Esther M. Lederberg
Pagan stones

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Some stones are of special significance in Lithuanian paganism. "Our [German] soldiers love to relate how [Lithuanian] farmers plow around large and small stones in their fields, rather than making the effort, once and for all, to smash up the larger stones and to remove the pebbles."

"Such behavior reflected not merely some essential laziness in native character, but their animistic sense that the stones, which had risen to the surface over the years, had spirits and a right to be where they were. The entire country was full of holy stones and boulders, revered since pagan times, here not so very distant."

"War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity and German Occupation in World War I", Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius, p. 69

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