Tonight, my slowtrav friends, we in Lisbon are celebrating St. Anthony’s, my favorite Saint! Although the official patron saint of the city is St. Vincent (I’m a Lisbon born and bred gal and all I can tell you is that St. Vincent is celebrated somewhere between the 1st of January and the 31st of December ) St. Anthony is the one we truly love. After all he sends us love and he helps find our lost stuff. It’s the biggest celebration of the year for the city and so we throw him a very, very big street party and along with that go one or two peculiar traditions. Among one of my favorites is the tossing of the coins. In front of the St. Anthony’s church there’s a statue of the saint holding Baby Jesus in one arm and an open Bible in the other. Tradition says that on the night of June 12th, anyone looking for love should toss a coin at the statue; if you manage to get the coin onto the open pages of the Bible, then the saint will send love and marriage your way. You should see the panic when some uninformed throwers (particularly men…) are told about this! But beware, don’t hit the baby’s bottom! Believe me, he can be quite vicious in what he sends you when this happens…

So anyone care to join me?