A Map of the Road of Santiago in All Its Diversity

The Work of Pilgrimage

I woke up this morning with my thoughts squarely on the pilgrim’s road. I love the image of moving out from a town and into the largely asocial and empty space. This middle place is outside of usual relationships. This middle place is neither here nor there. It is the betwixt-and-between space that many associate with rites of passage.  You know another town is over the horizon or over the next hill, but you spend most of your time between specific places.

Similarly the image of walking between more fixed social worlds intrigues me deeply. The pilgrim’s body literally moves out of one space and into the middle ground. It is the work of the body that propels the pilgrim forward., and it is the body that is marked by pilgrimage. The pilgrim sweats and drenches his cloths. With time, the sweat mixes with cloths worn day after day, and the pilgrims begins to reek. The pilgrim’s feet strike the Earth again and again. Her legs again, and her feet begin to swell.  Most pilgrims end up with blisters, making each step excruciating. When stopping, pilgrims peel off their shoes and socks to doctor the angry, red sores.

These ulcers are the price for movement, that most valuable of psychic gifts. Pilgrimage teaches the value of moving forward, of attending to the people and places you encounter, of respecting your limits even as you try to reach your goals.

Yesterday in Rock Creek Park. Nico crossing a log bridge.

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Sweet little creek on today's walk.

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Training today in Rock Creek Park

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Training in the Shenandoah…

Hiking up a cascading waterfall in a crevice of the Shenandoah valley. Little Devil's Stairs, they call it. Very fun, but tiring…

The Road of Santiago is colloquial Castellan for the Milky Way.

Training for the road.

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It's a long and winding road, as they say.

Why Walk the Road?

My son is thirteen, and we are walking the Way as a rite of passage. We have been talking about this trip since he was three, and the time has finally arrived. We have hiking boots, we have plane tickets, and we have a plan--you have to have a plan.

We have been walking regularly to train--but probably not regularly enough. We have been reading about the Road. We have been reflecting on the possibilities. All this preparation provides us the opportunity to reflect on the whole thing.

Since Nico lives half the time with his mother, I realized that I was a little frightened: I have never spent three uninterrupted weeks with my son, and I don't really know what it will be like.

May the Way bring us love, mutual respect, and discovery.

The Ancient Road to Campostela

So what's the story? Why do people set out from home, travel across the world, and walk for days to Santiago de Campostela?

Ancient pagans noticed that the Milky Way lined up with the north coast of the Iberian peninsula. They called it Campostela, the field of stars. Following the Field of Stars toward the west, they began a pilgrimage that ended at high on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic, where they would burn their cloths to symbolize the end of their old life and a new beginning.

In the 800s, Spainish Christians were fighting off the Muslim invaders from the south, when someone "found" the bones of Saint James--Santiago. Installed along the old pilgrimage route in a city that took his name, the relics became to focus of a new pilgrimage. People began to travel from all over Europe to pray at the cathedral there. Lepers walked and prayed for healing. Criminals walked and prayed for rehabilitation. Kings, queens, nobles, and even popes walked to Santiago and prayed. With Jerusalem and Rome, this was one of the most important destinations for pilgrims in the Middle Ages.

In the 1990s, the European Union made the pilgrimage route its first "cultural itinerary" and kicked off the new craze of walking the Way of Santiago.