Ternoshorа Calendar Sanctuary 

Numerous academic and popular publications explore the Ternoshorа Sanctuary – also known as Ternoshorа Lada, Dovbush’s Head, or simply “the Stone”. One of the first to suggest that the sanctuary was dedicated to the Woman (Mother, Grandmother) was S. Pushyk, who linked local toponyms such as Babyn, Velykyi and Malyi Rozhen to the archetype of the Woman-Giver. M. Kugutyak later described the lower part of the sanctuary in detail and confirmed its dedication to the feminine principle. 

The sanctuary can be divided into two parts – upper and lower – separated by approximately 1.5 km. 

The upper sanctuary begins 300 meters below the summit of Mount Ternoshorа (999 m above sea level) with a stepped megalith resembling a throne, oriented westward toward Lysyna Kosmatska. Towering rocks up to 50 meters high rise here, shaped with openings, passages, and tunnels, bearing signs of human carving and numerous petroglyphs. These inscriptions resemble those found at Kamyana Mohyla (Ukraine, 12,000–3,000 BCE) and ancient sanctuaries of Asia Minor. 

Between the upper and lower parts stretches a fragmented stone ridge, with massive rocks and artifacts scattered throughout. It’s likely that all these elements formed a single megalithic sanctuary, itself part of a larger sacred complex spanning 30–40 km. 

The most accessible and popular part is the lower sanctuary – home to Lada herself. Most visitors come here. The central figure is a giant statue oriented toward the calendar equator. Surrounding it are typical features of rock sanctuaries: a phallic stone, a carved footprint, cup-marked stones, a sacrificial pit, a cave, a tunnel, and zoomorphic stones shaped like the heads of a lizard, bull, dog, eagle, and more. Beneath the statue, ancient sacred symbols, including diamonds and channels of various configurations, are carved into the rock. 

To the west, 70–100 meters from the megaliths, a large slab by a stream bears a carved solar cross (swarga – an ancient sun symbol. The azimuth of the winter solstice passes through Mount Ternoshorа, placing the sanctuary within a calendar-astronomical alignment centered on Lysyna Kosmatska. The name “Ternoshorа” combines ter (terra, land, terrain) and shora (limit, boundary), referring to the lowest point of the sun’s path on the shortest day of the year. 

The statue of the pregnant woman, the phallic stone (masculine principle), the diamond (egg prototype, feminine symbol of birth and fertility), the cave (womb), and the man-made solar disc all reflect ancient cosmological beliefs about the birth of the new sun god – the triumph of BiloBog (day) over ChornoBog (darkness). Notably, both Proto-Slavs and pre-Christian Romans celebrated the birth of the sun on December 25. 

Ternoshorа continues to reveal new and unexpected insights. Field surveys and topographic measurements taken during solstices and equinoxes have uncovered fascinating details about the anthropomorphic stone figue – Lada – and the sanctuary’s place among the region’s sacred sites. 

Many have wondered why the statue’s belly is not rounded, but sharply triangular – like a prism. Observations during key solar dates revealed that this shape is not natural but deliberately crafted. It serves as a solar calendar, vital to the lives of early humans. 

The apex of the prism (belly) and the head align with the sunrise point at the equinox, slightly to the right of a neighboring peak. In the opposite direction, the sunset at the equinox aligns with the center of a triangular opening behind the statue, beyond Mount Chornyi Hrun and the Kagla hollow (village of Snidavka). The left plane of the belly points to the sunrise at the winter solstice, the right to the summer solstice. Measurements show the angle between these planes is 70 degrees. 

Thus, according to myth, structure, and toponymy, the Great Goddess – Lada, the Great Mothe – not only gives birth to the new sun at the winter solstice, but remains perpetually “pregnant with the sun,” embracing the space where the sun rises throughout the year.