Camino de Santiago de Compostela - The Way of St. James

When we walked the Via Francigena last Spring, we were well aware of the historical and religious significance of walking along this celebrated path. Sigeric the Serious, Archbishop of Canterbury, documented his return route from Rome to Canterbury, England way back in the 10th century and pilgrims and travelers have been using it ever since.

St. James the Apostle complete with his traditional scallop shells - Credit: Wiki Commons

The Camino de Santiago has similar historic and religious roots which can be traced back to the 9th century. Santiago in Spanish, translates in English to St. James. James, one of Christ’s inner-circle apostles, ventured out after Christ’s death to spread the ‘Word’ and spent time preaching the gospel in Spain. When he returned to Judea in 44AD, he was promptly beheaded in Jersualem on the orders of King Herod Agrippa of Judea.

There are several versions of St. James’ body being returned to Spain, but all are similar. According to Wiki, ‘ 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.’ His remains were identified by the local bishop and buried on the site where the Cathedral Santiago de Compostela now stands.

From this legend, other myths have sprung. The symbol of the St. James Way has traditionally been the scallop shell. The radiating lines on a scallop shell all stem from one point symbolizing that all paths lead to the tomb of St. James in the Cathedral. Most pilgrims wear a scallop shell en route signifying that they are walking the Camino. We’ll have ‘pilgrim credentials’ before we leave and get our scallop shells once we arrive in Lisbon and begin our trek.

Also from wiki, ‘The popular Spanish name for the astronomical Milky Way is El Camino de Santiago. According to a common medieval legend, the Milky Way was formed from the dust raised by traveling pilgrims. Another legend tells that when a hermit saw a bright star shining over a hillside near San Fiz de Solvio, he informed the bishop of Iria Flavia, who found a grave at the site with three bodies inside, one of which he asserted was Saint James. Subsequently the location was called "the field of the star" (Campus Stellae, corrupted to "Compostela").’

There is no specific ‘one’ camino to follow. Rather, it’s a medieval network of many paths all culminating in Santiago de Compostela. We’ll talk about other routes in a future blog, but it’s the Camino Portugués, that we’ll walk this year. Most folks start in Porto, Portugal, but we’re opting to begin in Lisbon… after we explore the city a bit.

Guide books for the routes and country guides for Portugal and Spain. We don’t want to miss anything!

The commitment is made… we’ve purchased our plane tickets. We depart Las Vegas on April 15th and arrive in Lisbon on the 16th. We’ve ordered and received our guide books and we’re currently plotting our walking course. Because I intend to be a tourist as well as a pilgrim, I also picked up a couple of country guides at the thrift store to determine the best places to explore and primo places to take our laydays en route.

The unique Camino Portugués patch for our backpacks.

We’ve also joined American Pilgrims on the Camino group and ordered our camino patches which I’ll soon sew onto our backpacks. Last, but certainly not least, I’m learning Portuguese via the free Duolingo app. The vocabulary is very similar to written Spanish, but the pronunciation is a challenge.

Join us as we start our countdown clock and make preparations for another long trek. We’re excited and hope you plan to come along.

Countdown to the Camino: 49 days from today (February 26th, 2020)

Preparing for the walk takes time and a some forethought. Join David as he assesses what electronics we plan to take with us.