While the region officially converted to Christianity, old pagan beliefs persisted. In 1595, cartographer Caspar Hennenberger published an explanation to his map of Prussia. He mentioned that Rambynas was considered a sacred place and that women had to be clean and well dressed if they wanted to climb the hill or they would become ill. wrote in 1769 that locals performed pagan rituals on the hill despite prohibitions from the Christian priests. In 1867, , a journalist from Berlin, visited Rambynas and wrote that newlyweds would climb the hill and would leave small sacrifices. The most extensive description of the hill and its legends was provided by , a Lithuanian-language teacher in Tilsit. In 1838, he published "Scenes from Lithuanian People's Lives" ("Szenen aus dem Volksleben der Litauer"). He also described a 600-year-old three-trunk linden tree that grew near the hill and was worshiped as goddess of fate Laima's tree.