Surprised by Offerings in Indonesia and the Eifel

 

Lately I had been surprised by offerings in the Eifel. The Eifel is a low mountain range in Eastern Belgium and Western Germany. Sometimes it reminds me of the Shire in Lord of the Rings. I had visited the matron shrines near Nettersheim and had been surprised by offerings [1]. An then I remembered having the same feeling in the remote highlands of Central Java as well as near the volcano Mt. Bromo.

If you offer to me with love and devotion 

a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I will accept it. 

~~ Bhagavdad Gita

I wouldn't have been as surprised as I had been near Bali and not at all on Bali, where Hinduism is still practiced. But Central Java is islamic. In the villages you hear the muezzin. But even there you still see active elements of the religion of the old Javanese kingdom.

In the Eifel I've seen offerings at the old temple areas near Nettersheim and even in catholic churches.

There is a tradition here in the Kloster Steinfeld concerning the mystic St. Hermann Joseph (the basilica is 2.5 km from my home) putting apples on the marble tomb inside the basilica.

The matrones were deities of the celtic and germanic tribes in the northwestern part of the Roman Empire. Here in the region lived the Ubier. The matrons always come in three. And offerings included apples and pears. In Roman times these shrines were in stone and also the figures were made of stone; before tree santuaries were used for worship. You might find old field names like Eulenberg (Eule means owl nowadays), which comes from alah – holy grove. And I am still surprised seeing offerings on these remnants of the past. Maybe these ancient deities are experiencing a renaissance.

Links and References:
[1] https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2020/08/die-matronenheiligtumer-um-nettersheim.html and https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2020/08/der-matronenstein-von-st-cyriakus-und.html

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