An interesting article

[Bristle Boy]

This article may be of interest and discussion.

Secular pilgrims: why ancient trails still pack a spiritual punch

Where kings and abbots walked, tourists now follow. Are these increasingly popular trips just another holiday or are we getting more religious?

www.theguardian.com

 

[mspath]

This article may be of interest and discussion.

Secular pilgrims: why ancient trails still pack a spiritual punch

Where kings and abbots walked, tourists now follow. Are these increasingly popular trips just another holiday or are we getting more religious?

www.theguardian.com

See also this earlier thread

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/secular-hike-to-spiritual-pilgrimage.13872/

 

[Former member 49149]

Thank you, @Bristle Boy . This fits in nicely, with the MOOC course @jungleboy alerted us all to.
I quote from the article:
TS Eliot captured it best in Little Gidding, written after his visit – not intended as a pilgrimage, though he was a Christian – to the church that once stood at the centre of a high-minded, 17th-century Anglican religious community in the Cambridgeshire countryside. “You would have to put off/ Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,/ Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity/ Or carry report. You are here to kneel/ Where prayer has been valid.”
The facts, incontrovertible (don't you love that word!) tell us that everywhere, in every place, people cause commerce. That does not take away from the intention that people put into whatever they do. Let us celebrate the prospering of the regions and the individuals who managed to not only exist but make life comfortable for their families and friends. Not to mention the pilgrims, who, having bought the bric a brac associated with the arrival in Santiago, then displayed them at home as proof of having reached their destination.
I think the main thing for me is this, both in reaction to your article, and to the course from Universidad de Santiago, is that if I were 20 years younger, I would try to set off from Roncesvalles and return there. Just because.

 

[mspath]

Indeed, as Kirkie said above "Just Because"

For those who ask why ?

One answer is "le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît pas/ the heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing."
Pascal, Les Pensées

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Just because.

I go just because I can.
I'd better change that to say 'just because I could'. Hope it's not my last..dang that virus!

the heart has its reasons

My heart has its reasons...too numerous to list.

 

[nycwalking]

This article may be of interest and discussion.

Secular pilgrims: why ancient trails still pack a spiritual punch

Where kings and abbots walked, tourists now follow. Are these increasingly popular trips just another holiday or are we getting more religious?

www.theguardian.com

Thanks for article BB.

I place feet on path for respite and refreshment.

Too, for adventure, seeing another culture in real time, hearing a language I often hear in both Los Angeles and New York yes, but in Spain that’s the idioma.

I relish the quiet reflection and discussion of life shared with other pilgrims on their journey within as we walk, dine, attend Mass, laugh and cry.

Between virus and caregiving it’s going to take a few miracles to step on the path again: praying.

Buen camino to we all: soon, real soon.

 

[verutum]

I decided to walk The Camino after I discovered all the history behind it. So, it was a tourist attraction that first got me thinking about The Camino. Then when I read that St. Francis walked The Camino de Santiago, I knew I had to walk it, too. But on the way to Santiago I had so many religious experiences on The Camino that I was convinced that there is something to this ancient path. I came back the the USA with my faith completely restored. My body was pretty beat up, but my mind was completely refreshed.

 

[Arn]

I initially walked the Camino because a friend gave me a book detailing a Camino from Le Puy to SDC, and then my parish priest said, "If you can...go!" I did, and everything began to change in my life. I found new friends, experiences, physical pain, and a new way forward. None of my Caminos have been the same. Not only because the Camino itself was different (CF, CP, CI) but because my inner focus changed. Early on, I started writing a factional novel. Later on, I hoped to find someone outside my usual circle of friends. I did finish the story and discovered that I found that treating myself better might be the honest answer rather than seeing that special someone.

 

[rappahannock_rev]

Enjoyed the article very much!

 

[David Tallan]

It was a good article, although it could have used a little more fact-checking. For example, I noticed he wrote:

Meanwhile, the Spanish city has been formally paired with Japan’s 88-temple Buddhist pilgrim route on the island of Shikoku. It has seen a marked rise in numbers of “foreigner pilgrims” – gaijin henro – plenty of them Camino veterans. One couple, he American and she Japanese, who met on the route in Spain have opened a pilgrims’ hostel on Shikoku.

I believe the Japanese pilgrimage that is paired with the Camino is the Kumano Kodo rather than the Shikoku.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Early on, I started writing a factional novel

Arn, did you finish your novel and if so is it available online or do you have any extras laying around at home? I occasionally purchase books of personalized experiences on the Camino and when I am familiar with a forum member, their stories are all the more interesting to me.

 

[mikebet]

That's a very well-written and perceptive piece, which perhaps should be the final word in the perennial "why we walk the Camino" discussion. Interesting that the author did not mention the significance of "The Way" in bringing attention to the Camino. Did the movie not screen outside the US?

 

[Bert45]

"Did the movie not screen outside the US?" – It has been on BBC.

 

[Marc S.]

Interesting that the author did not mention the significance of "The Way" in bringing attention to the Camino. Did the movie not screen outside the US?

The Way did screen outside of the USA.

As why he did not mention it, I can think of two reasons.

1 The article is not just about the increasing popularity of the camino, but of pilgrimage in general.

2 The Way has been a factor explaining the increasing popularity of the camino, the extent of which probably being very different in different countries. Surely it has been influential in the USA, but let's keep things in perspective, as USA pilgrims make up only app. 5 % of pilgrims walking the Camino. For example, 40 % of pilgrims are Spanish and I doubt whether the Way is an important source of inspiration for them. In other countries (like Germany and South Korea) other books and developments made major contributions to the increasing popularity of the camino.

So, as the article was not written from an American perspective, it is understandable why The Way was not mentioned.