An adder stone is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it. Such stones, which usually consist of flint, have been discovered by archaeologists in both Britain and Egypt. Commonly, they are found in Northern Germany at the coasts of the North and Baltic Seas.
In Britain they are also called hag stones,[1] witch stones, serpent's eggs, snake's eggs, or Glain Neidr in Wales, milpreve in Cornwall, adderstanes in the south of Scotland and Gloine nan Druidh ("Druids' glass" in Scottish Gaelic) in the north. In Germany they are called Hühnergötter ("chicken gods").[2]
Various traditions exist as to the origins of adder stones. One holds that the stones are the hardened saliva of large numbers of serpents massing together, the perforations being caused by their tongues. There are other claims that an adder stone comes from the head of a serpent or is made by the sting of an adder. The more modern and perhaps easier to attain artefact would be any rock with a hole bored through the middle by water. Human intervention (i.e., direction of water or placement of the stone) is not allowed.[3]
- ^ Grimassi, Raven (2000). Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft. p. 201. ISBN 9781567182576. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
- ^ NDR. "Das Kirchenlexikon - Hühnergötter". Norddeutscher Rundfunk (in German). Retrieved 2024-07-19.
- ^ Roud, Steve (2003). The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland. Pub. Penguin : London. P. 420.