Top 20 Natural Monuments around Deister

The old baptism is the subject of a local legend, which takes place at the time of Christianization. The stone's name may derive from the embellished idea that it was used as a baptismal font after the advent of Christianity. Forced baptisms are conceivable, but just as little documented as pagan human sacrifices in prehistoric times. Nonetheless, the idea of human sacrifice in the ancient baptism is considered as one of several explanations of the idiom "walking over the Deister." The idiom means "disappear" and possibly "die" - similar to "cross the Jordan" and "cross the Wupper". Other explanations of phraseologism do not draw on the sagas associated with the ancient baptism. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alte_Taufe

Place to stay and relax.

Quarry on the Ebersberg, where material for the lime works that were shut down in 1957 near the Springer train station was extracted. The limestone was deposited in a shallow, warm sea about 163 to 157 million years ago. The older rocks are the Heersumer strata (163 million years ago) and above (younger) is coral oolite (157 million). The quarry wall then shows a few million years of geological history from top to bottom. Formed in the sea, the layers of rock contain fossils of sea animals. The geological period in which this happened is called the Jurassic (201 to 145 million years ago, "Jurassic Park").

The old baptism (formerly also wolf baptism or heathen baptism) is a cliff in the Deister in Lower Saxony. The cuboid made of Wealden sandstone with an edge length of around 3 meters and a deep trough on the top is located about 50 m away from the Deisterkamm, west of the Nordmannsturm in the municipality of Lauenau. The Old Baptism was regarded as an old Germanic sacrificial site for which there is no archaeological evidence. An excavation in the area of the stone has not yet been carried out. Detlef Schünemann tries to make a prehistoric processing and ritual use of the stones credible in comparison with other striking, large stones, which also have hollows (so-called sacrificial stones). The old baptism is the subject of a local legend, which takes place at the time of Christianization. The stone's name may derive from the embellished idea that it was used as a baptismal font after the advent of Christianity. Forced baptisms are conceivable, but just as little documented as pagan human sacrifices in prehistoric times. Nonetheless, the idea of human sacrifice in the ancient baptism is considered as one of several explanations of the idiom "walking over the Deister." The idiom means "disappear" and possibly "die" - similar to "cross the Jordan" and "cross the Wupper". Other explanations of phraseologism do not draw on the sagas associated with the ancient baptism. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alte_Taufe

For decades, hikers who know the area have been amused by a sign on the cross beech tree that indicated the direction to the Hohenborstel district of Barsinghausen. In the course of renewing the signage in the Deister, the makers of the new wooden sign obviously felt a commitment to tradition. Source: https://deister-echo.de/neue-hinweisschilder-mit-schreibfehler-bleibt-die-tradition-gewahrt/

very slippery and muddy at this time of year (January). For me as a beginner, the section of the trail is very exciting. But I made it there and back safely.

The old baptism is great

Big intersection from here you can get everywhere. Shelter with trash can 🗑 available.