Pilgrim returns
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What an experience.
June, 2008. It’s good to be back in the USA, but…
The Camino de Santiago is a 1,000 year old footpath from the Spanish-French border to the Cathedral in Santiago, Spain and for some all the way to the coast at Finisterre (Finesterra). We walked the most interesting part of it in about two weeks
About the Camino Pilgrimage
All the converging European Camino footpaths meet in a single track across Northern Spain beginning at the edge of the Pyrenees and ending near the Atlantic Coast (Roncesavalles to Santiago de Compostela). A dozen of us walked about 130 miles of the trail in 13 and ½ days (being driven only through the flat “mesa’ in the middle). I recommend the American-based tour company, Spanish Steps http://www.spanishsteps.com/, whose team (Vanessa and Virginio) helped make this experience work for everyone. There were some 24 kilometer days, some long uphill and downhill stretches, and many days of steady rain. Everyone’s feet hurt; some of our boots gave out; some of our blisters had blisters. But the experience was worth it.
The picture below was taken entering Galicia, the ancient province from which the Celtic culture reputedly originated and spread to Europe and the UK.
Note the “Cross of James”; it is fashioned in the image of a vertical sword and two horizontal hilts, a precursor of the Crusades. Here is why---
The legend associated with this 1,000 year old pilgrimage is well known. In the first century, the Apostle James (brother of John, not Jesus’ brother) proselytized in the Iberian Peninsula, evidently following the commandment to carry the Word to “the end of the earth”. At the time this meant Cape Finisterra, at the Western-most tip of the Spanish peninsula – not far from Santiago.
When James returned to Judea he was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I. Legends diverge here, but my favorite account is that James' body was taken by sea to Iberia, landing at or near Padrón, Galicia (near modern Santaigo), and his remains were interred inland along with those of two other disciples. The burial site was lost until the 9th century. In 813, a Galician hermit, Pelagius, experienced a vision in which a group of stars led him to the burial site. With the help of Theodomir, the local bishop, the spot was located and the ancient remains disinterred. Flash forward a few decades. The site became the destination of a pilgrimage, the path a sort of line of demarcation to be defended from the Islamist Moors who occupied most of Spain. Soldiers and knights joined the pilgrims. Then the mysterious figure of James was soon seen as a warrior on horseback against the moors. James became the Patron Saint of Spain.
The Camino de Santiago de Compostela was for a time the most famous of all Christian pilgrimages. Millions of pilgrims have walked through Roncevalles, Pamplona, Burgos, Leon and many other villages and towns the entering the Cathedral at Santiago.
The cathedral at Santiago is shown below on the rainy morning of our last 10 km. hike.
A slide show courtesy of the Rev. Daniel Simons is posted at http://web.mac.com/danljsimons/Site/Camino_slideshow.html .
