The Rocha dos Namorados (Lovers’ Rock) is a large upright

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

stone located in the parish of Corval, municipality of

Reguengos de Monsaraz Reguengos de Monsaraz () is a municipality in Évora District in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 10,828, in an area of 464.00 km2. The City of Reguengos de Monsaraz proper has a population of 7,308. The present Mayor is José Calixto, el ...

, in the

Évora District Évora District ( pt, Distrito de Évora ) is located in Alentejo, in southern Portugal. The district capital is the city of Évora. Municipalities The district is composed by 14 municipalities: * Alandroal * Arraiolos * Borba * Estremoz * � ...

of the Alentejo region of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. It is sometimes considered to be a

menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found ...

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 uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ut ...

. 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 Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

Monday. The legend is that the Lovers’ Rock was the meeting place of a young couple whose families hated each other. The young girl's father, suspicious of the existence of the relationship, followed her and asked her what she was doing there. The girl told him that she was throwing stones at the rock to know how long she had to wait to get married. She invited her father to do the same as he was a widower. In order for her lover, who was in hiding, to escape her father's wrath, she told her father that it would only work if he stood with his back to the Rock and threw the stones with his left hand. His first stone stayed in the Rock hat and the same year he married again. The tradition is that on Easter Monday young single women should go to the rock and, facing away from it, throw three stones with their left hand. If the first stone stays on the top the woman will marry that year. If the second stone succeeds, she will marry the following year and if the third stone remains lodged she will marry in two years. If no stone stays on the top of the Rock the girl will have to return the following Easter Monday.

References

{{Commons category-inline, Reguengos de Monsaraz Tourist attractions in Évora District Archaeological sites in Portugal Buildings and structures in Reguengos de Monsaraz