Pilkällan in Sya is an old sacrificial spring where coins and other objects were offered. The water was considered to have healing powers if you drank it or used it to pour over sick areas of the body. The spring is as old as the birth of the village and you can still see remnants of glacial deposits in the form of pebbles. The spring flows upwards to the north and it is different from other springs. The name Pilkällan comes from when pilgrims on their journey to or from Vadstena stopped to drink the spring’s water and then put their staff, which was often made of willow wood, into the ground. Willow wood has very easy roots and the ground was rich in water here. There have been 12 willow trees around the spring. The spring has a flow of about 60 liters per minute.
The spring is located on Sya Gård’s land. According to tradition, the spring should be decorated with flowers and birches every midsummer, otherwise there will be bad luck with the livestock at Sya Gård. Some legends also say that bad luck befell everyone in the area if the spring was not decorated on Midsummer’s Eve, and no one has dared to abandon this tradition. Every Midsummer’s Eve at 9:00, people from near and far gather to participate in the traditional decoration of Pilkällan.
