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Trollkyrka




According to Lidman (1972:52) old people used to say: "No Christian can go there. The mountains of the troll church belong to the heathen Troll s. If a Christian ventures there, he will come to grief."

In fact, local tradition relates that the mountain was used not long ago for heathen rites and that anyone who was not initiated and saw it risked either to be buried in a bog in the forest or sworn into the brotherhood. These precautions clearly indicate that the rites took place as late as the period 1604 - 1735 , which was a time when there was a penalty of death on practising such rituals. The rites are described in a folk poem documented by the folklorist Carlshult (1941) when he documented the traditions on Skaga Stave Church . It has later been published in Karlsson (1970:62) and Lidman (1972:52).


REFERENCES

  • Carlshult, B.G. (1941) ''Undenäsbygden genom tiderna''.

  • Karlsson, S. (1970) ''I Tiveden'', Reflex, Mariestad.

  • Lidman, H. (1972) ''Gudanatt, dagar och nätter i Tiveden'', Askild & Kärnekull, Stockholm.



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