Unique red rosaries hanging on a Hill of crosses

There seem to be wood carvings everywhere you look in Lithuania. Goblins, witches, gnomes, and trolls, a menagerie of mythical beings wrought out of twisted boughs; ubiquitous wooden figures that appear, quite often, to have strolled straight out of the forests that surround them in all directions. The Hill of Crosses, a symbol of resistance and a monument to those who carry on as if the USSR never occupied Lithuania, is one of the most significant examples of the decanonization of the Soviet years. Meanwhile, the Orthodox icons scattered about the hill, the Jewish stars that peeked out here and there from beneath the red rosaries, seemed to reflect a beautiful sentiment of tolerance and union. For Catholics, the Hill of Crosses has become an important site of pilgrimage. Not only Lithuanians, but from all over the world the faithful travel here to lay their offerings, to raise prayers and even attend mass; at a memorial celebrated as a testament to the endurance of the Catholic church.