The Winjshoog is a small burial mound in the northwest of Keitum. It lies close to the road from Keitum to the Sankt Severin church beside a field track.
The Biike fire on the mound used to be lit on February 21, the evening before Petri Day. The Frisian word Biike (German Bake) means sign, sea mark (beacon) or fire mark. The origin of the festival is unclear; probably the fire in the Middle Ages was supposed to drive away evil spirits and protect the new seeds.
To visit the mound take the road to Munkmarsch at the roundabout in Keitum. About 325 m after you leave the roundabout, right behind a house to the left, there is a field track (the street Am Mühlenhof branches off to the right opposite). Winjshoog lies only 190 m along this track on the left.
taken from the on-site hünen.kulTOUR information board:
Winjshoog
The Winjshoog is the only surviving burial mound on this striking ridge, the "Weenk", with a wide view of the marshland. In the old days, the Keitum biike was burned down every year on Winjshoog. In 1954 the hill was restored.
According to C.P. Hansen it was also the Wedns mound. It was dedicated to Wedn, Weda or Wodan. The Frisians thought of the Weda as the supreme god of war, who not only gave the sea warriors luck in battles, but also good wind on their journeys. Before they set out on their sea expeditions in spring, they sacrificed tar barrels to him on the Wedns or Winj mounds and lit a great straw fire on these hills.
This custom is continued today as a biike (bonfires).
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