Sakalovapalo burial mounds is an ancient

burial ground A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

, a cemetery in

Obinitsa Obinitsa (also known as Obiniste, Abinitsa, Kirikmäe) is a village in Setomaa Parish, Võru County, southeastern Estonia. It has a population of 187 (as of 1 January 2009). The Meremäe-Obinitsa Primary School was closed in 2009, after that the ...

village,

Setomaa Parish Setomaa Parish ( et, Setomaa vald) is a rural municipality of Estonia, in Võru County. It has a population of 3,369 (as of 1 January 2018) and an area of 463.1 km². Settlements There is one small borough (''alevik'') Värska and 156 vil ...

Võru County Võru County ( et, Võru maakond or ''Võrumaa''; vro, Võro maakund) is a county in southern Estonia. It is bordered by Valga County and Põlva County and is the only Estonian county bordering two countries - Latvia (Alūksne Municipality and ...

in southeastern

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. A stone cross used to be located near the burial mounds and the place was important and well known for the people in the region. The stone cross was destroyed during Soviet rule; many other burial mounds were also destroyed during the same period, as the sand from the mound was used on the roads nearby for antiskid treatment. The cross was a donation place, where passersby brought money, buttons, strings of yarn and other things. Red and white ribbons were tied to the bushes near the cross. People in the former times thought that the mounds date back to the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...

or Swedish Rule and told stories of great battles in connection with the mounds.Valk, Heiki ''Palve, vanapatt ja pihlakas'', Tartu, 1996. The mounds have been examined in different times by different archaeologists. In 1913, the excavations were done by Russian geologist V. Kreiton. K. Mark, E. Astel, E. Richter, J. Linnus and many others have also done excavations in the mounds. The cemetery might have initially had up to 50 sand mounds. 36 of them have been preserved, 8 of which are extended mounds and 28 are round mounds. The mounds are so far the oldest archaeological relics in Obinitsa area.Sillaots, Liidia ''Obinitsa ajast aega'', Hilanamoro, 2006.

Legends

According to one legend, it is a Swedish cemetery, dating back to the

(1700-1721). Round mounds are said to be the burial places for horses and the oval ones for people. To commemorate the dead, a large stone cross was placed there. At one point, the cross was taken to Taelova, but on the way, horses began to bolt and pull back, so the cross was taken back to its place. Another story is that gold has been buried near Sakalovapalo mounds and it is supposed to be in the place where one can see Saalesa or Saatse church domes. Battles of the Great Northern War were said to have lasted long in

region, where Russian general Sokolovski (Sakalov in

Seto language Seto (; et, setu keel) is a dialect of Estonian or a separate language spoken by 12,549 people. It is sometimes identified as a dialect of Võro, or the two are described as one language, Võro-Seto. Setos () mostly inhabit the area near E ...

) is said to have fallen. His grave is said to have been in the area of the mounds and a large stone cross was put on the grave and attached to a growing pine by a chain. In addition, the people in the former times told about an essütaja (a magical spirit, who leads people astray in the forests) who lived in the Sakalova heathy pine forest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakalovapalo burial mounds Setomaa Parish Tumuli