Estonia’s Hill of Crosses, the small hill covered in hand-made twig crosses that are said to bring good luck.

3 min read

2 years ago Nathan

Surely the hill of Crosses in Hiiumaa is not as big and extensive as its counterpart in Lithuania but probably its smaller, more personal natural make it all the more haunting.
Located atop a small Estonian hill on the border of the parishes of Reigi and Puhalepa, it boasts hundreds and hundreds of small, simple hand-made crosses scattered around a forested area.
It seems the crosses began appearing on the hill as a memorial to a group of Swedes living on the island of Hiiumaa, who were forced to relocate to Ukraine in the late 1700s on the false promise of a better life.
Here a departure service was held on 20 August 1781 by the Swedes who were to leave Hiiumaa.
Czarina Katarina II gave an order to resettle the Swedes to the south of Ukraine and the owner of Kõrgessaare estate Stenbock expelled free Swedish peasants from their farms.
Thus they said farewell to the place that been home to the Swedes for at least 400 to 500 years.
About 1000 people started a bitter journey on the eve of winter and erected their first cross here, and just about half of them reached their destination in spring to establish Gammalsvenskby village.
Only on 1929, the government of the Soviet Russia allowed the Swedes to move to Sweden, although this is not the only version of history.
In fact, another tale says that a pair of rival wedding parties bumped into each other on this trail, and a fight broke out when neither would make way for the other.
As a result, one side lost their bride, and the other lost their groom, but the surviving bride and bridegroom were said to have got married later and to have lived happily ever after.
Thus the legend was born that not only will planting a cross on the site bring good luck, but it can also inspire a lasting partnership.

Either way visitors are welcome to add their own crosses when they visit the hill.
The cross should be made out of natural material one can find nearby without harming the vegetation.
People usually tie together two small tree branches using bark or hay and leave the cross to lie around in the forest and, even if these crosses may not last for very long, there is no need to fear that the hill will run empty, because the next visitors will simply add their own crosses to this ever growing group of iconic memorial twigs and sticks.