Blue Stone, or Blue Rock (Russian: Синь-камень) is a type of

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

s, widespread in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in areas historically inhabited by both Eastern Slavic (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

), and

Volga Finnic The Volga Finns (sometimes referred to as Eastern Finns) are a historical group of List of larger indigenous peoples of Russia, indigenous peoples of Russia living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representa ...

tribes (

Merya Merya may refer to: * Merya people * Merya language, an extinct language * Merya (Tanzanian ward) See also * Meryan (disambiguation) * Merja (disambiguation), pronounced "Merya" * Meria (disambiguation) * Marya The Marya are a tribe in western Er ...

Muroma The Volga Finns (sometimes referred to as Eastern Finns) are a historical group of indigenous peoples of Russia living in the vicinity of the Volga, who speak Uralic languages. Their modern representatives are the Mari people, the Erzya and the ...

И.Д. Маланин. Материалы разведки Синих камней Подмосковья в 2003 году // Краеведение и регионоведение. Межвузовский сборник научных трудов. ч.1. Владимир, 2004.
(Russian)). Unlike

Sledovik Sledovik (Следовик, in Russian literally – a Footprint Stone) is a most widespread type of sacred stones, venerated in Slavic (Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian) and Finnic ( Karelia, Merya) pagan practices. These are big stones, usual ...

(both ''Sledovik'' proper and ''Cup-stones''), ''Blue Stones'' did not have major hallows on them, and were venerated in a simpler way: by pouring

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

on them, or leaving food offerings. Some of the Blue Stones are still known, and to some extent venerated by local populations. BlueRock

If used as a personal name, ''Sin-Kamen'' (Blue Rock) usually refers to the most famous sacred stone of this kind, located on a shore of

Lake Pleshcheyevo Lake Pleshcheyevo ( rus, Плеще́ево о́зеро, p=plʲɪˈɕːejɪvə ˈozʲɪrə) is a glacial lake in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia. The historic town of Pereslavl-Zalessky is on the southeastern side of the lake. The lake, which is part ...

near Pereslavl-Zalesskiy. While in the majority of cases, the stones belonging to the ''Blue Stones'' type are black or dark gray, this particular stone does indeed look dark blue when wet.Бердников, В. Синий камень Плещеева озера
// Наука и жизнь. – 1985. – № 1. – С. 134–139. (Russian) The stone surface is covered with small knobs; its weight is estimated to be about 12 tons.Комаров К. И. Древние боги Ярославской земли
(Russian) Sin-Kamen' is a grey boulder of coarse-grained

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

biotite Biotite is a common group of phyllosilicate minerals within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . It is primarily a solid-solution series between the iron-endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more alumino ...

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

that used to be venerated by the

Meryans The Meryans, also ''Merya'' (Russian: меря) were an ancient Finnic people that lived in the Upper Volga region. The Primary Chronicle places them around the Nero and Pleshcheyevo lakes. They were assimilated to Russians around the 13th centu ...

and the pagan Slavs on the shore of Lake Pleshcheyevo not far from the early medieval town of

Kleshchin Kleshchin (Клещин) was a Meryan (and later Slavic) town on the eastern shore of Lake Pleshcheyevo in Zalesye. It is thought that the lake owes its name to the derelict town: the opening lines of the Primary Chronicle refer to the lake as Kl ...

. The stone changes its color to blue after a rain, hence the name. It weighs 12 tons and measures 310 by 260 cm. A century ago, the stone used to be as tall as a man but it has steadily sunk into the ground ever since. Although it is widely believed that the stone was overthrown from a pagan sanctuary on top of Bald Hill at the bidding of

Tsar Basil IV Vasili IV Shuisky (russian: Василий IV Иванович Шуйский, ''Vasiliy IV Ivanovich Shuyskiy'', c. 155212 September 1612) was Tsar of Russia between 1606 and 1610 after the murder of False Dmitri I. His rule coincided ...

, early descriptions locate it in the vicinity of the Pereslavl Monastery of Sts. Boris and Gleb. In the 17th century a local Orthodox monk had it interred in a field. After the stone was scoured by rain, the monks tried to transport it across the ice-bound lake in order to be used as a foundation stone of a church. The ice gave way under its weight and the stone was submerged. It was found on the shore in the 19th century and is now worshipped by a group of local neopagans.

References

{{Reflist Sacred rocks Slavic mythology Geography of Yaroslavl Oblast Pereslavl-Zalessky Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Yaroslavl Oblast