Menir da Rocha dos Namorados

About

The Rocha dos Namorados (Lovers’ Rock) is a large upright granite stone located in the parish of Corval, municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz, in the Évora District of the Alentejo region of Portugal. It is sometimes considered to be a menhir or standing stone but there is no evidence of it having been placed at the site and it seems to be a natural outcrop, although it does have some dimpled, megalithic engravings, as well as a cross, which is believed to have been carved in order to Christianise what was an ancient ritual. It is considered a rare example of the veneration of stones associated with a secular, pagan fertility rite that has continued to the present.

The stone is more than two meters high, and has a shape similar to that of a mushroom, with the top having a circumference of about 7 meters. Some consider that it resembles a womb. The fertility rite involves girls of marriageable age consulting the rock (as if it were an oracle) to find out how long before they get married.

This consultation with the Rocha dos Namoradas is usually made on Easter Monday. The legend is that the Lovers’ Rock was the meeting place of a young couple whose families hated each other. The young...