Menhirs are stone statues, near which sacrifices, cult rites and other ceremonial actions were performed five to four thousand years ago. Menhirs have attracted and continue to attract the attention of storytellers, experts and performers of folklore. So, in the legend "Ai Khuchin" it is said: "Having climbed a high stone ridge from the foot of the crooked menhir, he looked into the distance, but when he saw, he found that the copper menhir is the umbilical cord of the earth."
Apparently, the Khakass considered the places where menhirs were erected as sacred and unusual. In the legend "Khan Kichigei" it is said that at the source of the light-stone river there is a white stone (ah tas), which must be lifted by the heroes passing here; many of them, unable to lift the white stone, perished. However, the hero, before raising it, on horseback, circled this stone three times.
The legend of three ceremonial circles around the white stone agrees with the reports of the first scientist-traveler who visited Khakassia and Siberia, D. G. Messerschmidt. He noted in his diary on August 18, 1722 that “after an hour's drive, not far from these burials, I finally reached the statue of Khurtuy, widely known among these peoples, located in the hilly steppe.
Khurtuyakh is carved out of gray sandstone and dug into the ground obliquely. From behind one could see thick braids, suspended from hair, in the form that Kalmyk and Tatar women wear them …
The pagan Tatars from Es Beltyr, who provided me with horses, showed great honor to this old woman; each of them went around her three times … put food in the grass closer to the pedestal so that she could use the food in accordance with her appetite.
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Further, he notes that the statue is revered among the indigenous population, they bring it a river pebble as a gift, smear its mouth with oil, fat, milk and ask for health. Young women are being treated for infertility.
Carrying out such pagan rituals is customary for many peoples - people went to the Belarusian stone “Ded” (an exhibit of the museum of boulders in Minsk) a century and a half ago, looking for help in trouble. The stone "Grandfather" was presented with honey, milk, wine - poured onto the top of the boulder. When a woman was seriously ill, she put an apron on a boulder for 33 days. Another example is the famous boulders “Demyan” and “Marya”, located on the outskirts of the village of Perezhir, Minsk region. It was believed that they possess miraculous powers capable of healing the paralytic, the lame, and the deaf. The boulders were carried rich donations: flax, wool, bread, pigs, calves, sheep, money. It was believed that the result would be favorable if you make a pilgrimage to the stones at a certain time. Such a ritual is identical to the ritual performed by the Khakass at the menhir Khurtuyakh.
The church was for the most part tolerant of the customs of the inhabitants. Moreover, crosses, chapels, and temples were erected near the most famous boulders. People prayed, asked for a stone to get rid of trouble and disease. They went to the stone both on the pagan holiday of Ivan Kupala, and on the Christian Trinity and Easter.
Interestingly, the largest known menhir was in France. Now he fell and split into three parts. The menhir was over 20 meters high.
Within Khakassia, there are many places of menhirs' camps - in the territories of Ust-Abakan, Askiz and Bogradsky districts, which scientists refer to the so-called Okunev culture (1st half of the 2nd millennium BC) of the Bronze Age.
The most famous of them are Ulug Khurtuyakh tas on the 134th kilometer of the Abakan - Abaza highway in the Askiz district, the Big gate in the Ust-Abakan district two kilometers north-east of the Big Salbyk mound, the territory of the Small palace of the ancient Khakass state at the 34th kilometer Abakan - Askiz highway.
The sites of stone statues are under state protection and are run by local history museums.