Sergey Durylin’s hypothesis about the purpose of the northern labyrinths: rite of purification and prayer to the wind

In the early 1910s, Sergey Durylin explored the labyrinths on the Bolshoy Zayatsky Island (the Solovetsky archipelago) and was the first to describe the Kandalaksha stone labyrinth. Having collected necessary information (location by the sea, proximity to a busy ancient sea route, good preservation, rituals of the peoples of the North in the XIX and the early XX centuries) Durylin put forward his hypothesis about the purpose of the labyrinths. In his opinion, the labyrinths were the place where prayers to the wind and purification rites were performed before going to sea. The article discusses various hypotheses of researchers of the XX-XXI centuries. All hypotheses are tested according to four criteria: they have to explain or take into account location by the sea, climate, good preservation, and the shape of labyrinths. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that when testing various hypotheses about the purpose of labyrinths, the archeological data were correlated with the materials collected by folklorists, which made it possible to fit labyrinths into the general system of beliefs of the peoples of the North. Durylin’s version meets all the selected criteria and is indirectly confirmed by folklore and literature about sea voyages on sailing ships. This hypothesis about the purpose of the northern labyrinths is well grounded and plausible, however, it has not been proved or rejected so far, and the question of the purpose of the northern labyrinths remains open and relevant. The assumption about the existence of some fishing cult ritual and the version about performing rituals before going to sea are likely to be complementary as parts of the same belief system, the remains of which were found by folklorists and local historians in the XX century.