The sacred groves of the curonian ķoniņi: Past and present

Abstract

The current article deals with the reflection of the holy groves of the so-called Curonian ķoniņi (kursu ķoniņi) in historical sources and contemporary folklore. The Curonian ķoniņi constituted a special estate of freemen who enjoyed the same status as other vassals of the Livonian Order in Courland. On the one hand, there is quite a rich collection of written evidence concerning the holy groves of the ķoniņi, possibly dating even from 1414. On the other hand, there is a vivid contemporary oral tradition concerning the holy grove of one of the villages of ķoniņi - ķoniņi Elka Grove. Both sources have been examined in the article in order to find out the reasons for the atypically strong local oral tradition concerning the holy grove and the motives used in the stories told about the grove.