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I think Spain and France have some. Check a map. Japan too, I have read... And the Middle East.
Yes, and they're centuries old.
Every year, new challenges, sometimes in the form of other pilgrims or clients, and every year I learn more about myself. What I find out about myself is not always pretty, but the Camino gives me time to ruminate, to think things over, to try to make changes, and hopefully grow. I'm hard-headed, so sometimes I have to repeat and repeat the lesson until I learn, but I DO learn. Then just about the time I think I have it licked, a NEW challenge raises its head. 
I walked the Camino Frances this year trying to figure out whether the "Road to Santiago" was the road to redemption or..........the longest bar hop in the world. Happily I found it to be both.
If you are looking for statistical information, I think the increasing long lines at the Pilgrim office give you your answer. As numbers walking have increased so have the number of Compostelas issued.
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I'm sure I've seen this post recently?
In "The Art of Pilgrimage" it is suggested that baseball fans going to Cooperstown are on pilgrimage. The surface, country, purpose, religion will always be different.
I think it is a little more complex than that. I think at first, it wasn't the Catholic cathedral that was the destination (the current cathedral wasn't there when the pilgrimages started) so much as the relics of St. James that could be found therein. It's a very nice cathedral but very nice cathedrals can be found all over Europe. What drew people was the opportunity to be right there with the relics. Relics of Christ's inner circle aren't able to be found all over Europe. Pretty much in Santiago and Rome (which is why they were the primary pilgrim destinations in Europe).
Whew. glad to hear it, since I'm packing up my backpack again this fall.
They are certainly in for a surprise. I hope that unlike the famous Francis Tapon they do not find it a disappointment. It does help to have some idea of where you are walking and why. Though the second might be more fluid and elusive.
So, are you saying that the numbers indicate the "lure" of a religious/spiritual destination has some instinctual attraction to the human experience? Or that people can define their own journey as a pilgrimage based on destination alone (of course, people define their own pilgrimage)?
Jeepers, Annie, you should have just been like the rest of us and prayed for a room without snorersFor me it is a trip of healing in the way of self-discovery.
I began walking to chelate the chemicals that make me so sick.
I quickly discovered the Camino presents me with personality "challenges" about myself that also need "chelating."
I used to say, "I prayed for patience and got a son. I begged God for patience, and I'll be danged if he didn't give me a second son. After the 3d son, I stopped praying for patience!"
This year, I prayed for faith, and got cancer.
I think God has a weird sense of humor.
What I learned this year is to be careful what I pray for!
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. . . and, goodness, the weird looks I get when I recommend it. People are so afraid.
I followed your suggestion. What a wonderful site - thank you! It is interesting to discover that academics (cultural anthropologists, no less) ask the same question. The sites in the study are all purposely modern - do they present a secular or religious experience for their pilgrims? It's too late in the evening for me to find out, but I have it bookmarked.
I think that many people find places of overt religious significance very interesting. Even those with no personal faith of their own can see the cultural and historical significance and feel something of the importance which a place has had for others. Not long ago I read Guy Stagg's book "The Crossway" about a mammoth journey on foot from Canterbury to Rome, Istanbul and eventually Jerusalem. An avowed atheist who wanted to experience something of religion by participating in its rituals without personally accepting its formal beliefs and doctrines. I suspect that sort of active curiosity is not uncommon.
It is heartening to see that people want to "do" the CdS, for whatever reason! I remember the looks on the faces of my fellow pilgrims when we finally line up at the pilgrim office to get our official Compostela.
*sigh* I think you are right.
I have often wonder about the ‘religious’ vs ‘spiritual’ balance and whether or not such a large uptick in spiritual walker would still exist if everyone would receive a Compostela regardless of why they walked and did not need to declare a reason, knowing full well if they said ‘walking holiday’ that they would not get one...
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I don't think that would change the "religious" vs "spiritual" balance at all, as whichever of those two one selects, one gets the same certificate. It might change the religious/spiritual vs sportive balance, though.
The Camino sometimes changes you in ways you have no way of anticipating. We are blessed creatures, aren't we?
only we walk
Let's be clear: the many pilgrimage routes to Santiago are all pilgrimage routes, as are other pilgrim paths in Europe and elsewhere. These have clear goals for the pilgrim and places along the way of religious significance. When we walk these routes, we enter with the preparation and spirit of a pilgrim.. In contrast, there "hiking paths" all over Europe and the U.S., and we walk these as well. Among the longest and most rigorous is the Appalachian Trail which is only for the most dedicated, persevering and hardship-prepared. None of these are caminos. They provide unforgettable "human" experiences, just as the Camino de Santiago or other caminos in Europe provide unforgettable human experiences for those who walk them. To me, it's all good, whatever your motivation, your mindset, your preparation.
Our "modern world" is pretty messed (not my first word but want to be nice) up and Pilgrimages are a place where we can retreat to to reset our minds and our priorities. For me the Camino was originally a historic appreciation walk but the people that I met there and the churches, chapels, cathedrals and albergues soon ramped up the spiritual side of the walk. I think that we really would be in trouble if there were no Pilgrimage routes left to be used.
So the key word here is "devotion"? I never thought of that way to describe it, but I am intrigued.
Dude, you're trying really hard there to make the Camino sound secular. LOL
Very true.
I think for many the Camino is profoundly religious. For those who are religious, I think the current Cathedral could be destroyed and replaced and it wouldn't affect the value of the Camino one bit. They come to venerate the saint. Which building his relics reside in is of little religious importance.Dude, you're trying really hard there to make the Camino sound secular. LOL
You trying to convince me, or yourself?
I was surprised to find that, in 2013, an act of regular helpfulness (I helped a pilgrim repair his hiking poles with my duct tape) earned me a designation by him as a Camino Angel ("Oh, are you the American lady who helped . . . ? We heard about you! He called you his Camino Angel!"). That's a trail name I would accept, although mightily undeserved - I had simply done what anyone would have done (I realize there are many, many Camino Angels out there, and have been over the millennium).
Yes, there is a place. It has become timeless since its inception. It has a place in every time period that academics will try to describe the world by.
I will stand by my opinion that the religious value is in the relics, not the church that holds them. Much as I love the Cathedral in Santiago, it is by no means the most beautiful in Europe. The building is not what made Santiago the pilgrimage destination it is.
364 pages ... Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World - I admit that I've not read it. I wondered who the saint on the cover is. I guessed that it is a rock star. Steven Tyler from Aerosmith ... no. Apparently it is Jim Morrison. I might read the chapter on The Pilgrimage to Jim Morrison’s Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery: The Social Construction of Sacred Space. Why is that relevant to Camino pilgrimage? I think we see this currently happening along the Camino Frances/Camino to Fisterra for example: the social construction of sacred space.
I read your signature details, and I read "The Camino is centered in humility, not in hiking. " I like that.
I have barely scratched the surface of the article I referenced above ( am going slowly, but enjoying it). You asked a question: Is there a place for a pilgrimage route like the Camino de Santiago? Yes. No matter which way I might try to justify my opinion, there will be room, thankfully, for different opinions. Call it whatever you like, there is a place for it. Enjoy your 2020 Camino/Pilgrimage!
