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Written by Nicole Panken
The influence of the megalithic monuments on the local life of Wéris can be deduced from the local folklore, the legends and traditions that live on here.
Since time immemorial, people have been looking for an explanation for these heavy stones: could giants, dwarves, fairies, witches, or ... the devil have something to do with it?
In Wéris ( Belgian Aredennen), several legends circulate around the miraculous rocks: the "Pierre Haina", "Lit du Diable"
the Devil's bed) and "Pas-Bayard"
hoofprint of 't Ros Beiaard, a legend about orphans and a horse).
The "Pierre Haina" is not a menhir but a freak of nature: it stands here as the only remaining boulder, the other boulders having been rolled away. This boulder is
about 3 metres high, with a slope of +/- 45°. It is possible that the term "haina" comes from the Celtic language, one could then speak of the "stone of the ancestors".
The "Pierre Haina" dominates the megalithic site of Wéris. This striking rock was used some 5,000 years ago at the end of the Stone Age by the first farmers,
the dolmen builders, used it as a viewpoint over the region?
Was it from here that the dolmen builders calculated the ideal sites for the megaliths?
According to one of the legends, the Pierre Haina is the stop that closes a subterranean gallery. This shaft is supposed to lead deep into the centre of the globe, where
the devil reigns in his hellfire. Sometimes the hellfire became too much even for the devil, or he wanted to catch new souls, and decided to crawl out of his hell.
He pushed the rock away and wandered around the area. Nobody ever saw him, because before the cock crowed he had disappeared again and the stone was back in its place.
But ... The villagers noticed his return: chickens died, ... quarrels broke out,... sickness came to the village.
It was enough for the Wérisiens! They got together and looked for a solution over some gin.
Many possibilities were proposed,
but always turned out to be unfeasible. A little girl, dressed all in white, brought the freshly collected eggs from that morning. That was it! WHITE !
The devil dislikes pure WHITE. From that day on, at each autumnal equinox, the Pierre Haina is whitened by the Wérisiens.
Another story tells of a "boussu curé" a hunchbacked priest), a priest from the Fanzel hamlet who had to go to Morville urgently.
The weather was very bad: pouring rain and a strong wind.
He decided to take a shortcut through the forest. He had to climb this steep hill,
but it was better than going around and around, in this doggy weather. The persistent rain did not make the climb up the hill any easier,
and the wind made it even worse and colder.
The weather was so bad that even this pastor's blasphemous words escaped his lips.
God, who hears everything, could not condone this, and punished the priest immediately: he turned the poor hunchbacked priest into stone and must stand here forever.
The "Lit du Diable" or Devil's Bed is a boulder 2.40 m wide, 1.40 m high and 60 cm thick at the foot of the hill where the Pierre Haina stands.
It has the shape of a bed with a headrest. On this stone, the devil rested from his nightly activities.
When he regained his strength, he would disappear into Hell in the shaft under the Pierre Haina. Enough material for another legend:
"A miller living along the Aisne had had enough. The farmers had done well, they had brought their heavy bags full of grain.
That grain had to be milled, the bakers were waiting for it. But, there was not enough water in the river.
He could not turn his mill.
He was at his wits' end. Satan in search of new souls had heard the poor miller's desperate cries. The devil approached the miller and promised to build a dyke in one night. to build a dyke in one night so that a narrow channel would lead all the water to the waterwheel. But... the devil wanted something in return: if the dyke would be finished the next morning as promised, the devil would get the miller's soul in return. The miller who urgently needed to start grinding -
the grain sacks were piling up - was prepared to do anything as long as his water wheel turned and accepted the deal.
The miller's wife didn't want to lose her husband and came up with a plan.
The next morning, the dyke was indeed finished and the water wheel was turning at full speed. When the cock crowed, the devil called the miller to him to settle the account. to settle the bill. But... it was the miller's dog that ran to the devil, there was no trace of the miller himself. As soon as the devil realised that he had been cheated,
he burst into rage, destroyed his nightly work in a few seconds and ran into the forest.
Raging and exhausted, he reached a flat stone with a headrest.
He lay down on it and urgently needed to regain his strength after the heavy labour of the night. Since then, this stone is called the Devil's Bed. The remains of the The remains of the Devil's Bed can still be seen in the river at Roche-à-Frène."
In Pas-Bayard, a hamlet of the village of Oppagne, you can see on a stone a long deep groove. This is thought to be the imprint of the horse's hoof. This is where the horse took off to ride with the four Heemskinderen on his back to jump to Durbuy. A small jump of about 10 km! But that is another very famous Belgian legend.
Attachments:
The influence of the megalithic monuments on the local life of Wéris can be deduced from the local folklore, the legends and traditions that live on here.
Since time immemorial, people have been looking for an explanation for these heavy stones: could giants, dwarves, fairies, witches, or ... the devil have something to do with it?
In Wéris ( Belgian Aredennen), several legends circulate around the miraculous rocks: the "Pierre Haina", "Lit du Diable"
the Devil's bed) and "Pas-Bayard" hoofprint of 't Ros Beiaard, a legend about orphans and a horse).The "Pierre Haina" is not a menhir but a freak of nature: it stands here as the only remaining boulder, the other boulders having been rolled away. This boulder is
about 3 metres high, with a slope of +/- 45°. It is possible that the term "haina" comes from the Celtic language, one could then speak of the "stone of the ancestors".
The "Pierre Haina" dominates the megalithic site of Wéris. This striking rock was used some 5,000 years ago at the end of the Stone Age by the first farmers,
the dolmen builders, used it as a viewpoint over the region?
Was it from here that the dolmen builders calculated the ideal sites for the megaliths?
According to one of the legends, the Pierre Haina is the stop that closes a subterranean gallery. This shaft is supposed to lead deep into the centre of the globe, where
the devil reigns in his hellfire. Sometimes the hellfire became too much even for the devil, or he wanted to catch new souls, and decided to crawl out of his hell.
He pushed the rock away and wandered around the area. Nobody ever saw him, because before the cock crowed he had disappeared again and the stone was back in its place.
But ... The villagers noticed his return: chickens died, ... quarrels broke out,... sickness came to the village.
It was enough for the Wérisiens! They got together and looked for a solution over some gin.
Many possibilities were proposed,
but always turned out to be unfeasible. A little girl, dressed all in white, brought the freshly collected eggs from that morning. That was it! WHITE !
The devil dislikes pure WHITE. From that day on, at each autumnal equinox, the Pierre Haina is whitened by the Wérisiens.
Another story tells of a "boussu curé"
a hunchbacked priest), a priest from the Fanzel hamlet who had to go to Morville urgently.The weather was very bad: pouring rain and a strong wind.
He decided to take a shortcut through the forest. He had to climb this steep hill,
but it was better than going around and around, in this doggy weather. The persistent rain did not make the climb up the hill any easier,
and the wind made it even worse and colder.
The weather was so bad that even this pastor's blasphemous words escaped his lips.
God, who hears everything, could not condone this, and punished the priest immediately: he turned the poor hunchbacked priest into stone and must stand here forever.
The "Lit du Diable" or Devil's Bed is a boulder 2.40 m wide, 1.40 m high and 60 cm thick at the foot of the hill where the Pierre Haina stands.
It has the shape of a bed with a headrest. On this stone, the devil rested from his nightly activities.
When he regained his strength, he would disappear into Hell in the shaft under the Pierre Haina. Enough material for another legend:
"A miller living along the Aisne had had enough. The farmers had done well, they had brought their heavy bags full of grain.
That grain had to be milled, the bakers were waiting for it. But, there was not enough water in the river.
He could not turn his mill.
He was at his wits' end. Satan in search of new souls had heard the poor miller's desperate cries. The devil approached the miller and promised to build a dyke in one night. to build a dyke in one night so that a narrow channel would lead all the water to the waterwheel. But... the devil wanted something in return: if the dyke would be finished the next morning as promised, the devil would get the miller's soul in return. The miller who urgently needed to start grinding -
the grain sacks were piling up - was prepared to do anything as long as his water wheel turned and accepted the deal.
The miller's wife didn't want to lose her husband and came up with a plan.
The next morning, the dyke was indeed finished and the water wheel was turning at full speed. When the cock crowed, the devil called the miller to him to settle the account. to settle the bill. But... it was the miller's dog that ran to the devil, there was no trace of the miller himself. As soon as the devil realised that he had been cheated,
he burst into rage, destroyed his nightly work in a few seconds and ran into the forest.
Raging and exhausted, he reached a flat stone with a headrest.
He lay down on it and urgently needed to regain his strength after the heavy labour of the night. Since then, this stone is called the Devil's Bed. The remains of the The remains of the Devil's Bed can still be seen in the river at Roche-à-Frène."
In Pas-Bayard, a hamlet of the village of Oppagne, you can see on a stone a long deep groove. This is thought to be the imprint of the horse's hoof. This is where the horse took off to ride with the four Heemskinderen on his back to jump to Durbuy. A small jump of about 10 km! But that is another very famous Belgian legend.
Attachments:
