For more than a year now, I’ve been using an old tree stump in one of Lisbon’s parks as an altar to the Vanir, namely Freyr, Freya, and Njord, along with the Elves of Alfheim. At least once a month, if I’m in town, I leave offerings of fruit, seeds, perhaps some extras such as flowers, and pour some beverage on that spot as part of the Vaniralia, my monthly day to the Vanir. Since I’ve been doing this for some time, on this first of May, along with my offerings to Freya, I decided to add that tree stump to the list of public shrines and signalled it with a rope:
I got the idea from Shinto’s shimenawa, sacred ropes tied or attached to sacred places and trees where a kami resides. The one I used is a bit crude, but I’m testing to see what chances it has of surviving: since it’s not a legally protected shrine, it risks being destroyed or removed by the city’s gardeners. If that happens, it can be easily replaced, but a fancier rope will probably be a waste.
The altar can be found at a corner of the upper end of Eduard VII Park, right in the heart of Lisbon. It’s next to a pathway and with a small tree by its side, so it should be easy to find. The yellow dot in the following map pinpoints the location:
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“since it’s a legally protected shrine, it risks being destroyed or removed by the city’s gardeners.”
Are you sure it shouldn’t be “since it’s NOT a …”? ‘Cause else the sentence doesn’t seem to make much sense…
As Dick Solomon would say: damn! :p
Me and my typos… Will correct it straight away!
LOL
I wish i would have known about it when i was in Lisbon.
I was there all summer and could have used a shrine.
Yeah, took me a while to publicize it. Hopefully, next time you’ll have this and other altars to chose from