Walking the Camino de Santiago: A Pilgrimage of Blood, Memory, and Meaning
The tale is said that the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was built for the purpose and still remains a shrine for the apostle Saint James the Great. Many from all over the world would walk the various paths, partaking the third most important pilgrimage in Christendom after Jerusalem and Rome. To me Santiago remains a mystery, and the story of Saint James is yet to be unveiled.
For as long as I could remember, nearing the end of their journey, the exhausted peregrinos who travel across the stone village of my grandparents carry their heavily stamped parchment, like relics from every church that they have visited along the way. Though nearing the end, the stories they delivered were extraordinary.
I often wondered why people still continue, personally my lineal ties generates my curiosity, but for others...perhaps for religious purposes, or they feel the need to undergo a challenge. Like a templar knight embarking on a quest to the holy grail? Despite the companionship that the Camino offers...it is a path to be walked alone.
Eight hundred kilometres across the northern Spanish territories, carrying only a walking staff and a backpack, accompanied by the white scallop shell, bearing the thinly painted red cross, a symbol of its Saint, walking through the fields, mountains, and the quiet ancient towns, that leave their historical mark.
Once enclosed by its now demolished walls, stands the cathedral, in the heart, a remarkable piece of architecture, where many historical stories are to be told here, where underneath it is said lies the remains of Spain’s patron Saint. As Galicia’s capital, it is a city which I am obliged to understand, to walk not merely a tourist, but someone with an ancestral bond.
The main route is the Camino Frances, which starts at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France. There are others, Camino Portugues from lisbon, and smaller walks from Ferrol, known as Camino Ingles which begins in Galicia already. But the latter does not compare to the lengthy Via de la Plata from Seville spanning at almost one thousand kilometres. Camino Frances is the most travelled and possibly the most traditional. One day, when the opportunity arises, I would like to walk it, spending six weeks from France, crossing the various climates and landscapes, to the holy city of Santiago, visiting the remains of the patron saint himself.
To understand this city, I need to understand the man. Who was the apostle St James? A man who embarked on the journey himself but was unable to? Others who came after would walk, yearning to complete the journey that he could not achieve? For over a thousand years men and women have walked this path. The first one to do so, inspired the many who came after.
I too often wonder, how this pilgrimage compares to the others, such as Jerusalem, Rome, or even Mecca? There is something special about committing yourself, six weeks alone on foot, to a city, that bears a great significance to one’s religious, or ancestral values.
I may never uncover every story about this region, nor view it from the view of my ancestors, but the act of searching, walking the path, and asking questions that they never got to answer, feels like a form of return. History, will never offer certainty, but to get a brief feeling of what it would have been like, rather than read or formally study, is the most authentic way to relive the past to bring it home.