Over the years, I heard about the Camino de Santiago (aka the St. James
Way), always kept it in the back of my mind, and placed it my brain's "a
place to go someday" file. And then the movie came out.
Directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father, Martin Sheen, the
movie "The Way" tells in simple and understated, yet powerful terms,
one man's journey along this old Christian pilgrimage route to complete the
trek his son had started but didn't finish due to a tragedy along the trail.
This wonderful story prompted me to look at details and options MK and I
could use to tackle the trek ourselves.
The entire 800 kilometer pilgrimage takes about 30 to 35 days to
complete. We may be crazy, but we are not that crazy. In 2014, we instead walked
for eleven days covering a 200 kilometer (approximately 125 miles) portion
of "The Way" from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela.
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| The ubiquitous scallop shell points "The Way" past a Knight's Templar castle |
I gleaned from John Brierley’s excellent guidebook and map series the
following background story:
Soon after Christ's crucifixion, apostle James
decided to travel to the Galicia region in northern Spain, then believed
to be at the end of the world. His mission was to spread the new word of
Christ's teachings to the people who populated the area. His efforts met with
limited success. Most of the pagans there weren't buying into the message.
James returned to Jerusalem where he was
promptly beheaded by Herod. James's disciples took his remains back to Spain to
be buried in what is now the modern day Galician city of Santiago de
Compostela. Over the centuries since James's martyrdom and eventual
canonization, the story endured and grew. During the middle ages, it was the
belief that if you made the pilgrimage and walked the Camino de Santiago (the
St. James Way) from points throughout Europe to Santiago de Compostela, and
overcame the hardships and travails while doing so, you would be absolved of
all of your sins.
Today, there are many different official routes
leading to Santiago de Compostela. The principle route leaves Saint Jean Pied
de Port in France and travels westerly for nearly 800 kilometers (about 500
miles) through northern Spain. Tens of thousands of people, or pilgrims, make
the full trek, or portions of it, every year. Some do so still for
religious reasons. Most others do so for spiritual, cultural, or basic tourist
reasons.
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| 100 Kilometers to go! |
Brierley’s book also provided very detailed route information and practical advice while walking the route. The main point to remember while walking the Camino is to follow the scallop shell symbols, for they unerringly point the way. Whenever we came upon a confusing intersection, or wondered how many more kilometers we need to walk for the day, we always could count on a marker with the ubiquitous scallop shell showing us which way.
Why the scallop shell? There are many stories to believe. Ones I found
on Wikipedia seem to be the most common:
Version 1: After James's death, his disciples
shipped his body to the Iberian Peninsula to be buried in what is now Santiago.
Off the coast of Spain, a heavy storm hit the ship, and the body was lost to
the ocean. After some time, however, it washed ashore undamaged, covered in
scallops.
Version 2: After James's death his body was
transported by a ship piloted by an angel, back to the Iberian Peninsula to be
buried in what is now Santiago. As the ship approached land, a wedding was
taking place on shore. The young groom was on horseback, and on seeing the ship
approaching, his horse got spooked, and horse and rider plunged into the sea.
Through miraculous intervention, the horse and rider emerged from the water
alive, covered in seashells.
The scallop shell also acts as a metaphor. The grooves in the
shell, which meet at a single point, represent the various routes pilgrims traveled,
eventually arriving at a single destination: the tomb of James in Santiago de
Compostela. The shell is also a metaphor for the pilgrim: As the waves of the
ocean wash scallop shells up onto the shores of Galicia, God's hand also guides
the pilgrims to Santiago.
Many
pilgrims affix their own scallop shell to their backpack or wear it around
their neck. Doing so signifies you are walking the Camino and tells passerby’s
or village locals that you are their friend and, if in need, they will be at
the ready to assist you on your journey.
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| We strapped these to our backpacks |
From time to time, I will post a series of stories
of our journey, with our scallop shells faithfully leading us along “The Way.”
If you wish to read these stories, please search for “Spain” or “Camino de
Santiago” or view the following video.
Happy trails!
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