In ancient times, the pilgrim’s clothes would be burned on the rooftop of the Cathedral in Santiago. First of all, it is a very recent tradition and not based at all on the original pilgrimage. I recommend to not participate in this activity. It is a recent tradition for pilgrims to burn their clothes or boots at the end of their journey at Cape Finisterre. Cape Finisterre is about a 90-km walk from Santiago de Compostela. The Camino Finisterre ends in Cape Finisterre and is the final destination for many pilgrims on the Way of St. Let me introduce you to other, less known, Camino routes in Spain so you can start thinking about it.
You never know when the Camino is going to call you again, right? It runs from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles on the Spanish side before making its way to Santiago de Compostela through the major cities of Pamplona, Logroño, Burgos and León. If you ever walked that Camino it might be time to start thinking about your next adventure in Spain. In English it’s referred to as The French Way and it’s definitely the most popular Camino route. Another version says it came from Campus Stellae, meaning Stars Field, because the path of the pilgrim almost follows the Milky Way.The Camino Frances is the most traveled way to Santiago de Compostela. The name "Compostela" came from the local Vulgar Latin "Composita Tella", meaning "burial ground". After his martyr in Jerusalem, Saint James the Great, one of the 12 apostles of Christ, was shipped and buried here, at the end of the world.Īccording to this legend, this tomb was rediscovered in 814 AD by the hermit Pelagius, the told to king Alfonso II of Asturias and Galicia who build the original shrine of Santiago, which became a pilgrimage destination. Then the Christian Age came and a strange legend started to spread. In fact, it was an ancient Roman road which ends on the coast nearby Santiago Sancturay, in a place meaningfully called Cape Finisterre, from Latin "Finis Terrae", the "End of the Earth". Saint James The Greater By Guido Reni The history of the Camino de SantiagoĪlthough it is a Christian pilgrimage, the actual route of Camino de Santiago is older than Christianity. Anyway, to get the "Compostela certificate" you only need to do a minimum of 100 kilometers which means starting from the nearby Spanish town of Sarria.
The whole French Way is long over 700 kilometers and usually took a month to be completed. Like a funnel, most of the routes end up into the French Way at some point, with some exceptions like the maritime one from the UK and the routes from Portugal. Four of these routes are protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site ( ) but there are more than that.Īll things considered, if we have to, we can point out the most iconic route and it's the one called French Way, which starts in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France and ends in Santiago de Compostela. So there is a true final destination but no true starting point. In fact, there isn't "one" Camino de Santiago, but a is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great, located in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain. You may have heard that there are many Camino de Santiago and people talking about very different routes. The Camino's ways Which is the "true" Camino de Santiago? To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendor and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe."īut those who do not believe go to pilgrimage as well and the motivation is almost the same: find their "way" and know more about themselves and their place in the world. "To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place to admire its treasures of nature, art or history.
In Europe, they are almost always linked to Christianity and their fame growth during the Middle Age.Įven if, in the past, walking was practically the only way to reach a place, going on pilgrimage was never "just" a walk and this is the reason why it survived to the present day. They are standard itinerary pilgrims take to visit a holy site or place of worship. El Camino the Santiago is just the most famous of a broad category of routes: the pilgrim ways.
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