different stone structures were discovered here, occupying 2% of the entire territory of the archipelago. The Sami (Lapps) appeared in the White Sea region 2-2.5 thousand years ago, migrating from the south (currently, representatives of this ethnic group live compactly on the Kola Peninsula and in Finland). It is known that the cult of stone has been preserved among the Sami to this day - in any case, to perform rituals, the Kola Sami specially come to the seids of the Kivakka and Nuorunen (Paanajärvi) mountains and to the sacred lake Seydyavr, lost in the ridges of the Lovozero tundra.

Now, it probably becomes clear why we came to Russian Body. I really wanted to examine the monuments and, if possible, collect material for comparative research - after all, accurate data on the “rules” and canons of creating seids still does not exist. It is only believed that seids are divided into natural (bizarre compositions of stones formed as a result of glacial or tectonic activity, as well as erosion and winding of soils, sometimes having a zoomorphic, less often anthropomorphic, shape) and artificial, created by man.
However, we will still have time to speculate about the classification of stone buildings - for now, let’s return to the island.
So, after landing, we placed our belongings in the crevice behind a large stone and began to climb to the top. In some places it was necessary to step on bare stone, but in most cases the foot sank into the soft carpet of moss lining the slope. The steepness of the climb was also not the same - and especially difficult places had to be avoided horizontally. The ascent was not easy for me - somewhere at the level of 40 meters there came a moment when I could not force myself to climb further. The guys striving for the top were already far away, and I hovered on my horizon, looking for less steep areas and not finding them. In the end, in order not to lose at least the achieved opportunity, I decided to walk along the rock at the level of the conquered altitude, take photographs of the opening views of the sea and other islands of the archipelago, and at the same time look for other ways to the top.
I began to go around the mountain from the west, then descending a little, then rising again to steep sections. As a result, I saw that the northwestern slope of the mountain slopes relatively gently to the sea and, in addition, is overgrown with open forest. Hoping for the prospect of still reaching the top, I accelerated and soon reached the tree line. Alas, short spruce trees sprouted in the bed of the stone river, where a sufficient layer of soil could remain, and around the basin along which the landslide descended, the same steep cliffs rose.

Carefully crossing the stone river, I came out onto a plateau that gradually rose upward in wide steps. And then I saw the first seid - a stone half my height, on top of which another smaller cobblestone was placed. About three meters from the first there was a second seid of a similar design, but with two “finials”. Overcoming the high steps of the ledges, I rose about seven meters, carefully examining the surroundings - large stones occasionally came into view, but the seids were no longer visible. However, the bed of the stone river, as a possible source of “parts” for the construction of the seid, also moved away to the side and down. The primitive design (“small stone on a large one”) and the obvious “rationalism” in the choice of the construction site (not far from the “source” of small stones) made me think that the seids I saw were nothing more than attempts by visitors to Russian Kuzov to join the Sami culture (more precisely, to its external manifestation). Wanting to find out how things were going with the guys, and at the same time tell about my findings, I dialed Evgeniy’s number.

“We’re at the top!” I heard on the phone. “And here... stone pyramids! Everywhere!” I almost howled with despair. Abandoning attempts to climb to the top from the northwest, I descended along the bed of the stone river to the sea, almost to the water’s edge. Here I saw an equipped parking area - a fireplace in a ring of boulders and even a semblance of a bench made from hewn logs that had come from nowhere. However, not far away lay several more dry, debarked logs, gray with age. Deciding to have a comfortable smoke break, he sat down on a bench. The breeze from the sea pleasantly blew across the face, and slightly compensated for the impact of the sun's rays hitting directly on the top of the head from the cloudless sky. Finding shelter on the Russian Body in the shade at noon turned out to be almost impossible if your height exceeds fifty centimeters. So all we could do was endure.
Suddenly I heard the noise of a boat motor, and then another one. Two "kazankas" slid in the strait between neighboring islands, first in the wake, and then one began to go around Russian Body, and the second moored to the island opposite. I saw three people come out of the boat onto the shore, talking loudly (sound carries well on water), one of whom expressed his intention to “go for a walk,” and the other two, as it seemed to me, were holding him back from this undertaking. However, soon the whole trio disappeared between the stones. And after some time, the sound of a gun shot was heard. Bearing in mind that Kem and Solovetsky residents often come to Kuzova to fish and hunt (I myself saw the dried droppings of some small animal in the woods), I decided not to attract unnecessary attention and, if possible, hiding behind large stones, I began to move towards our things. At the same time, I called the guys and told them about the fishermen-hunters. But they themselves already saw the boats from the top and heard a shot, and promised that they would begin to go down. Having checked my things, I went to meet them along the same route that we had started the climb. Climbing over the rocks, I caught myself thinking that the climb was much easier for me than the first time - apparently, the hour and a half “training” had done its job. However, the sound of the boat engines did not encourage me to leave things unattended, and I did not move far from the landing point. Soon the boys came down too. I called the captain of the Anna Maria and asked if everything remained the same regarding the time of the ship’s departure from Solovki and, accordingly, our removal from the island. He replied that the battleship would be delayed for about twenty minutes, and that we would be informed about its departure. Thus, we had at least an hour and a half at our disposal. We exchanged impressions, sitting on a moss bed and uncorking a beer. Anton and Evgeny talked about what they saw on the way to the top and about the numerous seids and other stone structures located at the top. And I told them about stone river, man-made seids, a stepped plateau, a parking lot with a bench and three giant natural zoomorphic seids, which were located right on the shore over a half-kilometer stretch, and each of them could (and all of them together could) serve as a reason for choosing Russian Body as a ritual place .

Seid "Duck" (length 8m) Seid "Pike" (length 20m)

Evgeny and Anton began to advise me to go up after all (Anton even volunteered to go to the top a second time). Having rested a little, I perked up and decided to still climb up to the seids - because otherwise it would have been very disappointing to leave the Bodies.
Now the climb turned out to be not such a difficult task - I was left wondering why I did not overcome the slope immediately. In about 25 minutes we reached the top, along the way we examined a curious stone that resembled a giant bird spreading its wings. Its “beak” bore traces of either rough upholstery or chips.

And finally, the top is a rocky plane approximately 1x1.5 km in size with a bowl-shaped depression in the middle. And... seids. As far as the eye could see, there were seids of different sizes, shapes and designs everywhere. Even a day would not be enough to examine and describe them all. Unfortunately, most of the stone pyramids had pronounced signs of “fake” - firstly, due to the simplicity of the design (“small on large”), and secondly, due to visible traces of stones turned out of the soil nearby, and the size of the hole often coincided with caliber of the top stone.
Several times we came across more serious puzzles: say, a fairly large stone (about 80 - 100 cm) rested on smaller ones. However, in most cases, the “trifle” was, as it were, placed under the boulder on one side (as if it had been previously pressed out with a crowbar). And only very rare seids could boast of an “otherworldly” origin, repeating the “classical” design of the famous “Turtle”.
Also noteworthy were the stone heaps and a caponier-like depression in the ground with a ring of boulders and traces of a fireplace (which could have been a consequence of a natural desire to protect fire from the wind - and not necessarily one that arose among the ancient Sami sorcerers).
The monks of the surrounding monasteries consider such pagan monuments to be cursed and filled with devilry. Therefore, Orthodox crosses are installed near them (suffice it to recall the figure of the Demon on the Demon Nose, on top of which the priests of the Murom Monastery carved an Orthodox cross). There was one on top of the Russian Body, but we only found a fragment of it sticking out from a pyramidal pile of stones. For some reason, I remembered a similar story connected with Kivakka, on the top of which there also stood an Orthodox cross made of thick timber, which was placed several times and several times it was knocked down and broken by the wind, and this despite its thickness and the powerful embankment of the base. Locals they said that the mountain does not accept the cross.
Not being able to look at each seid in detail, I just walked around and photographed them. Perhaps later, from photographs, it will be possible to see something that escaped attention here, at the top of the Russian Body.

I also photographed the wonderful view from the top of the surrounding islands and sea. By the way, both Kem and the Solovetsky Islands are perfectly visible from the top of Russky Kuzov - unless, of course, cloudiness interferes with this.

In the middle ground, a fragment of a ring ledge in the stone is clearly visible.

The descent to the foot took about ten minutes - we ourselves were surprised at such dexterity, achieved in just half a day of exercise. But, be that as it may, soon we need to leave the island - after all, while still standing at the top, I received a call from the captain of the Anna-Maria with information that the ship had left Solovki and was heading towards us.
While waiting for the ship, we approached the water itself. The bottom under the transparent surface was hospitably rounded with stone sides - however, there were no people willing to take risks, since at any moment the foot could slip from the wet stone into a deep crevice.
After about half an hour of waiting, the silhouette of a ship appeared from behind a neighboring island. "Anna-Maria" approached the stones in the same way as during our landing - perpendicularly coastline, hanging his nose over a suitable table-shaped boulder.

We climbed on board and, saying goodbye to the Russian Body, immediately decided that next year we would come to the archipelago again to explore other islands.
After an hour and a half of sailing, "Anna-Maria" moored in Kem, where Vladimir and Natasha were already waiting for us on the pier.

Analyzing what we saw at the top of the Russian Body and comparing impressions from other trips, as well as information from available thematic sources, we can say the following. There is no reason to doubt that the localizations of religious buildings of the proto-Sami tradition have actually been preserved on Kuzov. However, something else is also true: the “seid plateau” of the Kuzov archipelago has survived to this day in a highly distorted form. After all, these islands have been visited by people at all times. In the 11th century, Novgorodians penetrated these shores. From the 15th century, monks began to land on Kuzovy and founded Solovetsky Monastery. Among the Pomors, these islands were considered places of traditional fishing for sea animals. Surveyors, sailors, military men, tourists, fishermen, hunters - you never know who last years visited Kuzov. There is no doubt that one of them, having discovered stone figures, destroyed them or created new ones nearby. Often - thoughtlessly, imitating only the primitive, most easily reproduced design. Sometimes - with knowledge of the matter (for example, having read the literature and armed with the simplest tools). But in any case, three components - time, elements and man managed to hide the secret of the seids of the Russian Body much better than perhaps their original creators wanted.
Only megalithic monuments remained unshakable, the modification or destruction of which would require too much effort. We counted four possible similar objects. How many of them there actually are - five, ten or none - no one will probably say for sure today.

We were in the hotel when we received a phone call from Moscow, which reduced the number of participants on our trip - Anton's relatives fell ill, and he urgently needed to return home. This was especially unfortunate - since the next day our convoy was supposed to leave Kem and head further to the North - to the tundra Kola Peninsula, to the Sami capital Lovozero.
But this stage of the route, of course, should be discussed separately.

Posted Wed, 08/04/2015 - 11:26 by Cap

It is well known that the history of Karelian goes back to hoary, and partly mythological, antiquity. This is, for example, the Karelian city of Kem. The origin of the name itself is mysterious. The name “Kem”, according to many scientists, is formed by the ancient term kem, hem - “ big river", which is presumably of Indo-European origin and is distributed over a large part of Eurasia from the Kemijoki River in northern Finland to Ulug-Khem (Yenisei) and others in Tuva. But taking into account the fact that the only Indo-Europeans who settled here and were constantly mentioned in historical chronicles were the Slavs, it turns out that the mysterious people who gave the name to the river lived here even before the arrival of the Finno-Ugrians.
How can one not remember that it was in these parts, according to some historians, that ancient Hyperborea was located.

Kuzova Archipelago map

Moreover, it is known that the ancient Egyptians called themselves the people of Kemi, and this allows some researchers to be inclined to think that between the oldest inhabitants and the oldest population northern Africa there is a direct connection. This seems fantastic, but how can one not remember that the petroglyphs (“stone chronicle”) in Karelia are almost identical to those found in the mountains of Scandinavia, and also resemble ancient images of Altai and the Caucasus in their execution technique.

In the sea near Kuzov you can find ringed seals, bearded seals (the largest seal in Arctic waters) and beluga whales. The beluga whale is a marine mammal of the dolphin family, the number of which in the White Sea ranges from 800 to 1000 individuals. These curious and sociable animals can be observed throughout the northern summer.

The Kuzova Archipelago is a specially protected area where valuable natural landscapes, unique flora and fauna and unique archaeological sites of the ancient Sami are presented. In order to preserve the natural and cultural heritage, a state landscape reserve was established here in 1991, which in 1994 received the status of a wetland of international importance, and in 1993 protected zones of archaeological monuments were allocated.

Archipelago Kuzov Island Russian Kuzov

ANOTHER MYSTERY OF THE BODY ARCHIPELAGO
However, the main mystery of the archipelago lies elsewhere.
But first, a little history.
According to ancient Aryan and pre-Aryan ideas, the invariable affiliation of the ancestral home of the Aryans, Hyperborea (which includes the current territory of Karelia), was a mountain or rock, which was considered the central point of the world. It had a “base of seven heavens”, where the celestials lived and the “golden age” reigned. In ancient Russian apocryphal texts, the universal mountain was called “a pillar in Okiyan to heaven” or a white-flammable stone or Alatyr-stone, which was located on the island of Buyan. In the 14th century apocrypha “On All Creation” you can read: “In Okiyan there is a pillar called adamantine (adamant is a diamond. Ultimately, it is a correlate of ice). His head goes to heaven.” It is in this “paradise” time and place that the legend of the mysterious “Stone Book” originates. The “Stone Book” allegedly speaks of Mount Mera, which was located in the ancient North and was a plateau with steep cliffs, and about the island of Buyan, where the author of the “Stone Book,” the god Fab, hid a source of colossal magical power under the Alatyr Stone. Buyan Island in the “Stone Book” is the name of the island currently known as the German Body, located near the current Karelian city of Kem. On this island, if you trust the texts of the “Stone Book,” there was a palace complex and the graves of Phab’s children, and Phab’s daughter was named Ia or Io.

From this point of view, the classical ancient Greek myth about the wanderer Io, retold in the tragedy of Aeschylus “Prometheus Bound”, is very interesting. Let us recall that Zeus the Thunderer was inflamed with passion for Io and, in order to hide her from his jealous wife Hera, turned her into a white cow. But Hera figured out the trick, took possession of the cow and ordered the thousand-eyed Argus, the son of Gaia-Earth, to guard it. On behalf of Zeus, Hermes killed Argus and freed Io. Then Hera set a giant gadfly on the poor girl, running away from which Io reached the northern tip of the earth and found herself in the darkness-shrouded country of the Scythians and Cimmerians, where Prometheus was chained to a rock on the ocean shore. He told Io about her great destiny, that she would become the ancestor of great tribes and heroes. After that, he sent her through the territories of the northern peoples to the Caucasus, then to the Bosporus (“Cow Ford”) and the Ionian Sea named after her, and finally to Africa on the Nile coast, that is, practically along the migration route of the ancient peoples who founded all the Mediterranean and Western Asian civilizations.

In Russian mythology, Fab echoes primarily the ancient Slavic deity Veles, or Volos. Russian historian Alexander Nikolaevich Afanasyev considered him the deity of clouds, clouds, and heavenly herds. In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” Boyan is called Veles’ grandson, which seems to indicate the comparability of Veles with the Greek Apollo (Phoebus); in addition, it is this god of the Slavic pantheon that ancient sources associate with the “Pigeon Book.” Archipelago Kuzova

Soviet science considered the “Pigeon Book” (this is the second name of the “Stone Book”) to be a folk translation of the Bible. The “Life of Abraham of Smolensk,” written in the 13th century, tells how this Russian ascetic read and rewrote many “deep books,” for which he was expelled from the monastery and put on trial by the church. After all, it is not for nothing that the treasured book is called “dove”, that is, “deep” (which means both “ancient” and “wise”). The guardians and performers of the famous “spiritual verse” were Kaliki passers-by, carriers of information from “pre-literate and illiterate” Rus'. There is a version that all Christian issues rest on some other - non-Christian - foundation, which inevitably leads into the unknown depths of human prehistory, pan-Indo-European and pre-Indo-European ideology, morality, philosophy and protoscience. It was this circumstance that allowed Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin (1804-1856) - one of the pioneers of the study of the Russian traditional worldview - to call the “Pigeon Book” the brightest example of the most ancient cosmogonic culture, a kind of quintessence of folk wisdom, containing answers to questions that “boldly encroach on what, according to the current distribution of knowledge, belongs to the highest speculative tasks - natural science in general, and geoscience in particular."

The “Stone Book” contained the original teaching or knowledge about the world and became the primary source for myths and legends of almost all peoples of the world. There were legends about the “Stone Book”. Few had a chance to see her. And those who saw it did not want to show the way to it. But to comprehend the secret of this legendary monument many have tried.

At the beginning of his creative career, the wonderful artist and philosopher Nicholas Roerich created the painting “The Dove Book”, where in a generalized symbolic form he tried to recreate the image of a universal book that fell from heaven and included all the wisdom of the world.

The “Stone Book” was seen by the greatest Russian poet of the Silver Age, Nikolai Gumilev, who traveled through the Russian North in 1904. Emperor Nicholas II, who received the poet with a report on this unique discovery, not only took the find extremely seriously, but also allocated funds from the treasury for further research. Based on information taken from the “Stone Book,” Nikolai Gumilyov organizes an expedition to the islands of the Kuzovsky archipelago in the White Sea, where he finds ancient burials and a golden comb, unique in the purity of the metal. This comb was called “Hyperborean” and was lost along with other treasures that belonged to the famous ballerina Matilda Kseshinska. And the emperor himself gave her this comb.

This is how Gumilyov himself described this find: “For excavation, we chose a stone pyramid on the island, which is called Russian Body, unfortunately, the pyramid turned out to be empty and we were about to finish the work on the island when I asked for workers, not counting on anything particularly , disassemble small pyramid, which was located about ten meters from the first. There, to my incredible joy, there were stones tightly fitted to each other. The very next day we managed to open this burial, made in the form of a crypt. The Vikings did not bury their dead or build stone tombs, which led me to conclude that this burial belongs to an older civilization. In the grave there was a skeleton of a woman, no objects, except for one single thing. Near the woman’s skull there was a golden comb of amazing workmanship, on top of which a girl in a tight-fitting tunic sat on the backs of two dolphins carrying her.”

The “Stone Book” itself is hieroglyphs carved on rocks along the shores of the White Sea by Fab, testifying to knowledge ancient civilizations. The section of rocks with these hieroglyphs is up to 80 meters wide, but in 1962 this section was flooded during the construction of the Belomorskaya hydroelectric power station.

TOURISM
In 1991, to preserve the valuable natural landscapes and originality of the flora and fauna of the White Sea islands, the Kuzova state landscape reserve was created.
On July 12, 2012, the Government of the Republic of Karelia approved a new regulation on the Kuzova nature reserve.
Recreational activities, that is, the organization of recreation areas, parking for tourist groups, setting up tents, making fires, is allowed only on the territory of the Russian Kuzov, German Kuzov and Chernetsky islands, and only within specially designated places and outside the territories of cultural heritage protection zones. On the remaining islands of the Kuzova reserve, during the bird nesting period from May 15 to July 15, recreational activities are prohibited.

KUZOVA NATURAL RESERVE
The Kuzova Nature Reserve is a state landscape reserve located on the territory of the Kemsky region of Karelia, in the southwestern part of the White Sea. Created in 1991, in 1994 it received the status of a wetland of international importance.

The reserve is a chain of more than 200 islands. The territory area is 3,600 hectares, including 890 hectares of land. The reserve contains mass migration and nesting areas for many seabirds, in particular, auks, herring gulls, Arctic terns, Atlantic guillemots, eiders, etc. During nesting time, white-tailed eagle and kestrel are found here, and during migration also barnacle goose and gyrfalcon , peregrine falcon The waters of the reserve are inhabited by sea hare, ringed seal, and beluga whale.

SAAM PEOPLE
The Sami (Sami, Lapps, Laplanders; self-name - Kild. Sami, S. Sami. sámit, sampelaš; Finnish Saamelaiset, Nynorsk Samar, Swedish Samer) - a small Finno-Ugric people; indigenous people Northern Europe. Scandinavians and Russians called them “Lapps”, “Loplyans” or “Lop”, from this name comes the name Lapland (Lapponia, Lapponica), that is, “land of the Lapps”. The field of knowledge whose field of study is ethnography, history, culture and languages ​​of the Sami is called “loparistics” or “laponistics”.

The peculiarity of the Sami as a people is that the territory of traditional residence of the Sami population is currently part of several sovereign states that have different socio-economic and legal systems, and also significantly differ in the current legislation regarding indigenous peoples, national minorities, their language and culture. The territory of settlement of the Sami stretches from east to west for more than one and a half thousand kilometers - from the eastern tip of the Kola Peninsula through the north of Finland and Norway to the central part of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Sami live in Norway, Russia, Finland, Sweden, and also in North America and, in small quantities, in Ukraine. The Sami themselves call their country Sápmi.

The total number of Sami is from 60 to 80 thousand people (according to the Sami Parliament of Finland - about 75 thousand people), of which 40 to 60 thousand live in Norway, from 17 to 20 thousand in Sweden, from 6 to 8 thousand in Finland thousand, in Russia - two thousand people.
The ancient Sami population lived on a significantly larger territory compared to the current territory of their habitat; the southern border of the Sami country was in the area Lake Ladoga. The Sami were known to the ancient Greeks (under the name finoi, a mention of this people was found in 325 BC by the historian Pytheas) and ancient Roman authors (under the name fenni).
The traditional crafts of the Sami are domestic reindeer herding, hunting and fishing, but gradually, as settlers penetrated into Lapland, as well as with the industrial development of this territory, fewer and fewer Sami were engaged in traditional crafts. Archipelago Kuzova

The traditional life of the Russian Sami began to collapse even before the October Revolution, but the strongest blow to it was dealt in the 1920s and 1930s, when active industrial development of the Kola Peninsula began and forced collectivization began. As a result, the Sami practically stopped engaging in their traditional crafts, while only a few of them were able to master new forms of farming. As a result, the traditional culture, economy and way of life of the Sami were practically destroyed. According to Sovkina, chairman of the Sami Parliament of the Kola Peninsula, as of 2011, all Sami in the Murmansk region accounted for no more than 60 thousand reindeer, and in general the number of Russian Sami who led a traditional lifestyle was about 13%.
Since the 1950s, Sami national consciousness began to grow in Norway, Finland and Sweden. International conferences began to be held, and legislation was created and adopted in all three countries regarding the status of the Sami languages.

Some positive aspects associated with the existence of the Sami as an original people with their own special culture are also observed in Russia: the status of the Sami as an indigenous people is enshrined in the Charter of the Murmansk region, in the village of Lovozero (the center of cultural life Russian Sami) the Sami National Cultural Center operates, various Sami holidays and festivals are held, the Kola Sami Radio broadcasts, and the Museum of History, Culture and Life of the Kola Sami operates.

seid - German Body

PLACES OF POWER AND LEGENDS OF THE WHITE SEA
On the Kola Peninsula, washed from the southeast by the waters of the White Sea, in Kandalaksha, there is a legend about a wonderful bell that sank in the taiga Niva River. On its banks, even in the distant pagan era, there were sanctuaries dating back, perhaps, to the Stone Age. The ringing of the bell hidden here is not heard by sinners. But, as the legend says, someday they too will hear this ringing. Then the original heavenly state of these lands, fragments of the legendary Hyperborea, will return. Gerard Mercator's map reproduces the outlines of the disappeared northern land. The inscription on the map says that it is based on the testimony of the knights of King Arthur - seekers of hidden shrines, as well as on data from polar travelers. Mercator notes that they all reached the furthest reaches of the polar earth "through the art of magic."

If you look closely at the outlines of the “Scandinavian” part of Hyperborea on the Mercator map and superimpose it on the map of modern Scandinavia, you will find amazing correspondences: mountain range, running along Norway and the Kola Peninsula, coincides with the mountains of Hyperborea; and the Hyperborean river that flows from these mountains follows the contours of the Gulf of Bothnia in the northern part Baltic Sea. It turns out that, perhaps, the southern border of Hyperborea passed through Lakes Ladoga and Onega, through Valaam and turned north to the spurs of the middle ridge of the Kola Peninsula, that is, to where ancient mountains destroyed by time rise above the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea.

Thus, the shrines of the Russian North are located in Hyperborea - if the Kola Peninsula and the White Sea can really be considered its preserved part. and the magical cliffs of Valaam were once islands in an ocean bay off the coast of Hyperborea. Apparently, it was not without reason that the mystical feeling of the northern monks found them different sacred names: New Jerusalem - for the harsh Solovetsky Islands and Northern Athos - for the hidden Valaam. It was the New Jerusalem, the city that was bequeathed to future centuries, that the monk Ipatius saw in a prophetic vision of the Solovetsky Monastery back in 1667 - shortly before the beginning of the tragic “Solovetsky sitting”. The next act of the northern mystery is the appearance of the Old Believer Vygov desert (also on the ancient Hyperborean coast). Vygoretsia also perished, under whose “quick moss” the poet Nikolai Klyuev placed the underground “Cathedral of the Holy Fathers.” “Let our North seem poorer than other lands,” wrote N.K. Roerich, let his ancient face be hidden. Let people know little that is true about him. The tale of the North is deep and captivating. Northern winds cheerful and cheerful. Northern lakes thoughtful. Northern rivers are silvery. The darkened forests are wise. The green hills are seasoned. Gray stones in circles are full of miracles...” Gray stones in circles - labyrinths - and other ancient megalithic structures, located on the shores of the White Sea and on the islands of the Solovetsky archipelago, are the greatest mystery of the North.

The White Sea is the sacred sea of ​​the North, keeping many secrets. It is possible that the original meaning of its name, known only to a few, is related to the celestial sphere, since in semantics “white” color is heavenly, divine. At first glance, it could get the name White from the color of the snow and ice that covers it in winter.

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Based on materials: V. Mizin, “Seid, the stone legend of Lapland.”

http://www.zapoved.net/
Voeikov A.I., White Sea // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
http://argonavt.narod.ru/kuzova.html
http://www.vottovaara.ru/
Flora and fauna of the White Sea: illustrated atlas / ed. Tsetlin A. B., Zhadan A. E., Marfenin N. N. - M.: T-vo scientific publications KMK, 2010-471 p.: 1580 ill. ISBN 978-5-87317-672-4
http://www.ufastation.net/
Naumov A.D., Fedyakov V.V. The Eternally Living White Sea - St. Petersburg: Publishing house. St. Petersburg City Palace of Youth Creativity, 1993. ISBN 5-88494-064-5
The White Sea in the book: A. D. Dobrovolsky, B. S. Zalogin. Seas of the USSR. Publishing house Moscow. University, 1982.
http://www.photosight.ru/
photo by A. Bobretsov, user Luna, V. Kasatkin,

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The White Sea is fraught with mysteries that will remain beyond the comprehension of modern man for a long time. Here is one of the mysteries...The White Sea Archipelago. Body. There are already several options for the name. Bodywork, according to most researchers, comes from the Finnish word “kuusen” i.e. "spruce". There are also versions that the hero was involved Defoe Robinson Crusoe, who sailed from Russia by the White Sea to get to England. Waited out the storm on the islands. The Pomors who met Crusoe there changed his last name to make it more convenient to pronounce. So Crusoe became Kuzo, and the islands became Kuzova.

The Kuzova archipelago is located in the White Sea at a distance of approximately 30 km from Rabocheostrovsk, near the city of Kem. It includes 16 uninhabited islands, the largest of which are Russian Kuzov, German Kuzov and Oleshin Island. The islands, when viewed from the water, have an original spherical shape, and look like huge stone balls almost completely submerged in water. The islands are mostly tundra, in some places covered with spruce forests. The peaks of the islands German Body (140 m) and Russian Body (123 m) rise above the entire nearby water area and have attracted human attention for a long time.

The bodies are rightfully considered one of the most mysterious places in all of White Sea Karelia. On the territory of these deserted and harsh spaces, a huge amount of evidence of the religious activity of ancient people was found. According to historians, the buildings were built approximately 2-2.5 thousand years ago by the ancient Sami who lived on the shores of the White Sea. According to estimates, about 800 stone structures related to the pagan cult worshiped by the inhabitants of this harsh region were discovered on the archipelago. The short distance from the mainland allowed the Sami to freely swim or walk across the ice to perform their rituals. And at the same time it contributed to privacy and preservation of the sacred aura. No places of permanent human residence have been found on the islands. Perhaps that is why a huge number of sacred stones - “seids” and unique stone idols were found here. Objects located on the territory of the archipelago are included in the list of protected historical sites.

The largest is Russky Kuzov Island. On one of its peaks, Mount Bald, there is a large sanctuary, in the center of which there is a vertically placed granite stone (menhir), nicknamed the “Stone Woman”. It is believed that this stone symbolized one of the supreme deities of the ancient Sami. Sacrifices were made to him by hunters and fishermen who were leaving or returning from fishing. In addition, several burials were found nearby, lined with stone inside and apparently belonging to important members of the tribe.

An even larger sanctuary is located at the top of the highest point of the Big German Body. A whole pantheon of Sami deities was discovered there. Unfortunately, not everything has survived to this day, but what remains allows us to conclude that this was the Central Sanctuary of the ancient Sami. It was here that the main religious events were carried out by pagan shamans. The mountain is simply dotted with “seids” and idols sticking out vertically. (There is a legend that explains such a large concentration and is based on real historical events that took place in the 17th century. As they say, a detachment of Swedes (called in the old days simply “Germans”) decided to carry out a robbery attack on the Solovetsky Monastery, but due to the outbreak of a storm, was forced to take refuge on the island of German Body. They were not destined to leave this island. Divine wrath protected the Holy Solovetsky monastery, turning the Swedish robbers into stone idols. With a good imagination, one can imagine how the “petrified Germans” have been sitting around the invisible for many centuries. fire on the top and wait for their meal to be ready, the basis of the legend, apparently, was the correspondence of sizes and some external similarity of idols and human figures). The most amazing and most mysterious of the islands of the Archipelago is Oleshin Island. Here are located not only seids and sanctuaries, but also two ancient labyrinths, Small and Large.

Both are located on a flat rocky surface approximately 20 meters above sea level (which, by the way, excludes the possibility of using them as fish traps). The small one (diameter about 6 meters) is practically invisible and is only visible in the dense vegetation of the tundra. Nearby is the Great Labyrinth, surprisingly well preserved and measuring 10x12 meters. At least 1000 boulders were used for its construction and the total length of the “path” is about 190 meters. Both labyrinths are considered sacred. According to researchers, they were used for initiation or for communication between shamans and By Higher Powers. There are several more versions of the origin and use of labyrinths. A talisman for a herd of deer, a cult of sea fishing, a cult of the dead (since there are often labyrinths not far from burial places), such labyrinths marked the entrances to underground palaces... Perhaps the labyrinths are somehow connected with the ancient people’s idea of ​​astronomy and the universe.

According to member Russian Geographical Society Vladimir Vasilenko, high in the rocks is carved an image of the one-eyed god Odin, under which there is an ancient sacrificial stone, a huge boulder with a hole in the middle and a drain for blood. First, the researchers found that same sacrificial stone, and then - an image of the pagan god to whom sacrifices were made.

Another one of the mysteries of the Kuzova Islands. Researchers came across natural grotto, inside which the remains of German military uniforms were found. These finds are associated with Hitler's passion for the occult sciences. Meanwhile, it is known that the White Sea coast was never occupied, and although the Germans were in Karelia, the invaders never reached Kem, much less Solovki or Kuzov. Perhaps they were here secretly.

The more you try to delve into the secrets of the Kuzov archipelago, the more questions there are. And, apparently, it will not be possible to find out the answers any time soon.

The article uses materials and photos from open sources.

From the archive of comments about the Body Islands:

Yuri Slitinsky 2015.12.28 18:21

The funniest thing is that it was not because of them that the Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences (INION RAS) - the former Fundamental Library of Social Sciences - was burned. Since materials on Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov’s expeditions to Russky Island Kuzov were stored there. and further to Ethiopia to the city of Gunir to the Arussian tribe.

After finishing my acquaintance with the Onega district of the Arkhangelsk region and spending the night on the train, early in the morning I get off to Kem. I will not devote a separate post to Kemi, since the city did not impress me at all, absolutely gray, faceless and nondescript. Old part even more or less interesting, but most of the current Kemi are barracks and Soviet five-story buildings. “Oh, what a volost it was...” I thought, walking along the central street of Kemi, Proletarsky Prospekt. The sights can also be described in a few words: the Annunciation Cathedral in the forests of restoration, the Assumption Cathedral completely dismantled for work, local history museum"Pomorye", opposite Uspensky, is quite interesting, I recommend visiting it while passing through.

But that's not what this post is about. And about the rather little-known Kuzova archipelago in the White Sea, approximately halfway from Kem to Solovki. In addition to the beauty and silence of the uninhabited White Sea island, I am also attracted by the large number of ancient stone monuments (seids, labyrinths, stone heaps) scattered across the islands of the archipelago. I’m very interested in such things, I’ve already seen a lot of them, maybe someday I’ll get around to making a separate post. In general, I am going to live for some time on the island of Nemetsky Kuzov, and then evacuate with an excursion boat to Solovki. The “Na Kuzova” project helps me with this, aimed at keeping the reserve clean and controlling the tourist flow into the reserve.

An undoubted advantage is the cleanliness of the islands and the absence of dubious public on the island, the presence of quite decent infrastructure (parking lots, a well with drinking water), services provided: (drop-off to the archipelago), boat rental for visiting the islands, etc. (see website ). The eternal minus is that you have to pay for all this (for parking too), and relatively a lot.

In general, I booked my place on a small boat to Kuzov, and captain Nikolai very successfully picked me up by car, on the way from Kem to Rabocheostrovsk (that’s where all ships depart from).
We depart from the pier in Rabocheostrovsk. In the background is the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (2003)

View of Rabocheostrovsk and the modern Church of the Life-Giving Trinity (1993) at the Kemsky courtyard of the Solovetsky Monastery.

And, of course, the church-set, rebuilt from a hut, for the filming of the film “The Island”. All the churches are modern, so I didn’t go close to them, content with viewing from afar

Nikolay’s boat is small, for 4-5 people, but it reaches a good speed (36-40 km/h), and it also consumes little, about 10 liters of gasoline per trip, which allows it to charge a low price for the drop. At the same time, I understand what a scam the official Onega prices are, like 5k half an hour before Kiy Island. The sea is calm now and we are walking as if on glass. Another travel companion, also named Nikolai, is thrown into the archipelago with me.

Soon we are there. Everything is usually located at the German Kuzov (possibly due to the presence of a water source, a hut for rangers, and maybe the largest set of seids), excursions are available there. Besides it, the islands of Russky Kuzov (seids), Olyoshin (labyrinth, stone heaps), Lodeyny (seids) are also interesting.

The boat pier, as well as the fisherman's hut in which the reserve rangers live, are located on the southeastern part of the island, and most of the parking lots are near southwest beach, apparently tied to the well. There are parking lots at the hut, but I don’t understand the joke of coming to desert island and live close to people.
We meet the rangers, Ivan and Sergei, I ask about the opportunity to visit neighboring islands, and I go look for a place to camp. Since I have gas, I don’t need an equipped parking lot and first I’m going to get away from people. But it's not that simple. The beach is surrounded on three sides by rocks, with predominant tundra vegetation, and I’m already tired of pitching a tent in the open sun. But I don’t want to go to another part of the island and run for water. In fact, the beach is really best place: near the sea, drinking water, shelter of trees. And there are not many people now, only 3-4 people live, including us. True, Ivan scares me that he will arrive here soon Kid `s camp 40 people, but, fortunately, this will happen after my departure.

General view of the island from the southern rock. According to the most common version, the name “Kuzova” comes from the Sami “Kuz-oyve” - “Spruce Heads”. The islands have an intricate topography, rocks interspersed with tundra and forest belts. At the same time, the two-humped German has a height of 140 m, and the Russian is 123, which is the most high point in the Karelian White Sea region.

The bend and continuation of the German, in the background - Russian

While climbing the rocks, several unusual stones caught my attention. I can’t definitely call them seids, but they stand out from the overall picture. Well, while we're on the subject, let's talk about seids. To begin with, I must say that the word “seid” is now used to describe everything. In general, the word is Sami, and it means “sacred”. Not only a stone could be sacred, but also a lake (see toponymy of the Kola Peninsula), and a rock, in general, any unusual natural object. As for stones with legs, with finials, etc. then I absolutely agree that they have nothing to do with the modern Sami, the inhabitants of the northern lands simply inherited them. At the same time, the Lapps did not have a clear idea about the time of their construction, authors and purpose, and brought them gifts or punished them, believing that spirits lived in the stones. Most likely, for the superstitious Lapps there was no difference between unusual man-made and natural creations.
But, in order to avoid confusion, I would separate the artificial structures created by the so-called proto-Sami culture (also a very general definition) into a separate concept, in order to distinguish them from simply long-revered objects. However, for some reason this was not done.

Now a few words about artificial structures and about natural glacial creations. Of course, I am all for critical thinking. But I still don’t understand those people who declare with such confidence: “Why are you doing nonsense here, the glacier set it all up,” as if they themselves had observed this process. I myself travel quite a lot, look at nature, and I can assume that she could create anything. My skepticism is increasing, but so is the number of questions. Looking at the stones, frozen in unstable positions and clearly of natural origin, I come to the conclusion that similar man-made structures were created in imitation of natural ones, or, as sanctuaries of nature, perhaps in special places. (but certainly not the secret weapon of the Reptilian Hyperboreans))

But I can’t imagine what a glacier must do to put hundreds of bizarre structures of the same type on one of the hills, and leave the neighboring one smooth (I cite the Kandalaksha tundra, Vottovaaru as an example). It also looks strange when the glacier erects structures on plateaus and slopes, leaving the foothills of the mountains clear (there they would be more logical, large stones fall on small ones and stop in balance). And they could not survive the stones, placed in unstable positions by the glacier, several serious earthquakes much later. We can’t talk about the man-made nature of every strange stone, but if in some places there are hundreds of similar structures, and even confirmed archaeological finds nearby (the same ambiguous Pegrema), then perhaps it makes sense to assume the presence of a once-existing cult complex, and also try to look for patterns and observe. Well, this is in my opinion, and my interest in the unknown, but if there is none, then you can always order pizza and turn on news about Ukraine on TV)
By the way, even among stone structures, seid is most often called a stone with legs. However, among the seids one can also distinguish stones with tops (usually of a different color), anthropomorphic idols and zoomorphic structures, embedded cracks, swinging stones, ringing stones and many others.

Many books and articles have already been written on this topic, in particular about the Body, and I won’t even try to retell everything in a short report, but I will leave here a small list of references:
Shakhnovich M.M. “Terrestrial stone monuments” on the Kuzov Islands in the White Sea and I.M. Mullo. Chronicle of the formation of the “Sami” myth
Vyacheslav Mizin “Seids, megaliths of the Russian Arctic”, or its later edition, including a chapter about Kuzov
Vyacheslav Mizin "Seids, labyrinths, ancient stones of the Arctic"
Manyukhin I. S., Lobanova N. V. Archaeological monuments of the Kuzov archipelago // Cultural and natural heritage islands of the White Sea. Petrozavodsk, 2002.

And I will return from theory to practical observations. So, these are unusual stones. From the category of natural origin, but could be revered objects.
A large stone in an unstable position above the cliff, in the very southern point islands(64.942085, 35.171493). On Vottovaar, a similar one, but larger, is called “Ukko’s Head”

Next to it is a vertical stone-menhir. Its position is also interesting, and the fact that it stands on a foot of small stones

Well, together they form a unique composition, clearly standing out in the surrounding landscape. I assume that they could be used as identification or navigational marks for sailors

Well, I go down and put up a tent in an equipped parking lot in a small forest, in front of the beach, overlooking the Russian Body

However, I can’t sit for long and go to the seid plateau on the northeastern part of the island. The above map shows paths, and you can get there in at least three ways - by east coast and ascent from the east, ascent from the west along a steep rock with ropes, ascent from the northwest along a gentle slope with a traverse. Whichever slope you go on, the surroundings are guaranteed to be beautiful

When I finally go out to the seids, I become slightly indignant. The fact is, despite the ban on touching and rearranging stones, new buildings predominate on the plateau - primitive stone pyramids “Petya was here” and “for good luck”. Firstly, it is sad that when looking at the plateau, these numerous arts dominate, and the real additions are already lost against their background. Secondly, stones for art are taken from historical monuments, sometimes without even knowing it. Even the discoverer of this place, archaeologist Mullo, noted the destruction of the structures in the 60s, let alone the present time, when access here is open to anyone.

In general, there are a lot of structures here, and there are just enough scattered stones, approximately like on the Kola Hills. Perhaps these were once structural stone pavements. Modern structures, as I have already said, are primitive. New seids with finials or displays are also easy to distinguish from old ones. Moss and lichens have been growing on stones for centuries, but they will not be found at the joints of stones. Therefore, when you see a bare spot on a slab overgrown with moss, you can be sure that a stone has just been taken from there. And by lifting the top and seeing that the joint of the stones is not overgrown, we can conclude that the stones have been in this position for more than a hundred years.

However, there is one exception regarding primitiveness. Several years ago, a group of particularly ardent fans of Hyperborea, led by Sergei Golubev, found on one of the islands of the Archipelago, Chernetsky, a megalith that looked like a huge throne, and were not too lazy to bring the multi-ton megalith into a vertical position. This clearly shows that, to put it mildly, there are no barriers to human fanaticism. And this example makes me wary of applying the principle “primitive - modern, monumental - ancient.” In general, okay, all the fundamental, gigantic “seids” here are of natural origin; the preserved layouts, heaps and labyrinths are much more interesting.

I will give here some striking examples of seids of several types and a couple of remakes for example.
A classic of seismic construction, a stone on three supports, the “flying stone” of the Sami

Zoomorphic seids, for example, a dolphin or a seal is guessed here. Seal just like that business card Body

Seids with pommels, sometimes also giving a zoomorphic shape

Stone piles

But here are modern pyramids and tours that do not carry any meaning here. Fortunately, such structures are sometimes dismantled by competent staff of the reserve, but destroyed stone pavements are much more difficult to return

Leaving coins for luck on a geodetic marker. I won't comment

There are such strange clearings. Initially, I interpreted them as stones borrowed by tourists for their art, but sometimes the size of the stones here is really amazing. In addition, there are no traces of stone edging around.

Exactly split, as if a sawn stone. The Hyperboreans are triumphant.

General view of the plateau

The second day is a day of rest, a day's rest. I swim, leisurely and aimlessly walk around the island, sunbathe, lying on the mosses and rocks. The animal there is absolutely unafraid. I met this bird (a partridge?) that calmly came to arm’s length and then slowly walked past. In general, based on her behavior, it looked like there was her nest nearby: at first she was hiding, then she came up and assessed me, walked somewhere into the bushes, and when I went further, she ran after me and followed me for a long time. And the next day we met a hefty hare in Russian. As for the bear announced by the site, neither him nor any traces of him are visible. I think that if there was one, he would have long since swam away from such activity.

The forest is not very interesting, except for the luxurious thickets of blueberries, but I really like to walk on the tundra. Some people feel confident, “at ease” on stage, some on the water, some in the forest, and I feel confident in the mountains and tundra. And the tundra here, although small, is very real and colorful, and only now I understand how much I missed it.

Heather

Blueberry

Crowberry

Reindeer moss - moss and lingonberry

Blueberry in the forest

Cross on the shore

Sunbathing on a rock

Moss is slowly but surely covering the rocks

Waking up at night, watching the calm sea and dawn come

On the final day, I finally gathered everyone together: Nikolai (who seems to want to go to other islands, but is not particularly interested) and the rangers, and now we are going by boat, first to Olyoshin, and then to Russian Kuzov.

Olyoshin is interesting for its numerous stone heaps and labyrinths. I will not dwell on them for a long time, but will refer you to the books and articles mentioned at the beginning, well, I can also add the books by O. Kodol (I’ll tell you about him later) “The Path of the Labyrinth”, N. Vinogradov’s “Solovetsky Labyrinths”. I already once wrote my ideas about labyrinths in a post about Kandalaksha Babylon. A good selection of hypotheses from the same Kodola can be found on the website of “Independent Guides”, his travel agency. I'll just leave the photo here

Taking a photo with one of the stone structures

Impressive stone walls

Next, we follow the Russian body. Despite the fact that the most interesting part of it with seids is “Bald Mountain” in the southern part of the island, for some reason Sergei drops us off at the opposite end of the island, and even advises us to go along the top. We climb a mountain, run into an impenetrable forest without any paths, curse, get off and walk along the shore. The walk is quite fun and interesting, despite the ruins of stones and driftwood in some places, there is a path along most of the shore. Well, no one canceled the littoral at low tide

Traces of the vital activity of sandworms feeding on bottom sediment. I’ll leave them here, very interesting and necessary information, I really recommend it)

The seagull is unlucky

The pyramid stone, which is so loved by occult fans of reptilians. I already showed how they are formed in a post about Vottovaara

We begin to climb the mountain.
Drank, similar to those that Demin was so happy about finding on Ninchurt

Again, stone formations. In general, there are hundreds of them, I will show you the most interesting and monumental ones

In the evening, local tourists from Kemi, riding a boat around the islands of the archipelago, came to my parking lot and had tea. They said that there had always been a labyrinth on Olyoshin, as long as they could remember, and even earlier there were many more fishermen’s huts on the islands and everything was littered with garbage.

On the last night, I couldn’t calm down for a long time, although in the first days I simply fell off my feet and fell asleep (I had a similar experience in Pegrem, by the way). I absolutely don’t want to sleep and I go for a walk. I climb the rock, from where the ship is supposed to pick us up tomorrow. And I understand that, being carried away by the search for seids, the desire to see as many of them as possible, I almost missed the main thing here. Initially, my long journey through the north was conceived as a harmonious combination of cramming practical information into my head from books and articles (local history, ethnography) and long-term communication with nature, trying to expand my consciousness at least a little. Unfortunately, I am increasingly driven towards the first goal, often to the detriment of the second.

There is an interesting mention of the seids of the German Body in folklore - the legend of the petrified Germans (Swedes). Tradition says that once upon a time, “German people” wanted to attack the “holy Solovki”. A storm overtook them at sea. The Germans took refuge in the northern Kuzovs, but the gods turned them into stones.

I sat there for a long time. On one side the trace of sunset was visible, on the other the Moon rose, and this picture full of harmony is so idyllic that it seems to me that something must happen now. But nothing happens, and already late at night I go to bed. On the other hand, what else is needed..?

In the morning, a boat arrives with an excursion from Solovki, on which Nikolai and I are going to jump out of the archipelago. Yesterday, Ivan mentioned that the excursion would be led by the famous Solovetsky guide, Oleg kodola Kodola. By the way, “On the Body” is his project. I read a couple of his books, “History of the Republic of Karelia” and “The Path of the Labyrinth,” and sometimes I read news from Solovki in his magazine. The Path of the Labyrinth is generally one of the best books I have read on the topic, it is informative and what is written completely coincides with my views and observations (yes, I also love Castaneda and do not like fanatics). Despite the fact that I’ve already looked all over here, I’m interested in hearing what he says about Kuzov. Therefore, throwing my backpack onto the ship, instead of waiting 2 hours, I asked permission to join the excursion, and Oleg allowed it, asking for help with the group during the ascent. Although it is possible to reach the seids along a gentler slope, the excursion involves an unforgettable experience and climbing a steep rock, holding on to ropes. However, the group is quite athletic, so I don’t have to strain myself too much.
In principle, taking into account the reading of the two above-mentioned books, I heard almost nothing new, but I still strongly recommend the excursion, everything is justified, without obscurantism, fairy tales and the recently fashionable Hyperborea. In general, I am surprised that in this age of insulting the feelings of believers, and even living on Solovki, he is not afraid to speak so directly). And another undoubted advantage of the excursion is that before this, the rangers destroy all the idiotic new-made pyramids, leaving only the old stones.

Oleg shows how the ancients built seids. “You lift a stone weighing 2 tons. You put the legs down. You lower it. And what’s unclear?)).” Well, I won’t really spoil his interpretation of his purpose or explain the technology. I will only say that it is quite banal, although quite acceptable.

My stay here is over, three days have flown by, and the motor ship "Savvaty" is taking me to the final destination of my month-long journey - the Solovetsky Islands.

Still, photos taken over 3 days can be viewed

 

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