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Compostela and Sello

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This year I've heard of more pilgrims not receiving their Compostela. Be sure you correctly validate your credential along your Camino if you want to receive your Compostela in Santiago. Can anyone on the forum confirm the essential requirements for the Compostela along the different troutes, or is it standard across all routes?
Buen Camino. Keith
 
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Pretty much the same across all routes with just two specific exceptions I am aware of. General rule is that you must walk the final 100km and get at least 2 sellos per day in that final 100km. The two exceptions I am aware of are for the Camino Ingles from A Coruna and the Variant Espiritual of the Camino Portugues. Those who have already walked at least 25km on an appropriate route in their own country and can prove that with a stamped credencial can receive a Compostela after walking the shorter 70+km Camino Ingles variant from A Coruna. That is the basis of the "Celtic Camino" concept. And those who are walking the Variant Espiritual are allowed to receive a Compostela even if they take the boat journey which forms part of that route though I believe they are still expected to have walked 100km in total.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Pretty much the same across all routes with just two specific exceptions I am aware of. General rule is that you must walk the final 100km and get at least 2 sellos per day in that final 100km. The two exceptions I am aware of are for the Camino Ingles from A Coruna and the Variant Espiritual of the Camino Portugues. Those who have already walked at least 25km on an appropriate route in their own country and can prove that with a stamped credencial can receive a Compostela after walking the shorter 70+km Camino Ingles variant from A Coruna. That is the basis of the "Celtic Camino" concept. And those who are walking the Variant Espiritual are allowed to receive a Compostela even if they take the boat journey which forms part of that route though I believe they are still expected to have walked 100km in total.
Or ride a bike for the last 200kms 🚲
 
I have walked 4 official routes but never bothered to get two stamps in the last 100k and I have had no problems getting the Compostela. That is probably because the Pilgrim Office take a view on it and if you have walked a significant distance gaining one stamp a day they accept you have sufficient evidence. However, the official rule is two a day in the last 100k.
 
More pilgrims choosing to forgo obtaining a Compostela, for any reason, is another reason I plan to push for a "solo sello" capability at the Pilgrim Office (or elsewhere around town) when I am next there, visiting or working. Having this capability, I think, will skim off a significant percentage of those who might otherwise queue (using any method) to obtain a Compostela. This, in turn, helps move the general Compostela process along more rapidly. Or, at least I think so...

Hope this helps...
 
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 walked 4 official routes but never bothered to get two stamps in the last 100k and I have had no problems getting the Compostela. That is probably because the Pilgrim Office take a view on it and if you have walked a significant distance gaining one stamp a day they accept you have sufficient evidence. However, the official rule is two a day in the last 100k.
Hi Stuart - I was in the Pilgrim's Office and Santiago on the 6th & 7th oct. I was told by one pilgrim that she was refused after doing the Francés for not getting 2 sello a day on the last 100 km. For the rest of her Camino she had plenty, just not those two daily required, and was refused. It had been her first Camino. She told me of another pilgrim she'd met who experienced the same problem, and that the Office was now far more strict. I don't know if that is the case, but that is the rule. Its good to inform people, especially inexperienced first-timers, of the requirements and rules. Perhaps the requirement should be printed on all Credentials (?) as standard information.
Regards, Keith
 
I have walked 4 official routes but never bothered to get two stamps in the last 100k and I have had no problems getting the Compostela. That is probably because the Pilgrim Office take a view on it and if you have walked a significant distance gaining one stamp a day they accept you have sufficient evidence. However, the official rule is two a day in the last 100k.
Stories like this abound, and it has happened to me that I haven't the requisite two sellos per day. But I would never recommend that anyone deliberately avoid getting two sellos a day when (a) the rule is so clear, and (b) on most routes it is so easy to do.
Perhaps the requirement should be printed on all Credentials (?) as standard information.
This requirement is now part of the standard text for credentials, and has been for some years. I don't know that results in every pilgrim association that issues credentials using it, but it is certainly there on the three credentials that I have used most recently.
 
I have walked 4 official routes but never bothered to get two stamps in the last 100k and I have had no problems getting the Compostela. That is probably because the Pilgrim Office take a view on it and if you have walked a significant distance gaining one stamp a day they accept you have sufficient evidence. However, the official rule is two a day in the last 100k.

Not questioning your experience but want to share mine. I've walked a camino every year for the last 5 years - each of them a significant distance (800+ km). This year's was 1440 km. I normally get one stamp a day and never adjusted to two in the last 100 km. I never had anyone even question it at the PO and figured the same thing as you that the overall long distance was evidence enough.

Up until this year. The first person at the counter got a second person who turned to a third person for advice. What caught their attention was the 40+ km on the last day with one stamp. I really thought they were going to deny it. Which I didn't have a problem with because I knew the rules. Heck, it's printed on the credenciale. I think that may have been why they relented. I didn't argue with them and was basically, "oh, ok, my bad." But the 3rd person, must have been a supervisor, sternly said, next time, make sure you get two for the last 100 km. And I will, if I decide I want the Compostela.

So, my advice, if the Compostela is important to you, get two stamps for the last 100 km. Besides they're not hard to get, everyone's got a stamp. I even met a pilgrim who had a stamp.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
More pilgrims choosing to forgo obtaining a Compostela, for any reason, is another reason I plan to push for a "solo sello" capability at the Pilgrim Office (or elsewhere around town) when I am next there, visiting or working. Having this capability, I think, will skim off a significant percentage of those who might otherwise queue (using any method) to obtain a Compostela. This, in turn, helps move the general Compostela process along more rapidly. Or, at least I think so...

Hope this helps...


If this was a choice, I would choose this.
 
This year I've heard of more pilgrims not receiving their Compostela. Be sure you correctly validate your credential along your Camino if you want to receive your Compostela in Santiago. Can anyone on the forum confirm the essential requirements for the Compostela along the different troutes, or is it standard across all routes?
Buen Camino. Keith
Just finished it starting from Leon. One albergue told me you should always try to get a stamp from the church 1st when entering a town. But other people said it doesn't matter. I tried to get at least 2/day. When you get to Sarria it's required 2/day. I don't think they scrutinize it very closely though.

At the end, the Pilgrims ofc puts a stamp on the last available space and also the front. The line to the Pilgrim's ofc was very long before they opened up. I stood there for about 45 minutes, then another 15 min to get my call number. Download the QR reader so you can track when your number will be called. After I got my number, I had over 2 hrs to kill so I had churros and hot chocolate nearby using the cafe's wi-fi. Also can go back to your hotel. At 10am there was no line so better to go after the crowd dies down. But not after 2pm probably madhouse again. There is a vending machine inside for coffee and food too. watch that the clerk spells your name right. Many people said they had mistakes. The Cathedral does not give a stamp. But you should go inside to see James' tomb, the entrance is on the side. No backpacks allowed.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Stories like this abound, and it has happened to me that I haven't the requisite two sellos per day. But I would never recommend that anyone deliberately avoid getting two sellos a day when (a) the rule is so clear, and (b) on most routes it is so easy to do.

This requirement is now part of the standard text for credentials, and has been for some years. I don't know that results in every pilgrim association that issues credentials using it, but it is certainly there on the three credentials that I have used most recently.
You are obviously very fortunate, Dougfitz, with your credentials. That's good. But having just completed two official camino routes - using credentials from official and internationally respected and recognised sources, I find that they have no 'standard' evidence/text/information printed on them as to the required amount of sellos, especailly for the last 100 km, to obtain my Compostella, in Latin or any other language. I did, fortunately, have the required amount of sellos. I would suggest that no one 'deliberately' avoids obtaining sellos along their Camino, that we are all human and can overlook these things or not even no the rules - especially first-time Camino pilgrims, and I know that one of the pilgrims I've mentioned had a lot of difficulty on her particular route in finding sources for sellos open and available on her last 100 km.
So not all credentials, even from respected, dedicated sources, carry the information.
Best regards, Keith
 
You are obviously very fortunate, Dougfitz, with your credentials. That's good. But having just completed two official camino routes - using credentials from official and internationally respected and recognised sources, I find that they have no 'standard' evidence/text/information printed on them as to the required amount of sellos, especailly for the last 100 km, to obtain my Compostella, in Latin or any other language. I did, fortunately, have the required amount of sellos. I would suggest that no one 'deliberately' avoids obtaining sellos along their Camino, that we are all human and can overlook these things or not even no the rules - especially first-time Camino pilgrims, and I know that one of the pilgrims I've mentioned had a lot of difficulty on her particular route in finding sources for sellos open and available on her last 100 km.
So not all credentials, even from respected, dedicated sources, carry the information.
Best regards, Keith
I understand - there has been some discussion here recently about whether or not various credential issuing associations replicate the recommended text from the Cathedral. I know my very first credential from SJPP wasn't clear at all about this.

Without knowing what route you are referring to, it is difficult to comment on someone having difficulty finding sellos. I walked one leg of the CI on Palm Sunday, and forgot to get a sello at what turned out to be the only open cafe for the day, so I only had one that day from the albergue in the evening. In contrast, when my wife and I walked parts of the CF in 2016, we collected over 30 sellos from Sarria to Santiago, albeit we were taking our time, and not trying to do it in five days!
 
Perhaps the requirement should be printed on all Credentials (?) as standard information.

As mentioned by Doug above, the credentials issued by the Cathedral in Santiago have had that requirement written in them for many years now.
It would surely be good if all Camino associations around the world included that as well, in their local languages.
 
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.
I understand - there has been some discussion here recently about whether or not various credential issuing associations replicate the recommended text from the Cathedral. I know my very first credential from SJPP wasn't clear at all about this.

Without knowing what route you are referring to, it is difficult to comment on someone having difficulty finding sellos. I walked one leg of the CI on Palm Sunday, and forgot to get a sello at what turned out to be the only open cafe for the day, so I only had one that day from the albergue in the evening. In contrast, when my wife and I walked parts of the CF in 2016, we collected over 30 sellos from Sarria to Santiago, albeit we were taking our time, and not trying to do it in five days!
Yes, you're right. The day and timing for her was not good. She didn't want to hang around but preferred to continue her Camino rather than wait for places to open (a couple of hours wait, she said). But she was not aware of the rule either. All associations should check/issue that they have essential information on their Credentials. She had been on the Norte, picked-up the Francés as you do for the last stretch. I believe the other pilgrim mentioned had been on the Francés - a first-timer too.
Keith
 
But she was not aware of the rule either. All associations should check/issue that they have essential information on their Credentials.
Unfortunately the cathedral are not very pro-active in publicising changes to their rules for the Compostela. I received an official cathedral credencial by post from Ivar a few weeks before walking last November. On arriving at the pilgrim office I was told that it was now mandatory that the final 100km be walked on an officially recognized route. And then was shown a newer version of the credencial which stated this clearly. I regularly search Spanish and international news websites for Camino and pilgrimage stories to feed into a number of Facebook groups. I also read posts on this forum most days. Even so until my own arrival in the pilgrim office I had heard nothing of this change in the rules which still does not appear even on the pilgrim office's own website almost a year later.
 
I was leading a group of 13 from Porto to Santiago last year.

We spent the last night at the albergue in Milladoiro, only 7kms before Santiago. The albergue stamped our credencials that night.

As we left the town it suddenly occurred to me that the pilgrim office will want to see TWO stamps on all our credencials before issuing us all with compostelas.

My co-leader and I went into EVERY bar that was open (not many on the edge of the city first thing in the morning) to ask if they had a stamp, and VERY FEW did.

But thankfully we found two bars, and one of them kindly let all of us get stamps without insisting that we all buy something as well.

Panic over!
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Unfortunately the cathedral are not very pro-active in publicising changes to their rules for the Compostela. I received an official cathedral credencial by post from Ivar a few weeks before walking last November. On arriving at the pilgrim office I was told that it was now mandatory that the final 100km be walked on an officially recognized route. And then was shown a newer version of the credencial which stated this clearly. I regularly search Spanish and international news websites for Camino and pilgrimage stories to feed into a number of Facebook groups. I also read posts on this forum most days. Even so until my own arrival in the pilgrim office I had heard nothing of this change in the rules which still does not appear even on the pilgrim office's own website almost a year later.
As qouted by some very experienced and dedicated volunteers & pilgrims on this forum, the Catholic Church has a big, bureaucratic machine running it. Cogs take time to turn - take the new number system for queing for a credential as an example, ie things take time to work, be fine-tuned and fed through the system. New rules and systems take time too, to become effective and broadly known. Associated infrastructures could help - our associations and confraternities, by feeding information to their members and into their documentation/credentials. This forum is an excellent example for informing and discussing such issues. And as fellow pilgrims we should help by passing on newly gained information to all (even if it is sometimes a bit late in the day), whilst along the Way too.
Can anyone inform us as to these 'officially recognised' and 'non-official' routes? I wasn't aware there are 'unofficial' routes. Are the official routes those illustrated on most Credentials, or should we take care to check?
Best regards.
 
Can anyone inform us as to these 'officially recognised' and 'non-official' routes? I wasn't aware there are 'unofficial' routes. Are the official routes those illustrated on most Credentials, or should we take care to check?
Best regards.
Until fairly recently there was no requirement to walk on any designated route to receive a Compostela. Of course most people do just that but those few who wished to walk a route of their own devising were free to do so and the only stipulation for receiving a Compostela was that the distance walked was over the 100km threshold. It is typical of the confused situation at the moment that there is no easily located list of the officially recognized routes. It has been suggested that they are the routes printed as sketch maps on the current credencial but I have seen no confirmation of that from the cathedral. If there is to be such a rule then it would be useful to make it quite clear how one complies with it.
 
If this was a choice [stamp only], I would choose this.
From other posts on these forums, it is a choice - just not one that is promoted. If instead of waiting in line for the Compostela you go up to the security guard and tell them that you only want a stamp and don't need the Compostela, they will expedite this and you will get the final stamp in your credencial and the one at the front that closes it off as complete without having to wait in the line. If you only want the former and not the latter because, for example, you are continuing along the Finisterre/Muxia circuit and will close it off after that, then you need to let them know before it is stamped.
 
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