Stone-eyed god

The stone-eyed god from the island of Vossenoi in Ladoga was made in the 17th century or early 18th century. It is a wooden statue with a stylised face. Its eyes are embedded stones, hence the name. Part of the head has broken off and one eye is missing. According to the artefact information, the stone-eyed god has a colourful history:

“On the island of Vossenoi in Ladoga, there used to be a sacred building, where old men put their money to catch lots of fish. But the seal hunters burned it down. To make up for the missing building, someone who needed it prepared a stone-eyed god (the name was due to the fact that the god had eyes of stone). After a few years, even the god suffered an accident, for a holy monk, when fishing on the island with bad luck, became angry with the stone-eyed god and threw it into the kingdom of the fish. After floating on the waves a while, the god finally ended up on the island of Falaya, where fishermen from Mantsinsaari Island just happened to be fishing. At that time, the Mantsi people caught plenty of fish, and it was obvious that the catch could be attributed to the guidance of the stone-eyed god. They took a fancy to the stone-eyed god and carried it to their home island, where the god took its place on the roof of one of the houses, the Siidorov house in the village of Peltonen, and remained there until very recently. Now, the same god has been brought from Mantsinsaari to Sortavala by the representative Janne Martikainen and is currently visiting the editorial office of the Rajavahti newspaper. Despite its high age, it is still in good shape.”

Rajavahti 2/9 1907, n. 98, information provided by Master J. Ailio.

KF1738