ELF GRINDERS

Bronze Age skålgropar (cup marks) chipped into the rock. In old Swedish folklore these were known as ”älvkvarnar” (”elf grinders”) as they were used in sacrificial rites to cure disease believed to be caused by elves. People sacrificed small figures with hair or nails from the one who was ill braided into them, and anointed the hollows with lard, butter or tallow. In the area where I grew up people still made sacrifices and anointed the cups with pork rind as late as in the 1920s. A local incantation from the early 1900s goes: ”Jag smörjer sten för att läka kött och ben” (”I anoint stone to heal flesh and bone”).