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pilgrims & pilgrimage

  1. Laura the Explora

    What makes a pilgrim?

    My husband and I are on our 7th Camino right now, the sparsely traveled Camino Mozarabe in SE Spain. Groups of volunteers run the different sections of the Camino and give you codes and things like that to get into the albergues since there are rarely Hospitaleros. The volunteers been helpful...
  2. Helge

    Some thoughts on the uniqueness of pilgrimage.

    I absolutely don't want to start a hard discussion, but just share some of my thoughts. At least something to reflect on, certainly not necessarily comply to. Maybe think more of them, if you like as possible sub-goals. Each of us is free to have their reasons for making a pilgrimage, but I...
  3. dick bird

    How many pilgrims walked Camino de Santiago in the Middle Ages, Medieval times? Was it really 500 000 per year?

    OK, a brief explanatory introduction. What follows is the thread as it first developed under the original title ¨500000 pilgrims expected in 1023¨ If you want to know the answer to the question posed by the new title, you could read through the whole thread - it is well-worth the effort because...
  4. peregrina2000

    The new Rule 3 - no more tourist vs. pilgrim debates

    We are starting another thread on this specific rule, because it did provoke some questions and concerns when it was first announced (as Rule 14, but it’s still pretty much the same now that it’s been moved to Rule 3). Ivar is going to delete all of the comments in the general rules discussion...
  5. Bradypus

    Camino Francés Federación to ban suitcases in their albergues (11 albergues affected by this rule)

    Several news sites today have reported on a meeting of the Camino Francés Federación in Saint Jean Pied de Port. Amongst other business the member Amigos associations have decided to ban suitcases in the 11 albergues under their direct control. A proposal which @Rebekah Scott posted here some...
  6. Theatregal

    Ann Sieben, The Winter Pilgrim

    Sharing a piece from this months Harper's Magazine about the enduring allure of pilgrimage and the mendicant pilgrim Ann Sieben, https://harpers.org/archive/2023/04/numinous-strangers-pilgrimage/
  7. K

    Exploring the Spiritual Aspect of the Camino as a Catholic Pilgrim

    Hello, I am a newbie to the forum and plan to do my first Camino this summer (2023). I have done a lot of research (YouTube channels, articles, websites, books) and I am sort of surprised that I read/heard nothing about the spiritual side of the Camino. Not that that would preclude me from...
  8. RachelNZ

    Has the Camino Frances become a victim of its own success?

    I walked the Frances in 2017 and the Portuguese in 2019. I want to walk the Frances again but I am seeing many posts about how busy it is and from 2016 to now, I can see it's gotten pretty congested. How are the repetitive walkers of this Camino trail feeling? Does it put you off? How much has...
  9. Rebekah Scott

    Fr. Richard Rohr on Tourist vs. Pilgrim

    Fr. Richard Rohr OFM is an American Franciscan priest and writer on spirituality based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church in 1970. In 2011, PBS called him "one of the most popular spirituality authors and speakers in the world". This is...
  10. E

    How many Camino routes are there?

    I'm following up on an American Pilgrims on the Camino webinar I enjoyed a few weeks ago. John Brierley said in his presentation that there were hundreds? thousands? of established routes across Europe that could be considered Caminos. I'd like to pass along that statistic, but I don't...
  11. K

    How Important Was It To You To Do "Full" CF ?

    How important was it to you to do what might be called the "full" CF from SJPP to Santiago in one go? I know a lot of people split it up into stages for various reasons (health, time, money), while some prefer the one long journey, and perhaps some people would only do the whole thing in one...
  12. trecile

    Some Camino Wisdom

    This was posted by Donna Mast on the Camigas Facebook group (she gave me permission to post it here) It really rang true for me. "Being a pilgrim on the Camino is a curious thing. You walk with many others, and you also walk alone. You make instant friends and build bonds with pilgrims, yet you...
  13. J Willhaus

    Pilgrim in spirit?

    I have just finished my time as hospitalera at Canfranc's Elias Valina Albergue. This albergue is only for pilgrims with a credential who are walking unsupported. Our last night we had a couple of lads who "claimed" to be pilgrims, however, they were were just boys out hiking one of the popular...
  14. Lexicos

    Atonement? Is that what it’s about?

    I guess we’ve all made mistakes in life. I’m sure too that at some point we’ve all hurt someone whom we love very much. Life demands so much from us, ever so much and it’s inevitable that we will make some terrible mistakes along the way, usually in our earlier years, when the world is still a...
  15. J.Patrick

    Pilgrimage as Way of Life

    I was amused, shortly after my last Camino, when I saw a yellow arrow on a street, not in Spain, and felt a subconscious compulsion to turn and follow it. There is a part of me that always wants to be following those arrows and scallops, to live on pilgrimage. Life, though, intrudes. I'm a...
  16. jsalt

    The Camino Isn’t A Pilgrimage Anymore

    There are lots of threads now on “skipping stages”, “where to stay an extra day”, etc. Is it now just a cheap hiking trail? I guess it probably is. Does anybody actually walk the camino for religious reasons now? Why am I asking this? I am not religious. When I walked my first camino it...
  17. F

    Origins of pilgrimage

    Reading @vanrobin's post about the present location of a statue of Santiago Matamoros in SdeC Cathedral led me to search for the above idea. This website appeared first. Any contributions that will help expand knowledge and understanding is bound to be useful. Political correctness has its...
  18. J

    Called to the Camino

    I know there are many reasons for persons to walk the Camino. Some have religious reasons and consider themselves pilgrims in the way that ancients who walked it must have. Has any had or have know someone who has had a "calling" to walk it? I am a retired pastor and have considered walking it...
  19. F

    The queues in Santiago

    I did my first camino in July-August 2021. I had a really great experience right up until Santiago but Santiago left me massively underwhelmed and disappointed. My main reason for this was that I felt that having walked from St Jean that those who had walked similar distances, with our backpacks...
  20. peregrino_tom

    Secular pilgrims: why ancient trails still pack a spiritual punch

    Nice little piece in the Observer/Guardian this morning https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/mar/28/secular-pilgrims-why-ancient-trails-still-pack-a-spiritual-punch Covers ground that we frequently walk on this forum, but drawing in some interesting far-flung examples. I hadn't heard...

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