What is a labyrinth? [the basics]

Labyrinths are elaborate paths that lead to a center.

Although we often think of ‘maze’ and ‘labyrinth’ as synonymous, they are distinct in their design and intent. Unlike mazes, labyrinths are strictly unicursal, this means they do not have branching or dead ends.

Let’s get more specific

No one really knows where labyrinths began, their design has appeared on pottery, woven into basketry, inked and painted as body art, and etched on walls of caves and churches over the course of many years and around the world.

The earliest reference to a labyrinth was made by a Greek Historian, Herodotus, who wrote about a two-story stone labyrinth in Egypt. The name ‘Labyrinth’ comes from the Ancient Greek Λαβύρινθος (labúrinthos) which in Greek mythology was a structure on Crete designed and built by the architect Daedalus to contain the Minotaur. During the middle ages, the motif was often found on the floors of cathedral naves, and then later as portions of English gardens, made of turf and planting. The labyrinth design has also appeared in Roman mosaics, on fields of carefully placed stones in Sweeden, across the pages of Tantric texts, and populating the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea, known as Bolshoi Zayatsky, where the labyrinths are thought to be 2,000 to 3,000 years old.

Theories abound as to a labyrinth’s purpose. Some think that the location of numerous examples along coastlines, like at Bolshoi Zayatsky, suggests that they were used as fish traps - during high tide fish would enter, and then become lost among the twists and turns. Others have theorized that their curves and lines align with solar and lunar movements: a calendar of sorts on the ground. Some are used as meditative devices, or imitations of pilgrimages for those who cannot venture further afield. Others are said to be a barrier between the earth and the afterlife to keep demons and spirits from slipping though. Each culture that has appropriated the design has also imposed their own significance on the motif, and built their own stories around its history and intent, leading to a myriad of cultural significance and associations. ­­

Okay, so what about Bolshoi Zayatsky?

Let’s look a little closer at one example of a labyrinth: Bolshoi Zayatsky Island.

The Solovetsky Islands are a Russian Archipelago, isolated on the Western side of the White Sea, only 165 kilometers from the Arctic Circle. A population of nearly 800 call the islands home, as well as a well-known monastery, the remains of a prison camp from the 1920’s, and approximately fourteen labyrinths.

While the archipelago contains six islands in total, the labyrinths are centered on Bolshoi Zayatsky island. The island itself is less than one square mile, coated in labyrinths that date back to 3,000 BC.

All of the labyrinths are located on the western side of the island, while the eastern side of the island is home to over 850 piles of boulders, many containing bone fragments.

The labyrinths were made by placing locally-collected stones and boulders along the lines, so that one could walk between them. Over time, dirt, moss, and grass have grown over the boulders, settling them into the landscape.

The smallest of the labyrinths has a diameter of about six meters, while the largest reaches a diameter of almost twenty six meters.

As with labyrinths on a global scale, there is much debate as to the purpose of the labyrinths at Bolshoi Zayatsky. In the 1970’s the theory of the labyrinths as fish traps was the most popular, especially because sea levels were higher around the time that the labyrinths are estimated to have been constructed. Today, many believe the labyrinths to have been tied to a more cultural or religious significance – a trap for malevolent spirits, a path for ritual dances, or a symbol of wholeness.

So much is unknown, yet the labyrinths remain perched on the coast, thousands of years after their careful creation, a mystical topography of grass and stone.

Geometry:

A labyrinth is made by starting with a keystone - this could be a circle, square, or triangle - with lines going between the sides.

After determining the key stone, use a line of some kind to connect two of the adjacent nodes.

The continue in this manner, moving to the next set of nodes outward, again and again until the labyrinth is complete.