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Afghans on trees

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jillianbausch

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Time of past OR future Camino
Camino Frances 2022-23
Finistere-Muxia 2023
I have been wondering since I walked the Frances last fall about this. Along the road outside of El Burgo Ranero there are crocheted afghans wrapped around the trees, several trees. Does anyone know why they are there?
 
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God! (Is that allowed?) Have I finally met someone with an Aunt Edna?

Well, you’re more qualified than I on the topic of God.

Auntie Edna was splendid. A striking woman in her youth she should have married a GI, but her mother intercepted her post and she was consigned to an unfulfilling life with a reliable but terminallly boring husband within a mile of her birth.
 
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I saw these in a town but I don’t remember which town. I referred to them as “tree sweaters”. I thought they were so cute!

Edit: someone below mentioned Moratinos and that’s where these pics are from on the CF. I was so intrigued by the tree sweaters I left my iPod and headphones on the bench and had to walk back like 2 miles to get them.
 

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Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Gosh, I clicked into this topic thinking Spain is building treehouses for Afghanistan pilgrims and get faced with tree blankets and Aunt Edna. This forum is full of surprises.

Lovely yarn bomb, btw 😄
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
These were in Villeguillo on the CdM in 2017. During the lockdown quite a lot of pillar boxes (where we post letters) in England were decorated with crochet, and this has continued in some places with expressions of solidaritiy over a current war.
 

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A selection of Camino Jewellery
The ladies of Moratinos Association Cultural started wrapping the trees in the plaza mayor several years ago -- it was not my initiative, but I have cadged blankets and squares and bits of crochet from Ireland, Australia, USA, and Canada to add to the color. The sweaters fade over the years, so this winter I cut down a lot of them; Leandra and Co. spent the cold months crocheting the flags of the world, which now deck the plane trees in the plaza. Pilgrims enjoy looking for their homeland's flag in the colorful profusion. It's fun to see how other towns liven up their streets this way.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
They were there last year and I swear, every single tree in El Burgo had a sweater on it. This year, it looked like a lot of them were gone, but there were still plenty of them there. Made me smile. Figured it was a Covid activity, nothing to do? We can decorate our trees.
 
I have been wondering since I walked the Frances last fall about this. Along the road outside of El Burgo Ranero there are crocheted afghans wrapped around the trees, several trees. Does anyone know why they are there?
To paraphrase Ogden Nash.

I think that I shall never see crochet as lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the crochet fall, I'll never see a tree at all.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Outside the former albergue in Alpriate, so I guess they do it in Portugal as well. This was several years ago. At least it was white and after all that work, the colors wouldn't fade!! A bit more effort than Granny Squares! Fringes even!
Beautiful work! Lovely photo.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
W
Gosh, I clicked into this topic thinking Spain is building treehouses for Afghanistan pilgrims and get faced with tree blankets and Aunt Edna. This forum is full of surprises.

Lovely yarn bomb, btw 😄
Wow,I'm so glad that someone else owned up to not knowing what an afghan was(in this context) I was fearing a story about lynching 😟
 
I first heard about this in Rebekah Scott's wonderful book "A Furnace Full of God". (See her post above.) My husband and I had gone through Moratinos in 2013, I think before the people there had started doing it. But we got to see it in El Burgo Ranero in 2022. We wrote about it in our blog at the time and our neighbor at home in New Mexico was so impressed by it that when we got home she had crocheted squares and put them on her carport posts. I was hoping this would start a neighborhood trend but that hasn't happened so far. I need to get my mom to re-teach me how to crochet.
 

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A selection of Camino Jewellery
It's not illegal here. A Guardia Civil agent donated two bags of crochet to our project, and told a reporter about it so Moratinos could "get some credit!"
Maybe it's a bit like wild camping along the Camino. There might be a law out there about it, but so long as real people act responsibly and no one complains, the police don't bother enforcing it.
Who needs police on the ground, when Internet People are so keen on enforcing rules?
 
Ok , it looks cool but it's also illegale.

In lots of municipalities here in my country ( and pretty sure it will be the same in other countries) councils give subsidies to local organisations for yarn bombing. It is a great way to get communities and neighbourhoods together. Does wonders for group dynamics and against the growing individualisation of our society.
Yarn bombing is much nicer than graffiti, dog poop or streetracers.
 
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To paraphrase Ogden Nash.

I think that I shall never see crochet as lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the crochet fall, I'll never see a tree at all.
Here in Ireland, there’s a poetry trail in Galway city, of two dozen bronze and limestone plaques, each inscribed with a poem inspired by the site. The one relevant to this thread reads ‘Make Visible the Tree’. (It’s drawing attention to the site of the former Magdalen laundry.) What did the trees on the Camino do to deserve the cover up?
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
I have been wondering since I walked the Frances last fall about this. Along the road outside of El Burgo Ranero there are crocheted afghans wrapped around the trees, several trees. Does anyone know why they are there?
It's called yarn bombing. At least that's what we call it near me. And yup, it's for no other reason than to bring a smile to those who see them. Just before Covid, on the Camino Portuguese we found the entire plaza had been done by the local school children of the village. Great way for them to show off their new skills!!
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
The one relevant to this thread reads ‘Make Visible the Tree’. (It’s drawing attention to the site of the former Magdalen laundry.) What did the trees on the Camino do to deserve the cover up?

One thing that ‘yarn bombing’ on trees does for me is to make them visible in a new way. And bring a smile. And given that knitting / crochet is traditionally something nearly all women of a certain age and culture do for babies, blankets on trees give me a message of care and love.
Yarn bombing has been in my awareness for a long time and I loved seeing how it manifested in Spain.
Some examples from the Via - but I think these projects are more municipal approved street art.
Edit. The mural of women knitting says - Weaving Life’.
 

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3rd Edition. More content, training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
in some cases over here it's illegale. 🙏
Ah, OK, that's more precise.
Which is why the International Yarn Bombing Day webpage they say this:
Just please keep in mind that yarn bombing is technically illegal in some jurisdictions, so it would be wise to check your local legislation on the matter before creating a yarn bomb installation in a public space.
'Technically' carries a lot of weight here. Police in lots of places have been turning a blind eye to this since it began. And even (as some posters here have described) encouraging it.
 
Crochet dream catchers strung across the street in Santa Maria da Feira - about 3k off camino where I ended up when I was told the albergue in Sao Jao da Madeira (Portugal) was closed. - found out later that the albergue was open! But did enjoy my evening in this town:)20230531_182342.jpg
 
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Love this thread and am learning a lot about somethng I knew nothing about. I have skimmed through the photos, but will be reading the whole article.
Thanks for adding it to this very interesting thread! It has been a nice and fun variation from the forum norm, and I used to do alot of crocheting in my 20's...mostly winter scarves and afghans; nothing complicated.🙂
 
Yes Chrissy, a great thread. I didn't know trees needed to be kept warm with crochet squares. In winter I am sure they appreciate it. But don't they get too hot in summer? And calling them afghans. In Australia our Ghan is a train. And, yes, it is really named after Afghan cameleers. 🙂
 
On the via de la plata in Oliva de Plasencia.
We saw in the evening a group of ladies sitting together on a square and making these. So yes, its a great thing for the community.
Oh, don't sit on the bench when it has rained 🤣
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Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
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