Camino De Santiago

photo by: alessandro pucci

“And don’t forget: the tourist says “Give me…”; the pilgrim says “thank-you”.”

Santiago di Compostela in northwestern Spain is a major pilgrimage destination for Christians where legend says that the remains of the apostle St James are allegedly interred. The millennium pilgrimage to the shrine in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is known in English as the Way of St. James and in Spanish as the Camino de Santiago. Over 100,000 pilgrims travel to the city each year from points all over Europe.

The Cathedral stands on the edge of the main plaza of the old city and is reputed to be the burial place of St James, one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. The Cathedral is primarily built in the Gothic style with a profusion of classic details. Some of the most significant features of the Cathedral are the 12th century Portico da Gloria behind the Western façade as well as the golden shell adorning the altar which is kissed by a steady stream of pilgrims as a sign of homage.

The city is one of the chief shrines of Christendom. There in the early 9th century the supposed tomb of the apostle St. James the Greater was reputedly discovered by a miracle, and Alfonso II of Asturias had a sanctuary built. The city grew around the shrine and became, after Jerusalem and Rome, the most famous Christian place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. It still thrives as a pilgrimage and tourist centre.

The main Camino route is the Camino Frances. This part of the Camino de Santiago traditionally starts in St Jean Pied de Port and finishes in Santiago de Compostela about 780km later, after travelling the breadth of Northern Spain you can collect your Compostela. However you can start anywhere and even continue past Santiago to the sea at Finisterre – thought to be the end of the world in medieval times.

Currently there are four recognised ‘official’ routes into Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés (from the east), Camino Inglés (from the north), Camino Portugués (from the south), and Via de la Plata/Camino Sanabrés (from the southeast).

Camino de Santiago

photo by:Jesus Garcia

The cathedral authorities in Santiago require that pilgrims must carry the credencial or pilgrim passport, which entitles you to a place in the Spanish refugios, and produce it, stamped and dated at each stage of the journey. Another requirement is for you to have walked or ridden on horseback the last 100 km to Santiago, or cycled the last 200 km. You must also declare a spiritual or religious motivation, to qualify for the Compostela, the traditional Latin certificate of pilgrimage. There is a certificado, also in Latin, for those making the journey for other reasons, or not meeting the Cathedral’s criteria.

There are no other rules about how you should make your pilgrimage: but you will find among pilgrims to Santiago and those who support them a clearly defined ethos – a strong sense that certain attitudes and ways of comporting oneself are appropriate to the pilgrimage. This is summed up in the need to be true to oneself and to respect the motivation of others. The walk takes about a month and there are a number of refuges set up to accommodate the genuine pilgrim.

Recently there’s been a revival and many thousands of pilgrims each year make their way, on foot or by bicycle – sometimes even on horseback – along the ancient paths. There are as many reasons for this revival as there are pilgrims. It is noticeable; however, that many people make the pilgrimage at a turning point in their modern lives, and try to come to terms with a crisis from a very personal perspective.

The Camino de Santiago is for everyone, young, old, fit, unfit, religious or otherwise. Most people setting out on the Camino, willingly or unwillingly, end up on a spiritual or religious journey. However sceptical one may be about the basis of the pilgrimage and the religious legends surrounding it, one cannot help being affected by it. Maybe it’s the simplicity of the walk and the closeness to nature that makes one conscious of deeper life realities. The route to Santiago was a Roman trade-route. It was nicknamed by travellers la voje ladee, the Milky Way. It was the road under the stars, and it still is.

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