Kuklica, near Kratovo in Macedonia, is an area consisting of over 120 naturally formed stone pillars that look like dolls. It is apparently a natural phenomena, which is claimed to have happened after a volcanic erosion but, the villagers have various legends associated with these weird stone formations. According to the researchers, these stone formations that look like dolls, date back to about 100,000 years.

Legends Associated With The Stone Dolls Of Kuklica

According to geology, these formations were as a result of natural erosion processes in the Holocene, during the past 100,000 years.

While the main factor for the pillar creation is the difference in the erodibility of the volcanic rocks of the area, which is probably why, the soft tuffs rocks on the base are overlaid by solid, sturdy andesites and ignimbrites on the top, which are nearly 30 million years old. But, aside from this, there are mystical legends associated with stone formations:

Legend 1

Bride and Groom

The most famous legend associated with this is, a man could not decide between which girl to marry, one being beautiful and poor, the other being rich and not so good looking. So, the man decided to marry both at an interval of two consecutive days, as they lived in different villages.

Guests

So, he decided to marry the rich and not so good looking girl first, but, during his marriage, the music was so loud that the beautiful girl heard it and came to see who was getting married. Looking at her husband getting married to another woman, she cursed all the people present in the marriage along with the groom and bride and they turned into the dolls of Kuklica. The villagers have stone formations linked with the individuals as well, for example, the bride and groom, the guests, the matchmakers, etc.

Maid of Honour

Legend 2

There is also a less famous legend amongst the people there, which is, that the area of Kuklica was once a forest that was burned down after an ancient battle and it became a wasteland. According to the legends, it was super cold in the area while the soldiers passed through the wasteland. Because of the cold, they froze there and turned into rocks.

These are just two of the legends that are talked about there, but, there are various other legends associated with the stone formations and people claim that in every 5-6 years, there are new stone dolls appearing as the pillar formation is still active. It is indeed an interesting site to visit.