Myths of Königsberg. Dungeons of Königsberg. Secrets of Kaliningrad dungeons. 00 - landing from the Akademicheskaya Hotel

In Prussia, where the Holy Trinity Monastery once stood, the settlement of Rikoito, or Romova, was founded in ancient times. Its name comes, according to one version, after the Prussians returned from a successful military campaign against Rome (Rom) and, in memory of this event, founded this settlement, which was given the name of the Italian capital - Rom.

In Romov there was an oak tree six cubits wide, its crown was so wide and so thick that it did not let in either rain or snow, because the leaves did not fall and remained green even in winter.

Near the oak trunk, under the branches, three niches were made, in which one could see proportionate images of the three highest gods of the ancient Prussians. Thus, the tree itself protected them from bad weather, wind, rain and snow.

BELAYADEV CASTLE BAYERSBURG

Bayerburg Castle. Modern look, Lithuania

When Duke Henry of Bavaria came to the aid of the Crusader Order in 1337 at the head of his army, he built a defensive castle on the Memel River, opposite the Order's castle. It was large and reliable and received the name Bayerburg - “Castle of the Bavarians.” The fortress was supposed to protect all the surrounding lands from the invasions of pagan Lithuanians. A large city with the residence of the Archbishop was supposed to arise around it.

Foundation of the Bayerburg fortress Henry of Bavaria

But that didn't happen.
The Master of the Order placed in Bayerburg his commander - the head of the Order's district - as well as forty knights who were called upon to defend the fortress, leading a pious lifestyle. However, the knights were not distinguished by piety. They spent their days in feasts, gluttony and revelry, debauchery and denying themselves nothing. One day they managed to capture a noble Christian girl, whom they began to persuade in every possible way to satisfy their whims. But she resisted with all her might and in a moment of despair called on the Lord for help, begging him to help her and put an end to the lawlessness of the knights and her torment. And then suddenly the earth opened up and swallowed up the fortress, the knights, and the girl herself. But the girl was innocent and pure, and she was allowed to become the protector spirit of this place and show herself to people from time to time.

She warns people from evil and does good deeds. Where the fortress once stood, there is now a deep hole with a steep cliff. Once upon a time, a child fell into this hole, and although his parents cried inconsolably for him on the edge of the cliff, no one dared to go down and save the boy. And then the Virgin in white rose from the cliff, and in her arms she held an unharmed child. She silently handed it to her parents and disappeared. She helped so many people. And she also protects the treasures of the castle that has gone underground. She would happily distribute them to people, but with her in the underground abyss lives a black devil who has power over her, and he does his best to prevent her from doing this. Someday the White Maiden will prevail over him, and all the countless underground riches will return back to earth.

THE WHITE MAID OF KREUZBURG CASTLE

Above Kreuzburg There was once a castle on the mountain. Now only ruins remained from it, and people said that it was better not to go to those places - strange things sometimes happened there. From time to time we saw a girl in white there, wandering here and there and hoping for the liberation of her soul. And many priceless treasures are buried under the ruins of the castle. The lady in white appeared in front of the children of the poor, who during games accidentally ended up in the half-collapsed basements of the castle, and poured gold coins into their caps. The children happily returned home with such gifts, and their parents were happy. Other families were jealous of the lucky ones and crawled through all the dungeons on all fours in search of gold, but they only came across toads and snakes, and not a girl in white giving generous gifts.

One evening the shoemakers celebrated their workshop holiday and got thoroughly drunk. And the two apprentices suddenly decided that it would be very wonderful if they managed to find the White Maiden on the castle hill. After all, they had a lot of courage!

One warm evening in August 1808, a barefoot woman with tangled, loose hair appeared on a dusty road leading to the Prussian town of Rössel (now Reszel, near Bartoszyce, Poland). Swaying rhythmically and muttering something in Polish, the peasant woman proceeded to the central square and sat down directly on the cobblestone street opposite the town hall.
“Woe to you, wicked Germans,” the strange person shook her fists. - I burned your city once, I will burn it again!
The woman was immediately surrounded by a crowd of onlookers. All the townspeople still had fresh memories of the terrible fire of 1806, which destroyed all the houses in Rössel.
- Yes, it’s a witch! - some old woman suddenly squealed. - Beat her!
The unfortunate woman was saved from lynching only by the appearance of a gendarme. The law enforcement officer decisively drove the crowd away and escorted the troublemaker to the nearest prison. Out of harm's way. The gendarme tried to interrogate the woman, but this was of little use. It was only possible to find out that in front of him was a peasant woman from one of the nearby farms, Barbara Zdunk, Polish by birth, unmarried, born in 1769.
Meanwhile, an aggressive crowd began to gather under the windows again.
- To the witch’s fire! - the crowd screamed. - Burn the Polish bitch!
“What nonsense,” the police chief who arrived at the scene winced. - What kind of medieval morals!
But then a cobblestone hit the door. Things were taking a serious turn. The boss went out onto the porch and fired a pistol into the air to make an impression. The people froze. But as they went home, people whispered conspiratorially. This didn't bode well.
At night, the chief of police hastened to get rid of the dangerous prisoner - he sent her with an escort to Koenigsberg. Let the smart guys there figure out this dark matter.
In Königsberg, the prisoner was received and a thorough investigation began. Then we immediately realized that everything is not as simple as it might seem at first glance.
Of course, none of the lawyers believed in witchcraft. As in the arson of an entire city by one mentally ill woman. But the mood of the popular masses, who held the opposite opinion, could not be neglected. The times were too worrying.
After the conclusion of the shameful Peace of Tilsit with Napoleon in 1807, Prussia lost vast territories. Poland, once divided between Prussia, Austria-Hungary and Russia, regained its state - the Duchy of Warsaw. Although it was dependent on France, the Poles were still happy - so their soldiers fought on the side of Napoleon. However, along with the French, the lords became enemies of the Prussians, whose hatred united the nation. And here Barbara Zdunk is Polish. One might say that the matter has taken a political turn.
And there were enough problems with witchcraft itself. Although the dark times of the Middle Ages had long passed, the mentality of ordinary peasants remained the same - they still remembered the witch trials. Not more than 26 years ago, in 1782, in the capital of one of the cantons of enlightened Switzerland, the city of Glarus, another witch named Anna Geldi lost her life at the hands of an executioner. Then they thought it was the last one in Europe.

Anna Geldi was a servant in the house of a well-educated man - a judge. Ill-wishers accused the woman of using “supernatural and incomprehensible witchcraft power” to damage the soul and body of her master’s daughter. The result is the death penalty by beheading. The judges went, so to speak, “to meet the wishes of broad sections of the working people”...
In Prussia, ordinary people were also inclined to believe in the existence of all kinds of devilry. They have long learned to blame all misfortunes on witches. So the plebs demanded the usual spectacles and blood. It was impossible to disappoint the people and sow doubts in them about the ability of the authorities to administer “true” justice.
In general, the task before the Koenigsberg judges was devilishly difficult: both to observe the law and to appease the mob.
During interrogations, Barbara answered inappropriately, giggled stupidly and only occasionally shouted: “I burned Ressel, I will burn Koenigsberg!” So the confession to the crime was obvious. It was more difficult with the testimony of witnesses - no one saw the polka during the fire. Everyone was talking about something else.
“After this witch passed by my yard,” asserted the elderly peasant, “my horse fell ill!”
“And she put the evil eye on me,” echoed the old woman. “For three days after that I couldn’t eat anything - I felt sick.”
And everything in the same spirit - not a word about arson. The judges were confused.
- Lord, what ignorance! - the young assistant judge was indignant, looking at the witnesses. - If it were their will, they would also use torture!
“Don’t worry,” old Judge Krause grinned through his mustache. - Torture specialists have long since disappeared. Previously, the training of a real executioner lasted several years. At first, the backpack master learned this science by tormenting stray animals. As they say, I trained on cats. Then he became the executioner’s assistant and did the “dirty work” - he rubbed the victim’s head with alcohol and set fire to his hair, squeezed his fingers and toes with a vice, and flogged him until he bled with a rawhide whip. And only after gaining the necessary experience, the assistant became a real executioner who could extract a confession from the most persistent witch.
- What a blessing that such specialists no longer exist! - The assistant judge shuddered. - But what should we do anyway?
“I think we need to wait,” the judge reasoned wisely. - Perhaps passions will subside soon.
He made a mistake. Although the process was delayed for almost three years, interest in it did not diminish. It was time to make a decision.
In August 1811, the court rendered a verdict: to find Barbara Zdunk guilty of setting fire to residential buildings, especially noting that the criminal had been practicing magic and witchcraft for a long time, which caused significant harm to respectable citizens of the city of Rössel and its environs. The sentence is death penalty.
The convict was taken from Königsberg to Rössel, where a scaffold was built outside the city. A huge crowd of local residents gathered to admire the breathtaking spectacle. Before the execution, the unfortunate woman continued to smile and make faces - she never realized what was happening.
The executioner threw a rope noose around the victim's neck and tightened the knot. When the body stopped convulsing, the corpse was tied to a pole, covered with brushwood and set on fire. The people hummed approvingly and began to throw brushwood into the fire. The witch's ashes were scattered to the wind. An act of justice has taken place.
This was the 360th witch trial in East Prussia. 511 people went through these processes. But only for 164 convicts (148 women and 16 men) it all ended with burning at the stake or beheading. Unlike other European countries, where hundreds of thousands of people died during witch hunts, Prussia seemed almost an island of humanism. Women were treated pragmatically here - they were needed in order to give birth to future soldiers.
Barbara Zdunk became the last witch executed not only in East Prussia, but throughout Europe. A new era was approaching, and accusations of witchcraft went out of fashion. Others have taken their place: “sabotage”, “espionage”, “treason”, “terrorism” and the like. But that's a completely different story.

By the way, according to some information, the last witch was executed on the site of the Children's Hospital on Dmitry Donskoy Street, which is behind the Central Park of Culture and Leisure (formerly Kalinin Park).

• by plane from Moscow: flights s767, u6627, u6167, u6371, cy1004, cy1000, cy1002, victory 261;
• by train from Moscow: train number 29;
• by plane from St. Petersburg: flights su6325, su6329, Russia 6325, Russia 6329, Pobeda 529.

TOUR PROGRAM

1 day. 01/01/2019

• Arrival to Kaliningrad to the railway station or airport.
• Transfer to the hotel (optional, for an additional fee).
• Check-in at the hotel from 14:00.
• Attention: the program specifies the exact start time of the excursions (local time). We kindly ask you not to be late, the bus departs on schedule. Emergency phone number if you are late for the bus 8-905-243-88-22.
• Evening excursion “Lights of Kaliningrad + mulled wine”.
  

18:30

18:50

• New Year's Kaliningrad will welcome its guests in a mild winter, festive illumination and smell wonderful mulled wine. With every sip of this magical drink with local flavor, your soul will be filled with warmth and the interesting, centuries-old history of the amazing city on Pregel.
• A fabulous holiday in a fabulous city! What could be better? You'll see evening Kaliningrad in festive decorations, take a photo at the westernmost Christmas tree in the country on Victory Square And drink aromatic mulled wine in the Fish Village.
  
• The duration of the excursion is 3 hours.

Day 2. 01/02/2019

• Excursion "Amber Coast".
• Route: village Yantarny - Svetlogorsk.

09:30 - landing from the Ibis hotel.

09:50 - landing from the Akademicheskaya Hotel.

• Getting to know Yantarny village, pre-war Palmniken. Here it is the world's largest amber deposit. Co observation deck it will be revealed to you quarry panorama, where amber is mined using an open industrial method. You can try yourself in the role of an amber prospector and, armed with a shovel, get a “sunstone” as a souvenir in a mini-quarry. All tourists will receive an “Amber Prospector” diploma. You can also recharge with natural energy and health in Amber Pyramid, the construction of which required about 800 kg of amber.
• Historical center of Yantarny located next to Lutheran Church 1892 You will commit walk to the sea past the Schloss Hotel building, built in a palace style, through Becker Park with centuries-old trees. This beach is the only one in Russia that received a blue flag in 2016 - a sign of an environmentally friendly beach equipped according to international standards.
  
• Next we will get acquainted with the sights Svetlogorsk-Raushena. will enchant you ancient architecture of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.: private villas, boarding houses, hotels. Organ hall, larch park, water tower, Kurhaus. The symbols of Svetlogorsk are the beautiful works of the German sculptor G. Brachert - "Carrying Water" And "Nymph". You will see the new “home” of KVN and the Baltic Debuts film festival - variety theater "Yantar Hall". They will lead you to the sea path paths, where it was built near the water for the convenience of vacationers promenade.
• Shopping, amber shops.
• Lunch (optional, for an additional fee) - from 350 rubles per person.
  
• During the excursion you will visit hall with dinosaurs where you will see reconstruction of an ancient forest, in which amber was formed. The dinosaurs that lived at that time move and growl. Here is a unique collection of stones with inclusions, as well as amber and amber-like resins from different countries.
  
• Interactive on making a do-it-yourself amber souvenir, a product for each tourist as a gift (optional, for an additional fee of 300 rubles per person, payment on the spot in cash).
  

Day 3. 01/03/2019

• Free day.
• excursion to the Curonian Spit National Park, duration 6 hours, cost 1500 rub./person, net price (registration and payment when purchasing a tour).
  
• Route: Dancing forest, Efa sand dune, visit to a fish smokehouse.
  

09:00 - pick-up from the Ibis hotel.

09:20 - landing from the Akademicheskaya Hotel.

• Return to Kaliningrad.
• End of the tour at the World Ocean Museum, the opportunity to visit the legendary research vessel "Vityaz", the afloat submarine B-413. (ticket costs about 300 rubles per person).

Day 4 01/04/2019

• Free day.
• Optional (for an additional fee) excursion “City of Peace and Cheese”, duration 8 hours, cost 1700 rub./person. net price (registration and payment when purchasing a tour).

09:00 - landing from the Akademicheskaya Hotel.

09:20 - pick-up from the Ibis hotel.

• Route: Neman - Sovetsk.
• You will see: Queen Louise Bridge, the house where Russian Emperor Alexander I stayed. The Sovetsk City Museum will tell us about the fight against Napoleon and the Peace of Tilsit. The ruins of the Ragnit castle, a walk around the city of Neman.
• Visit to the Deutsches Haus cheese factory. You will learn about the process of creating cheese, Cheese tasting.
• Lunch during the excursion (optional, for an additional fee) - 350 rubles per person.

Day 5 01/05/2019

• Excursion to Baltiysk “The most western city of Russia”.

10:00 - landing from the Akademicheskaya Hotel.

10:20 - landing from the Ibis hotel.

• Discreet beauty and friendly soul legendary cities of Baltiysk will open to guests during an exciting excursion around the westernmost point of Russia. This excursion to a previously closed for public access Baltic Fleet base. You will learn the history of the formation of the fleet since its founding Peter I, who in 1998 at the city pier a monument was erected. You'll see the largest equestrian monument in our country, Tsarina Elizabeth Petrovna(2004), you will see lighthouse of the famous architect Schinkel 33 meters high, reformist church, which became the Orthodox Church, where the relics of Admiral Ushakov are kept. The city of warships and courageous people will give you colorful photographs and unforgettable emotions.
• Duration of the excursion - 5 hours.

Day 6 01/06/2019

• Free day. Rooms are available until 12:00.
• For an additional fee, transfer to the airport or railway station.
  
• Optional (for an additional fee) excursion “About churches, knights and castles”, duration 5 hours, cost 1400 rubles/person, net price (registration and payment when purchasing a tour).
  

09:00 - landing from the Akademicheskaya Hotel.

10:00 - pick-up from the Ibis hotel.

• A most interesting journey to objects of the Middle Ages.
• You will see: the 14th century church of Arnau (village of Rodniki) with medieval frescoes, Waldau Castle, where the Great Embassy of Peter I stayed (in the village of Nizovye), the ruins of the Schaaken castle (village of Nekrasovo) and the Museum of the Inquisition in its basements. You will be able to take pictures in knight's armor, taste the treats of the mistress of the castle and drink hot tea.

The tour price includes:

• Accommodation 5 nights in Kaliningrad in a hotel;
• mulled wine treat;
• transport and excursion services according to the program;
• entry tickets;
• environmental fees.

The tour price does NOT include:

• transfers to meet and greet (optional, airport-hotel 1000 rubles, railway hotel 700 rubles per car);
• Breakfast at the selected hotel, paid on the spot:
• - at the Akademicheskaya Hotel - breakfast set 250 rubles per person;
• - at the Ibis hotel - buffet breakfast 550 rub./person. for each breakfast;
• lunches according to the program are paid on the spot from 350 rubles per person.
• additional excursions, the cost is indicated in the tour program.

The transfer is not individual and can be done by minibus.

The cost of the service includes: waiting in the arrival hall for 30 minutes from the stated flight arrival time. If the flight is delayed, the tourist must notify the tour operator about this by calling 89052438822. Otherwise, the driver has the right to leave the airport.

Duration of this tour 6 days / 5 nights. The period of hotel stay under this program is 5 days. Check-out time at hotels: check-in from 14:00, check-out until 12:00.

The tour operator reserves the right to change the order of excursions without changing the program as a whole.

ATTENTION!

Please provide the necessary information upon the arrival of tourists at the starting point of the tour after purchasing tickets:

• Train or flight number, arrival time, tourists’ mobile phone number for emergency contact.
• Please send information to:

Our old city, smelling of fish and salt, keeps many mysteries and secrets. The number of mysterious legends about old Königsberg and present-day Kaliningrad is approximately equal to the number of mentions of Kant in vain every day per square kilometer. Here and there they tell tales about the mermaids of Pregolya and the ghost of old Hoffmann, about unimaginable treasures in the basements of old dilapidated buildings and about a mythical creature that steals paving stones from city roads. As early twilight set in, stories of the unprecedented began pouring into our warm room. Together with you, we decided to remember the most famous legends of our city.

— Underground city —

Perhaps every self-respecting Kaliningrader has known from his snotty kindergarten years about the existence of a mirror-built city underground. This is an ordinary underground city - the Germans live in it, the same ones who in 1945 hesitated in putting their belongings into string bags and suitcases, and never went along the direct underground passage to Berlin along with the others, joyfully singing all the way “You are free to vir trinken." Anyone born in Kaliningrad dreams of making their way along overgrown paths through closed manholes, through flooded passages into a secret city, kicking themselves in the chest with their heels and tearing their throats in a good argument about the return of paving stones from completely unknown who owned dachas, about the right of the city to be called by its former name, and the townspeople should wear national Prussian costumes, and, of course, the restoration of the Royal Castle. After all, there, instead of the “robot head”, a gray box hated by the aesthetic gaze of the townspeople, on which sexually mature townspeople climb for two hundred pieces of silver (infa - weaving) in a romantic impulse, there appears a Royal Castle so dear to the heart and dear that it brings tears to your eyes, in its original form. Around him, subway residents walk upside down along the upside-down streets. And the photographs of the old city, by the way, which they now love to hang in any restroom in the city, are taken exactly there - underground. And then a trusted person delivers them upstairs, yeah.

— Secret bases and factories —

One gets the impression that it is near Kaliningrad that the entire wasteland of the world is concentrated, into which cities, bunkers, factories and almost the Mariana Trench have been pushed. According to legend, to this day, top-secret huge underground factories operate below, right under your Soviet high-rise building. All in fuel oil and the sweat of their brow, workers have been working for generations to assemble airplanes and tanks. There, without leaving the cash register, they are tested - at a special airfield. Through underground tunnels hidden from the view of ordinary residents of Kaliningrad between bunkers, forts and even cities, they drive around in used 1992 Beha cars. If you want, go by train - they run faster than our land trams. In one of the bunkers, to this day, workers of the secret “Laboratory Thirteen” are poring over the study of psychotropic weapons that have a hypnotic and zombie effect on the human consciousness. There is no one to tell them about VKontakt, which Durov opened long ago and the pointlessness of their further search for hypno-weapons - the guys are not friendly, they are walled up in a bunker and do not receive guests.

— National Treasures —

The Amber Room, Reich Gold, the Holy Grail, the Golden Fleece, the conscience of deputies - all long-lost relics rest in the nooks and crannies of the dungeons and ruins of our city. Who exactly knows the secret of the location of the Amber Room is the hawkers who sell on the promenade in Svetlogorsk pictures depicting scenes from kittens in a basket to the Madonna and Child, and orange-yellow brooches with mosquitoes inside, which can decorate any outfit when combined with carrot lipstick , blue shadows and a bit of bad taste. Where do you think all these gifts for relatives from Russia and souvenirs for city guests come from? Maybe from an ancient room, long hidden in dark dungeons? The whole world is looking for the treasury with lanterns and dogs, but we have been in the dungeon for a long time - there is enough space there for another Baltraion - and we are slowly sawing out amber mice and boxes from it. The legendary treasures don’t stop there - just walk through old German mansions and you can collect a couple of chests of ancient family treasures. They stand there, not guarded by anyone, waiting for you. Wider pocket, guys!

In Kaliningrad and its surroundings there are many places surrounded by mysticism and legends. Sometimes mysterious phenomena are observed there, mostly associated with the distant past.

Dead Woman's Scythe

Behind Queen Louise's Church (now Kalinin Park) lies the officers' cemetery. In the 60s of the last century, grave diggers operated there, taking valuable things from the graves. Once they opened one grave and saw the skeleton of a young girl with a surprisingly well-preserved thick red braid. The defilers cut off the braid, washed it, cleaned it and sold it to an actress from one of the theaters that toured the city. The actress made a wig out of her braid, and soon she was diagnosed with brain cancer. Interestingly, when she took off her wig, she began to have terrible headaches. And when she was wearing it, her head didn’t hurt... Later, this actress died of a brain tumor, and the braid was lying next to her on the sheet at the time of death.

The curse of the old church

In the village of Zapovednoye, Slavsky district, there is a destroyed Lutheran church built in the 19th century. Local residents claim that misfortune haunts everyone who tries to disturb it.

When the village still bore the German name Seckenburg, the church was used as a granary. One day, the school director gave an order to level the cemetery, which was located on the territory of the church. However, soon after this he suddenly went on a drinking binge and died. They said it was no accident.

Several years ago, the territory was acquired by some LLC. Soon announcements appeared that the church building was being sold for bricks. After a scandalous report in the newspaper, a new owner appeared, who promised to restore the buildings into a hotel complex. But after some time he was found hanged in one of the warehouses located next to the church.

Another member of the “new owners” team was found dead in a brick checkpoint booth during demolition work on the village’s shopping area. The cause of death was never found out.

One tractor driver was tasked with digging a pit near the wall of the church opposite the entrance. They say that while working, a woman dressed in black suddenly approached the excavator and asked why he was digging a hole in the cemetery site. And then she allegedly threatened that this hole could become his own grave.

The tractor driver, of course, did not pay attention to her words. After finishing his shift, he got behind the wheel of a tractor and went to his home in the village of Bolshie Berezhki. On the way, the very young man’s heart stopped.

And the foreman who supervised the work burned alive in his on the way to Slavsk. Before this, his workers managed to dismantle the office building next to the church. But no one understood what they were doing in the church itself. There were rumors that there was treasure inside the building.

Stone of Lies

On the outskirts of the city of Pionersky, on the banks of the Clean River, lies a giant boulder split into two parts. There is a belief that a person who lies will not be able to pass through a crack in a stone.

According to an ancient Prussian legend, once upon a time two lovers lived on the shores of the Baltic Sea. At the stone they swore eternal fidelity to each other, asking for punishment for the one who betrayed the oath. Circumstances were such that the lovers had to be separated for a long time. When they met again at the stone, lightning struck the girl and killed her - her love could not stand the test. And the boulder has since remained cut into two halves.

Dancing Forest

This one is also called “drunk” on the Curonian Spit. The trees here do not stand straight; their trunks seem to be twisted into a ring. This is explained in different ways - some by the influence of UFOs, some by the experiments of the Nazis, who allegedly contaminated the local soil with some kind of chemical, and some by more prosaic reasons - strong winds, the presence of groundwater and, finally, caterpillars eating lateral buds, which disrupts the growth of the tree. and leads to deformation.

And there is also a beautiful legend from pagan times. They say that once there was a sacred grove here, which was guarded by Prussian soldiers. They did not allow non-believers here, with an exception made only for a young Christian girl from Predinia, who taught local girls to play the harp.

One day the Sambian prince Bartius saw Predinia and was so amazed by her beauty and excellent playing of a musical instrument that he immediately proposed marriage to the beauty. But she replied that she would only marry a Christian. Then Bartius declared that he would accept her faith if she proved that her God was stronger than these strong trees that surrounded them.

Predinia took her harp and began to play. And suddenly the trees began to dance to her music, as if they were living creatures! When she finished, they froze in “dancing” poses. The prince was so amazed by this that he gave the girl a precious bracelet and agreed to convert to Christianity. Subsequently, a settlement arose around the Dancing Forest, which was named after the princess - Predin.

By the way, there is a belief that if you climb through a tree “ring” and make a wish, it will certainly come true!