Cleaning cruz de ferro

[Traveller747]

Just made it to Santiago and now return partially with a rental car. Once at Cruz De Fierro I catch the cleaners from the local authority removing all the messages and all other items people so carefully were hanging on this cross or laying in front of it and ask myself: WHY??????! I think its so disrespectful towards the people that left it. Fair that it’s not there forever but at least leave it for the season

 

[Bradypus]

WHY??????! I think its so disrespectful towards the people that left it. Fair that it’s not there forever but at least leave it for the season

I know that it may not be a popular view but I feel that the greater disrespect is in covering the Cruz de Ferro with all that detritus in the first place. Why the need to deface the way with such visible reminders of our passing by? Whose interests does it really serve?

 

[Camino Chrissy]

The items left at Cruz de Ferro have been discussed on this forum before. There are always the two camps of thought...some thinking since this is a pilgrimage everything should be left respectfully as is, while others think it a big mess and disrespectful of the environment. I fall somewhere in the middle on this debate, but when the trinkets and paper are now showing up in greater numbers in other areas along the trail, then I say to myself "enough is enough". I myself leave a small stone and a prayer.

 

[Kathar1na]

There will be a romeria - a local pilgrimage - this Sunday 29 July to the small chapel next to the cruz de ferro, with celebration of an open air mass in the morning, so no one should be surprised that the place is cleaned of the junk that non-locals deposit there.

 

[caminka]

isn't the tradition of leaving stones or stones with something written on them and saying a prayer or a verse or something else that means a lot to you much more beautiful then leaving behind all the modern trinkets?

 

[IngridF]

Leave your stone, but please keep your personal "momentos" close to your heart, that is where they belong. Well that puts me firmly into one camp. Light and Love

 

[peregrina2000]

Can you imagine what the Cruz de Ferro would look like after a few years of no attention by the local authorities?

 

[caminka]

Can you imagine what the Cruz de Ferro would look like after a few years of no attention by the local authorities?

I would really rather not.

 

[Glenshiro]

At the risk of being labelled grumpy, I don't even leave a stone - what on earth does it mean? "I have been here?" I know where I've been.
As for leaving mementoes, words fail me. I can't help feeling it's all a bit reflexive - "look at me, aren't I spiritual/mindful/whatever" No, you're just leaving a mess for someone else to clear up. (At the locals' expense.)
One person's memento is another person's litter.

 

[SabsP]

I did not leave a stone at Cruz de Ferro.
I left my " mental stone " somewhere in a small church while sitting still for an hour.
But that is just my personal thought.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

One person's memento is another person's litter. In addition to written messages, pilgrims leave boots, socks, shirts, flags, neckerchiefs, and all manner of other detritus. The cleanup crews cannot really spend the time to distinguish between them. Write your message on your rock. I have never heard of a rock being removed. If your rock is from fifteen minutes before the cross, you may not have time to write...

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Leave your stone, but please keep your personal "momentos" close to your heart, that is where they belong. Well that puts me firmly into one camp. Light and Love

I am mostly in your camp, but when I see the ocassional photos of deceased loved ones attached with a poem, my heart goes out to them in their loss and its quite possibly their reason for walking. It's hard to think of these items being thrown out, although necessary at some point. That said, there is definately a lot of unnecessary ticky tacky to be dealt with.

 

[J F Gregory]

Cruz de Ferro for me is a Holy site. But I cannot imagine an additional 150k stones annually to the mount of stones it would be a much higher walk to the cross. I scattered some of my brother's (who was going to walk with me) ashes there and left a stone too.

 

[trecile]

I really don't understand the significance of Cruz de Ferro, and was quite underwhelmed the first time that I saw it.

 

[NomadBoomer]

I left a small stone from the garden in my old house in Melbourne that I had been carrying for a while. The site and the ritual meant a lot to me. I remember a fellow walker smoking his dad's pipe who had recently died. I personally think that it is rituals like this that help make the Camino special, and not just another long walk.

Having said that now, I think about the huge numbers on the Camino now and what becomes of all of the special items left behind I can understand why it may need to be cleaned. It would be nice to think the momentos are treated with respect but I doubt it.

This time I will just bring another small stone from my mums grave. The stone will endure.

 

[Bradypus]

A local news website has just published an article about a clean-up of the Cruz de Ferro by a local Amigos group. Quite possibly the clean-up referred to in the original post. The item is headlined "Rubbish dump on the Camino" and contains an appeal by the Amigos that people stop leaving mementos at the site. https://www.lanuevacronica.com/un-vertedero-en-pleno-camino

 

[grayland]

I have been there late in the afternoon after most pilgrims have gone by. Twice I have seen locals (not authorities) in cars pull up and salvage everything of any value. Once they were quite bold and were there with pilgrims still arriving.
There are often rings, necklaces, etc left by passing pilgrims. They do not stay there for more than a day as there seems to be a regular group of treasure hunters who are active at the site.

My advice is to not leave anything of value. Better yet....just leave a stone.

 

[David Tallan]

I can imagine and empathize with the pilgrim that Camino Crhis writes of, who leaves a photo of a deceased love on with an attached poem, the reason for their walking the Camino. I don't have it in my heart to think negatively of them. And I left my stone behind, too.

At the same time, I can empathize with those who worry about the impact of hundreds of thousands of people a year leaving detritus at the mound if some of it is not removed.

Perdsonally, for me, the act of leaving the item is about leaving it behind and not remaining attached to it. Once I've left it, if someone thinks it would be better placed somewhere else, that is no longer my concern.

 

[texano]

The wailing wall in Jerusalem is cleaned periodically.

 

[VNwalking]

One memento per pilgrim, a couple of hundred thousand pilgrims...you do the math. It's a pile of stuff.
All with great sentimental value to whomever left it, but nothing to anyone else.
A stone, a prayer, and a letting go. That's plenty to leave in one day.

(That people come in on a daily basis and grab whatever of value is sad, but where would it go otherwise? )

 

[Tincatinker]

The relatively modern tradition of leaving a symbolic stone at the Cruz, "and so I lay my burden down..." seems to have been usurped by the more modern 'shrine-ists' who will leave flowers, mementoes and one-eyed teddy-bears just about anywhere. There is nothing more sacred about the site than the site of any recent tragedy, car crash or geographic disaster but there seems to be an emergent belief that the Cruz carries as much significance as Santiago, Stonehenge or the Ka'aba. Give it another century and it probably will.

Is there any real difference between the tokens and notes and the graffiti on every mojone? I guess the question is are we all so lacking in confidence of our own existence that we need to leave a mark, any mark, where-ever we go?

I took a stone from our family memorial cairn; the stone of a friend I felt I had failed. I carried that stone a long long way and I carried that burden in memory and in my heart. And at the Cruz I laid that burden down. I had had long enough, with that stone in my hand, to understand my emotions; my confusion and grief. And so I placed that little stone and a heavy burden on that cairn of memory and forgetfulness and I walked to the sea with a lighter heart.

Those who understand the simplicity and significance of this ritual will understand my post and will understand why I have every sympathy with those who clean the Cruz. Those who still carry that need to storm the castle and plant their flag: well, I guess they need to do a couple more caminos

 

[Bradypus]

(That people come in on a daily basis and grab whatever of value is sad, but where would it go otherwise? )

Interesting how different cultures view such things. Walking the Shikoku 88 temple circuit and Kumano Kodo in Japan earlier this year I came across many small shrines and religious statues on remote woodland paths. Often with an offering dish full of coins at their foot. I remember one in particular with the equivalent of 10 euros or so visible on the surface layer. Presumably a lot more below. No one seemed to take these coins although a significant number of homeless people clearly living in poverty walk the routes.

 

[VNwalking]

Beautiful post and beautiful story, @Tincatinker .

Interesting how different cultures view such things.

I'm not so surprised at the difference. We have a culture that values money and what one possesses above all.

 

[Kathar1na]

There will be a romeria - a local pilgrimage - this Sunday 29 July

(Click to enlarge)

 

[Kathar1na]

I really don't understand the significance of Cruz de Ferro, and was quite underwhelmed the first time that I saw it.

The tradition of bringing a stone from home is only a few decades old.

Picking up a stone on the way approaching the cruz and leaving the stone in connection with the Santiago pilgrimage is not much older.

That's probably why many of us don't get any vibes there ... .

But the myth has been born and is spread daily through blogs, articles and books and will not die out any time soon and I do realize that such modern rituals have meaning for many. I get a little bit cynical when I see the carefully staged photographs of one's own person or spouse kneeling in front of this long pole but whatever floats their boats ...

 

[peregrina2000]

The tradition of bringing a stone from home is only a few decades old.

Picking up a stone on the way approaching the cruz and leaving the stone in connection with the Santiago pilgrimage is not much older.

That's probably why many of us don't get any vibes there ... .

But the myth has been born and is spread daily through blogs, articles and books and will not die out any time soon and I do realize that such modern rituals have meaning for many. I get a little bit cynical when I see the carefully staged photographs of one's own person or spouse kneeling in front of this long pole but whatever floats their boats ...

While we're putting these myths to rest, can we also add that it is NOT a tradition, and indeed it is illegal, to burn clothing, or worse yet shoes, at Finisterre?!

 

[IngridF]

i carried a jagged stone from my backyard in 2012, each "jag" had great significance for me. I had that stone in my pocket and rubbed and turned it and talked to it and myself and worked through each point. By the time I reached the cruz, the points were less pronounced, that walk from Foncebadon to the cruz was overwhelmingly emotional for me as I was deciding what to do about my marriage. I walked with a voice recorder and to this day, I have not been able to listen to this part. Whatever I unloaded to the stone was so very heavy and once placed at the cruz, the decision was made, it is best it stays there. I hobbled off so much lighter. I am still married.

 

[VNwalking]

While we're putting these myths to rest, can we also add that it is NOT a tradition, and indeed it is illegal, to burn clothing, or worse yet shoes, at Finisterre?!

Please.
Second the motion.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Decades ago when I lived on the other end of the state I used to make a pilgrimage to the grave of Henry David Thoreau whenever I was in the area. It is a small stone inscribed simply with Henry. Though now a walk from where I live I no longer visit it as it now looks to me like a pile of litter with all the mementos left there.

On a lighter note: Not far away from Thoreau is the grave of sculptor Daniel Chester French whose first public work was The Minuteman (which appears on some quarter dollar coins) and whose Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial appeared about 50 years later. The memorial appears on the back of a penny. Both coins are left as tributes at French's grave. Only the pennies remain for any length of time.

 

[Anamya]

It may be an unpopular view, but I don´t see a problem with leaving a stone there, neither with the cleaning.

The idea is that you LEAVE the stone, right? You leave your burdens behind and go on your way renovated. If you get attached to that little pebble and unhappy with the cleaning, maybe you did not actually let go of what you were carrying...

 

[JillGat]

Actually I do the opposite. I have no burdens, so I pick up a couple of stones, left at the Cruz de Ferro by others, to carry with me the rest of the way.
:::just kidding:::

 

[Kathar1na]

It may be an unpopular view, but I don´t see a problem with leaving a stone there.

I'm a total sucker for old rituals , and also for old stones btw, but tell me that it's not at least 600 years old and it loses all appeal for me ... so I mentioned this being fairly recent just in case there are more like me.

 

[Icacos]

I'm a total sucker for old rituals .......

I'm not. I know it's not 100% applicable here, but the following comes to mind:
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative - Oscar Wilde
And I'm a sucker for Oscar Wilde

 

[Kathar1na]

(Click to enlarge)

So this is what the Cruz de Ferro looks like after members of the two associations "Friends of the Camino de Santiago" from El Bierzo and from Astorga had cleaned it for the traditional pilgrimage that is celebrated tomorrow, as they do every year on the Sunday following the Apostle's Feast Day (25 July). Doesn't it look good ? This is what it's meant to be like.

The place had been cleaned only a month ago but needed already another clean-up now !!! You can read "Un paso limpio" on the yellow bags. This is an initiative that the Japanese Camino Association and the Asociación de amigos del Camino de Santiago de Astorga put together some years ago.

 

[Theatregal]

Leaving trinkets, items of clothing, tying or taping items to the pole etc... is kind of like dropping trash in someone's home, walking away and expecting them to pick up after me. Not the respectful behaviour of a guest.

 

[susanawee]

I can imagine and empathize with the pilgrim that Camino Crhis writes of, who leaves a photo of a deceased love on with an attached poem, the reason for their walking the Camino. I don't have it in my heart to think negatively of them. And I left my stone behind, too.

At the same time, I can empathize with those who worry about the impact of hundreds of thousands of people a year leaving detritus at the mound if some of it is not removed.

Perdsonally, for me, the act of leaving the item is about leaving it behind and not remaining attached to it. Once I've left it, if someone thinks it would be better placed somewhere else, that is no longer my concern.

I find myself agreeing with you here David. At the cross, I left my wedding ring, finally allowing myself to let go of my long term marriage which had broken down sixteen years ago.... Finally freeing myself of 'the chains which I had allowed myself to be weighed down by'.…...but, once I left the cross, thise ring was no longer mine.....it was gone and no longer of any concern to me. Camino blessings to all.

 

[wisepilgrim]

Can you imagine what the Cruz de Ferro would look like after a few years of no attention by the local authorities?

I cannot imagine what the Camino would look like after a few years without the same attention by locals and non-local volunteers. I think that a lot of people take for granted that when they leave the Camino, or the Cruz, or the Albergue, or their local movie theater, somebody comes in behind them and cleans up for the next person.

 

[Pelegrin]

I'm a total sucker for old rituals , and also for old stones btw, but tell me that it's not at least 600 years old and it loses all appeal for me ... so I mentioned this being fairly recent just in case there are more like me.

The modern tradition of leaving a stone can be al least from 17th century. The Galician reapers walked to Castille to do their job and left a stone at Cruz de Ferro to return home in good condition. That tradition lasted till the 1940s when they started traveling by train. In this period of time probably there weren´t pilgrims at all but when the pilgrimage started again in the 1970s a big pile of stones still remained and the tradition was continued

 

[Kathar1na]

At the cross, I left my wedding ring, finally allowing myself to let go of my long term marriage which had broken down sixteen years ago.

I don't want to sound critical towards you personally, @susanawee, I do get the whole thing of creating meaning and ritualistic symbolic acts. But here's what I'm often wondering: Why does it have to happen in Spain, why there, why at that moment? Of all the places in the world? Aren't there places closer to home, much more meaningful, for letting go of anything material and symbolic?

It's just a rhetorical question, or food for thought, no need to reply for a specific case.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Why there? Because the Cruz is a high point on a liminal path. The pilgrim´s been walking for weeks (one supposes) and is "in the zone." Here he is on a high geographical point, topped with a symbol of redemption and new beginnings, and there´s this cool tradition of laying down burdens there. Thousands of people add their little bit of juju as they add their pebbles and rocks, and it´s a win-win.
It may not be 600 years old, but it´s combinations of elements like these that transform ordinary places into centers for healing and wholeness. Just look at Lourdes, and Fatima. Not very long ago, they were backwaters devoid of any meaning in this world. Now people flock there to pray, and sometimes, among the souvenir stands and cynicism, miracles are said to occur!

 

[Flatlander]

While we're putting these myths to rest, can we also add that it is NOT a tradition, and indeed it is illegal, to burn clothing, or worse yet shoes, at Finisterre?!

I agree 100%.

I was appalled at the line of pilgrims walking up armed with plastic bags after sunset.There are signs, graffiti and the mounds of half burnt rubbish left there to indicate that this is not a pleasant tradition.

It was one of those times that I was amazed at the patience shown by locals to visitors to their area being nothing but disrespectful in a quest for their own enlightenment.

As for the Cruz de Ferro, I can understand the urge to place a marker there. But I'm not sure I can get behind the idea of the marker being anything other than a stone. Anything else seems a little self-indulgent to me.
Why does a prayer have to be on paper? Can it not be spoken?

My own experience of the Cruz de Ferro was ruined by the reunion of a young woman and a male friend. Shouting, screaming, taking over the Cruz itself for a series of pictures, somehow made it seem less a place of contemplation and rememberance and more a place for a party.

I had carried a stone from my home to place at the Cruz. It was a symbol for my long dead father. I wanted him to be somewhere I thought he'd have liked to visit, but never got to.
When I arrived, I looked in my handlebar bag (Yes, I'm one of those! - a biker!) for the stone to discover it missing! I had fallen off the bike the previous day and everything went flying - apparently including the stone!

At first, I was devastated. I had carried it over 2000km at that stage. It had been an important part of the journey, being taken out to "experience" different places. But, between the shouting and the screaming and the inappropriate photo-taking, I realised that the place it ended up was probably more appropriate. He wasn't a destination kinda guy, the journey was the more important part. And he would have appreciated me falling off my bike in the middle of nowhere for no good reason . When I started to laugh a little at that thought, my cracked ribs really started to hurt, so I moved on and left the Cruz to the party people.

 

[Ferenjinan]

When I was there I merely took out my tin whistle and played a tune. ( Well, it was one of the tunes my band members had played at the memorial service for my son, so it was ...meaningful). Left only echoes.

 

[KJFSophie]

I think many feel 'obliged' to leave something there...it was fueled in the movie 'The Way' , so walkers feel the need to force significance. I remember a friend of mine who was not walking, continually asking me what I was leaving there and had I found 'the perfect stone'. It was ridiculous to me as I felt it was not something I was extracting any meaning from. On my first Camino, as I approached the cross, a group of four or five persons were trying to keep other pilgrims from climbing the mound. At the top of the heap, next to the cross was some pompous, self righteous man who the others were 'protecting'. He was singing "How Great Thou Art" loudly in a dramatic fashion with crocodile tears as another was making a video of this outrageous, staged display. It reminded me of some television evangelical. That entire scene was so off-putting...that this man felt he was so important that his minions were shooing others away was incredulous. The singing and wailing and filming was over the top....and it stole the moments from all others who had arrived at the Cruz. Awful.

 

[Glenshiro]

Decades ago when I lived on the other end of the state I used to make a pilgrimage to the grave of Henry David Thoreau when in the area. It is a small stone inscribed simply with Henry. Though now a walk from where I live I no longer visit it as it now looks to me like a pile of litter with all the mementos left there.

Many years ago I took my young daughters to Paris where we visited the Père Lachaise Cemetery to see Oscar Wilde's tomb (I know how to show a girl a good time.) We also came across Jim Morrison's grave, which was covered, bizarrely, in half-smoked cigarettes and other flotsam. A group of hollow-eyed teenagers stood round, silently gazing at the grave. The peace was broken by one of my daughters asking, in a clear voice, "Daddy, what are they waiting for?"

 

[Sharonih]

I am not surprised that the mementos that pilgrims leave behind are cleaned up by the locals otherwise there would be an unholy mess. What is initially a heartfelt memory of a poem or picture on paper is damaged by the elements and becomes litter, and frankly who wants a bunch of faded out pieces of paper strewn about. What I write may be harsh but I recently walked through an area during a very wet windstorm and the papers ect. made the bush look like the remnants of a garbage dump. What I felt were the best poems or memories physically left behind were written on stones left on the path,

 

[Kathar1na]

The modern tradition of leaving a stone can be al least from 17th century. The Galician reapers walked to Castille to do their job and left a stone at Cruz de Ferro to return home in good condition. That tradition lasted till the 1940s when they started traveling by train. In this period of time probably there weren´t pilgrims at all but when the pilgrimage started again in the 1970s a big pile of stones still remained and the tradition was continued

Thank you for mentioning the most likely reason why the contemporary pilgrim ritual arose: seasonal workers from Galicia, travelling in the opposite direction to today's pilgrims, who crossed the Montes de Leon on foot to work during harvest time in the corn (wheat etc) fields of Castilla y Leon and threw a stone for good luck and safe return on the heap at the Cruz de Ferro.

I walked a few days during the heat of July because I wanted to see the fields when the crops had turned golden yellow. Of course, I didn't see a single reaper with a scythe in the fields, just huge combine harvesters.

 

[Icacos]

I agree 100%.
.......At first, I was devastated. I had carried it over 2000km at that stage. It had been an important part of the journey, being taken out to "experience" different places. But, between the shouting and the screaming and the inappropriate photo-taking, I realised that the place it ended up was probably more appropriate. He wasn't a destination kinda guy, the journey was the more important part. And he would have appreciated me falling off my bike in the middle of nowhere for no good reason . When I started to laugh a little at that thought, my cracked ribs really started to hurt, so I moved on and left the Cruz to the party people.

I love your story. I'm thinking that your Dad didn't want the stone left at the Cruz in his memory - at least not under the conditions you describe - so he saw that it didn't happen. Methinks someone is having a good chuckle.

 

[Icacos]

Many years ago I took my young daughters to Paris where we visited the Père Lachaise Cemetery to see Oscar Wilde's tomb (I know how to show a girl a good time.) We also came across Jim MOrrison's grave, which was covered, bizarrely, in half-smoked cigarettes and other flotsam. A group of hollow-eyed teenagers stood round, silently gazing at the grave. The peace was broken by one of my daughters asking, in a clear voice, "Daddy, what are they waiting for?"

Another good story!

 

[Flatlander]

I love your story. I'm thinking that your Dad didn't want the stone left at the Cruz in his memory - at least not under the conditions you describe - so he saw that it didn't happen. Methinks someone is having a good chuckle.

Well, he sure followed a "to be sure, to be sure" method! My fall resulted in a dislocated shoulder, several cracked ribs and large amounts of skin loss on my hands, arms and legs!
I'm now starting to think he may have wanted me to join him!

 

[wayfarer]

Everyones experience at the Cruz is different and memorable but maybe not in the way you expected. Below is an extract from my notes for that day.

"15/05/12
We had a sleep-in this morning and left the albergue at 08.30 after a good breakfast, and started the walk to Cruz de Ferro. It was a beautiful, clear chilly morning, perfect for walking.
Both of us are feeling really excited about finally reaching the cross and leaving our stones which we had carried from home.
Just as we got to about fifty metres from the cross, a tour bus pulled in and disgorged about fifty or so tourists who immediately walked up to the cross. They formed a big circle around the cross and started to sing then pray, then some more singing, then some speeches, then more singing and praying. This went on for about twenty or thirty minutes and many pilgrims who arrived about the same time as us left in frustration without getting near the cross.
I got a bit impatient and climbed up as far as I could go and pitched my stone, which was a flat beach stone on which I had written all the names of the people I wanted to remember in my prayers. Well the stone shattered when it made contact with all the other stones in the mound! My granddaughter had given it to me before I left home and I was so mad and disappointed when this happened, I took it as a bad omen. Iggy (my brother) was a lot more patient than me and waited and let them do their thing. Eventually they left to the relief of everyone, we all got to walk up to the cross and have photos taken of each other. It was a memorable occasion but not in the way I had envisioned.
We slung our packs and headed off towards Ponferrada which was our intended destination. The rest of the day was the most beautiful day we spent on the Camino, walking through mountain trails, glades and passes with birdsong and the smell of wildflowers.
We stopped in Acebo for lunch, the day was heating up and we met up with Ana, John, from Arizona, and a new pilgrim from Texas called Mary, a tough sixty-nine year old who took a shine to Iggy. She wasn't too impressed with me as we disagreed on most things, both political and the training of horses.
John had left the cross without leaving his stone this morning because of the tourists and was very disappointed as he was carrying his son's ashes to Muxia and thought the Cruz de Ferro would be a special moment for him. I really felt sorry for him."

The great thing about the Camino and indeed this forum IMO is that it polishes your rough edges and makes you more tolerent and patient, it may take a while but you eventually get there.

 

[tpmchugh]

Just made it to Santiago and now return partially with a rental car. Once at Cruz De Fierro I catch the cleaners from the local authority removing all the messages and all other items people so carefully were hanging on this cross or laying in front of it and ask myself: WHY??????! I think its so disrespectful towards the people that left it. Fair that it’s not there forever but at least leave it for the season

Dont people realise this happens every year. Look at the island in the bay of Kotor. Completely man made from people laying stones at their holy place for a few hundred years. Can you imagine how high the mound at the cruz would be after a few years with millions of pilgrims laying stones. The cross would be long since buried. It has to be cleared every year and no matter when it is done someone will notice. Besides, the tradition is to leave a stone, nothing else. Once you have passed by, you dont know what happens behind you and probably never give it a second thought

 

[Sha-Ron]

Its a lovely tradition. I carried my small stone symbolizing the burden I was laying down and went down on my knees as I placed it at this cross. I said a prayer voicing my intention to be freed and unburdened of this specific challenge which only I had known about. It made my journey feel more like a real pilgrimage.
Don't place trinkets, papers and momentos. Only stones.

 

[Paladina]

I remain unimpressed by invented ‘Stone Age’ traditions, and I don’t relish the prospect of a landslide (or a landfill) of deposited rubble, but at least the devotional stones, unlike the affectionate padlocks so often attached to bridges, do not require the use of an angle grinder to remove them. Be grateful for small mercies!

 

[Azelia]

While we're putting these myths to rest, can we also add that it is NOT a tradition, and indeed it is illegal, to burn clothing, or worse yet shoes, at Finisterre?!

Completely agree! It makes the serene n beautiful place looks like a dumpster. I think it is very disrespectful to leave something that not wanted anymore for someone else to clean.

 

[Fletchonides]

I wasn't intending to leave anything at the Cruz de Fierro when we walked in early June, as it never seemed particularly meaningful to me. The day before we left to walk Leon to Santiago, I realised that I had been involved in a campaign back home for several months which had ended the week before, so it seemed appropriate to bring the campaign badge and lay it down as a symbol of everything that I had been carrying during that time. It was unexpectedly meaningful.

The leaving it is the meaningful part, and its only meaningful to me. What happens to it is no longer important to me. Its not a shrine with saintly relics.

 

[Glenshiro]

I know that many people walk the Camino at least partly to come to terms with some private sorrow, and I respect that. We are all human, with all that entails.
However, that does not entitle us to dump our personal detritus on some unknown, unnamed, probably underpaid Spanish council employee whose thankless task it is to clear up our unwanted bits and pieces at the expense of local taxpayers.
So, please, leave nothing but footprints.
We come like water, and like wind we go.

 

[MikeC]

On my first Camino in 2016 I took a small stone from home because it was expected, but it meant little when I placed it at the Cruz.
However, something very significant and disturbing happened to me at Rabanal and the Cruz which still troubles me as I write this.
I hope I left behind my arrogance and my tendency to be judgmental.
This year at the Cruz I had no stone to leave.
I tried to leave behind the ghosts of my previous visit but it is not possible.
My Camino will live with me forever.

 

[formysons]

View attachment 44886
(Click to enlarge)

So this is what the Cruz de Ferro looks like after members of the two associations "Friends of the Camino de Santiago" from El Bierzo and from Astorga had cleaned it for the traditional pilgrimage that is celebrated tomorrow, as they do every year on the Sunday following the Apostle's Feast Day (25 July). Doesn't it look good ? This is what it's meant to be like.

The place had been cleaned only a month ago but needed already another clean-up now !!! You can read "Un paso limpio" on the yellow bags. This is an initiative that the Japanese Camino Association and the Asociación de amigos del Camino de Santiago de Astorga put together some years ago.

Well done, yes that is what it should look like, long live the Cruz.... I am a bit concerned about one thing though, the cruz is made of wood?? it seems a bit decayed, indented at the bottom, how long will it still last, how long has it survived the elements?

 

[Kathar1na]

I am a bit concerned about one thing though, the cruz is made of wood?? it seems a bit decayed, indented at the bottom, how long will it still last, how long has it survived the elements?

The pole is made of wood, the cross is made of metal (iron perhaps?). Both are modern.

The cross is a replica. The original dates back to 1600-and-something (so not the original original, assuming there was one during the time of the medieval pilgrimages that happened much earlier). It can be viewed in a glass case in the museum in Gaudi's Palace in Astorga. The pole was vandalised in the 1990s and was replaced; if I'm not mistaken there is some kind of metal core inside it now.

 

[susanawee]

I don't want to sound critical towards you personally, @susanawee, I do get the whole thing of creating meaning and ritualistic symbolic acts. But here's what I'm often wondering: Why does it have to happen in Spain, why there, why at that moment? Of all the places in the world? Aren't there places closer to home, much more meaningful, for letting go of anything material and symbolic?

It's just a rhetorical question, or food for thought, no need to reply for a specific case.

In my case, my actions were notplañned or premeditated beforehand, it was just the right place at the right time...

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Cruz de Ferro for me is a Holy site. But I cannot imagine an additional 150k stones annually to the mount of stones it would be a much higher walk to the cross. I scattered some of my brother's (who was going to walk with me) ashes there and left a stone too.

I don't mind how high the pile of stones gets if those of us who leave one are somehow comforted by the ritual and prayer associated with it. After all, our world is full of stones, rocks, and boulders deposited by glaciers and forces of nature, and we think nothing of it, in fact are often in awe. For those who find no value in the heap of rocks at Cruz, just walk around it. The bricabrac however, is another story!

 

[FLEUR]

I didn't enjoy seeing the crowds at the Cruz de Ferro, people on horseback, bikes and many walkers posing for photos amongst all the tourist tat. I walked around the other side to take my photo of the cross which just looked bare. To my mind that's how it should be..

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I didn't enjoy seeing the crowds at the Cruz de Ferro, people on horseback, bikes and many walkers posing for photos amongst all the tourist tat. I walked around the other side to take my photo of the cross which just looked bare. To my mind that's how it should be..

I guess I lucked out then when I was there. Only one other couple praying with tears. No photos taken, just a very sobering moment for me to witness.

 

[kleckam]

Whatever happened to "Let everyone hike their own Camino?" How quickly we forget. The Cruz de Ferro was very meaningful to me on each of my two trips, regardless of all of the "expert" opining (whining?) here. Let it be so.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Whatever happened to "Let everyone hike their own Camino?" How quickly we forget. The Cruz de Ferro was very meaningful to me on each of my two trips, regardless of all of the "expert" opining (whining?) here. Let it be so.

But it's better if pilgrims consider how their actions affect others. Now you know what some of the things to consider are, at least at the Cruz. Then act in the way you think is appropriate.

 

[Kathar1na]

I think its so disrespectful towards the people that left it.

The Spanish umbrella organisation of all the Camino associations in Spain published the appeal of the two local Camino associations who cleaned the Cruz de Ferro recently. They couldn't be clearer: the Cruz de Ferro deserves respect in all aspects and that includes respect of the environment. They ask to leave nothing but stones.

http://www.caminosantiago.org/cpperegrino//prensa/verprensa.asp?PrensaID=12059

Let's hope that the Camino associations in the other countries and the writers of guidebooks and the tour operators get the message and spread it.

 

[grayland]

I wonder when & where the newer "tradition" of leaving bits of clothing....(primarily underwear) started.
Most of this disrespect has started over the past few years. There were a few pictures and momentos such as rings and necklaces 10 years ago...but nothing like the garbage now being left.

I think the current holiday atmosphere has steadily eroded the pilgrimage aspect that used to prevail. The MY CAMINO and YOUR CAMINO has changed the conversations. People now "hike" the camino instead of "walking" the camino and take "luggage" instead of packs.
A different mind set today.
Not judging anyone.....just an opinion based on observation.

 

[Glenshiro]

The Spanish umbrella organisation of all the Camino associations in Spain published the appeal of the two local Camino associations who cleaned the Cruz de Ferro recently. They couldn't be clearer: the Cruz de Ferro deserves respect in all aspects and that includes respect of the environment. They ask to leave nothing but stones.

This message, from the Associations of Friends of the Camino de Santiago de El Bierzo and de Astorga y Comarca is indeed very clear: They record that the area round the Cruz de Ferro was cleaned up yesterday, 29 July, but that a month ago another clean-up day was carried out, but due to the influx of pilgrims, the waste in the form of memories left by them has proliferated again.

The two associations, with this action, aim to raise awareness that the Camino is a monument in a natural environment, which must be respected in every way, and the environment is one of them.

They go on to say that all kinds of items are left behind, almost all of which are environmental pollutants.

At the risk of labouring the point, we are guests in Spain, and well-behaved guests don't leave their rubbish behind for their hosts to clean up.

 

[JillGat]

The Spanish umbrella organisation of all the Camino associations in Spain published the appeal of the two local Camino associations who cleaned the Cruz de Ferro recently. They couldn't be clearer: the Cruz de Ferro deserves respect in all aspects and that includes respect of the environment. They ask to leave nothing but stones.

http://www.caminosantiago.org/cpperegrino//prensa/verprensa.asp?PrensaID=12059

Let's hope that the Camino associations in the other countries and the writers of guidebooks and the tour operators get the message and spread it.

Please just honor that. It's not that hard. Several here have said something along the lines of, "it was meaningful to me to leave it and I don't care what happens to it later." You have the luxury of not caring. Both times I passed there, workers were laboriously removing all the paper, ribbons, photos, etc. If they didn't, Cruz de Ferro would indeed more resemble an actual dump than a "sacred" place when you arrived to see it. Ritual is important to our species. But we have intellect and will, and it's not so hard to leave your momento closer to home and respect the rule/tradition in Spain to just leave a stone.

 

[Stivandrer]

I brought a little piece of broken white marble from my driveway to the cross, to symbolise the clear white spirit of my friend from my studying days and who was stricken by brain cancer.
- I felt I could do nothing to help her. She always had such a clear mind and a way to bring solutions into the fray, and this mind in that brain was under attack...

..when she asked about my trip and asked what my stone meant, I said you...with your initials...
- that´s nice, she sighed..no one has ever done that for me..

One year and three months later she died...

I have never tried this before..

 

[Saint Mike II]

I know that it may not be a popular view but I feel that the greater disrespect is in covering the Cruz de Ferro with all that detritus in the first place. Why the need to deface the way with such visible reminders of our passing by? Whose interests does it really serve?

Totally agree. Back in 2017 I could not believe the garbage that some people, I will not even consider them pilgrims, dumped. Items included underwear (both female and male) obviously used; half used wine bottles. Some of the above was tied around the pole. Totally disrespectful.

 

[C clearly]

Since this thread dates back to 2018, and we have a brand new thread on the topic here, I will close this one.