Ančiņi Devil’s Stone lies on the road side and is a chapped quadrangle hornblende greiss with steep sides and biotite granite lead. Ančiņi Devil’s Stone has other names as well – the Big Stone, Sacrifice Stone or Devil’s Lap. Each of the names has a certain reason behind it. The Big Stone – the stone certainly is big (its length is 5.1 m, width 4.3 m, height 1.9 m, volume around 40 m3). The Sacrifice Stone – in earlier times the stone was used as a sacrifice site. A longish cavity was made into its flat surface (1.25 m x 0.5 m x 0.12 m) where water accumulates. Still in the 19th century the local people assembled around the stone in the evening and in the Midsummer Eve and made fire either on or at the stone. The Devil’s Stone or Devil’s Lap – the stone is associated with the legends about the devil and him bringing water; about the devil and carrying a stone. There are still other legends about the gold buried at the stone during the war which can be excavated only at midnight. Generally, Ančiņi Devil’s Stone is very picturesque and easily accessible. The diversity of folklore about it might indicate the different (possibly chronological) sacred roles of the stone.
Narrative
[…] The owner of Ančiņi homestead remembered the following legends: 1) The Devil was carrying a stone in his lap from Madliena Church through Ozolēni Swamp. Within some distance from the homestead a rooster sang from Ančiņi. 2) In ancient times of war gold was buried under the stone that can be dug only at midnight. 3) The owner of the house remembers that during his childhood people assembled around the stone and lit a fire on it […]”(After-war report by A. Gusars,1932; stored in the archive of the Department of Archaeology of the National History Museum of Latvia)
There are no signs about the Ančiņi Devil’s Stone at the road-side, however it can be easily reached by car because the former highway running from the current highway Laubere – Madliena passes the stone.
