Below: One of three shrines in the village of Staniszewice (pop. 81).
Below: the other two shrines in Staniszewice. Clearly, people have an urge to build these.
On my walk today (11,900 paces), I passed five shrines - one in Jakubowizna, three in Widok (plus one large wooden cross) and one in Dąbrowa Duża. None particularly awe-inspiring (especially not on a cold and cloudy evening), but providing some comfort, some local frame of reference. A touchpoint to the Eternal? Or just a familiar element of everyday life?
Rural Mazowsze is full of such shrines, often on private land but facing the road, testament to the enduring power of faith among a population that still sows and reaps in time with the seasons. The supernatural determines droughts and late frosts, hail storms and pests.
[If you are interested, have a look at this website which seeks to catalogue wayside shrines across Poland - only Małopolska province has more than Mazowsze]
O Traveller that passes by - spare but a thought for Providence; express gratitude for the bounties it may have conferred upon you.
We live our lives as pilgrims through space and time, relentlessly moving on; some of us just borne along by the stream, some of us fighting vainly against it, and some of us aware of what's going on and willing an optimal outcome. For me, these wayside shrines, largely lacking in aesthetic or metaphysical values (I find standing stones more powerful!) are reminders that we all live on the edge of chaos. Conscious supplications help steer that unthinking wave of misfortune - disease, tragic accidents, hunger, violence, as long as they are delivered in advance, with sincerity, and that gratitude be expressed when all ends well.
Spirit of Place and Metaphysics
Doubt and Curiosity
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