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The village of Meeksi
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The village of Miikse is an ancient Seto village that once was crossed by the Riga-Pskov trade route. According to folk tradition, Miikse is a part the Vaaksaare nulk which is one of the twelve areas Seto folk have didvided Setomaa into. Time ago, numerous battles were held in the near vicinity of Miikse. In March 1342, the Bishop of Tartu started the erection of a stronghold on a small cape between the Miikse creek at Vana-Vastseliina and the Piusa River. The princes of Pskov resented the idea and decided to destroy the stronghold. In August 1342, there was a battle between the Russian-Lithuanian and the German troops near the village of Meeksi. The Russian-Lithuanian troops lost the battle. In 1919, in the course the Estonian War of Independence, the Finnish kinsfolk fought here. The latest battles were held in 1944 between the Red Army and the German troops. The Miikse Orthodox Church of John the Baptist was built in 1953 on the site of the previous church and the tsässon (chapel). Once there were three chapels in Miikse but all of them have perished. Like Obinitsa Church, Miikse Church was built at the initiative of members of the congregation during the Stalinist period. Sometimes construction works were carried out even at night. The builders escaped persecution only thanks to the death of Stalin. The Miikse church holiday is on the 7th of July, on St.John’s Day (according to the old calendar). There is a sacrificial stone called JAANIKIVI in Miikse. According to an old legend Jaan, a sacred man had once sat down on that stone for a rest. Even today people have faith in the miracle-working power of the stone. The sick are taken to it to hold their ailing limbs against its surface and on July 7 (Midsummer Day according to the old calendar) candles are lit on the stone. Most probably the stone is there to mark an ancient sacred place. The water in the Miikse creek that flows next to the stone is believed to have a curing effect: eyes, hands and feet are rinsed with the creek water and coins are dropped into the creek to make a sacrifice. Among local people Miikse creek is called SILMAALLIKAS (spring of the eyes).
Meeksi Jaanikivi-ohvrikivi