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My friend. In Lisbon I started with two Nike sport gloves to protect my hands during walking with the poles. Not far from Santarèm I lost one. The left over one I left underneath this cross but now I see it has disappeared. Did you clean the place up ?This place:
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This cross has the name of Cruz dos Franceses (French Cross). It’s an homage form the people from Ponte de Lima to the shepherds and french soldiers who died during the invasion of Portugal by the France Army (during Napoleon Bonaparte time).
The history says that, after the french troops suffered a defeat nearby Porto, they started to retreat north. A group of Portuguese shepherds waited for them on the hill, and entered in conflict with the troops. It was mostly a hand to hand fight, and man to man also, since the french soldiers didn’t had a lot of space to use their muskets. A lot of french soldiers died, and this it’s a way to honor the.
My friend. In Lisbon I started with two Nike sport gloves to protect my hands during walking with the poles. Not far from Santarèm I lost one. The left over one I left underneath this cross but now I see it has disappeared. Did you clean the place up ?
Wish more pilgrims would think like that! The Cruz the Ferro often seems to me like a dump of garbage. Last time I went past it had been cleaned up. But people put all sorts of belongings there.Yes we did. It was a mess, and a shame. People don't understand that by putting stones, clothes and other things in there (mainly trash! There was even a piece of underwear in there when they cleaned it), they are, first of all, almost destroying the Cross. Second, they are putting pressure on the terrain, with things that don't belong in there. And third, they are creating the perfect tinder for a forest fire to begin.
Don't get me wrong, I also laid one stone in there last year, but hey, imagine the following: the constant weight of small rocks, Tshirts and other things, made the top section of the cross separate from the T part. Now imagine that this would fall under someone. Who would be blamed?
Diogo - thanks for the back story.
This is how it looked in 2012.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/peregrino_tom/8220933182/in/set-72157632102494309
PS The brass plaque is in memory of an Australian pilgrim, Michelle Kleist, RIP.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/amgirl5/6282001229/in/photostream/
tom
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Yes, this place did feel special, and it was a day of beautiful walking. When were your photos taken Diogo? This is what it looked like in May.
Probably Cruz dos Franceses, in the stage between Ponte de Lima and Rubiães, almost in the top of the Labruja mountain.
Yes we did. It was a mess, and a shame. People don't understand that by putting stones, clothes and other things in there (mainly trash! There was even a piece of underwear in there when they cleaned it), they are, first of all, almost destroying the Cross. Second, they are putting pressure on the terrain, with things that don't belong in there. And third, they are creating the perfect tinder for a forest fire to begin.
Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for!
Wait. Now I'm confused. Based on this statement, I feel like I shouldn't leave a stone behind.
Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for!
Wait. Now I'm confused. Based on this statement, I feel like I shouldn't leave a stone behind.
Amen to that Diogo ---- Just think about the consequences! (that would be valid off-caminho as well as on-caminhoIt's your choice. You do what you want to do. Nobody will forbid you of doing it. Just think about the consequences.
Take only pictures ... Leave only footprints..
With all the obsession with light packs ... why would you carry a rock from your garden (which is where it should stay)?
I walked the Camino Frances and I found myself being very annoyed at the memorabilia (aka garbage), piles of stones, and paint that do nothing but desecrate the place.
That is, of course, hyperbole and not expected of any pilgrim. It is expected that I will take food and drink. It is expected that I will leave money and, um, "used food and drink". They say that pilgrims often leave things behind at albergues for pilgrims following behind. It is expected that such things will be taken (and left).
And, of course, on the Camino Frances, it is 100% acceptable, if not expected, to leave a stone at the Cruz de Ferro.
That's like asking "Why would you want to walk to Santiago de Compostela? Just take a bus there."
In this case, it is a metaphor. A linkage of the physical to the spiritual. You burden yourself physically to represent a spiritual burden that you are carrying. Then, when you unburden yourself of the physical object, the spiritual burden is metaphorically left behind.
That seems very understandable. That's why I was asking is there's a generally accepted place on the Camino Portuguese for such a thing, as opposed to just imposing my wants onto the rest of the universe.
As it seems that there really is no such place, I think I shall scribe my burdens onto a piece of paper or some such thing, and carry that with me throughout my journey, eventually burning it in Finisterre (where I understand there a steel bowls set up for such burnings).
So he who is without sin ,casts the first stone !From Wikipedia: When the Galegos went to Castille to reap, they put a stone in Cruz de Ferro asking for protection in their journey (heat, hard work) , following the milladoiro tradition in Galicia. That's why it's called Ferro (Galego) and not Hierro (Spanish) or Fierro (Astur-leonés).
Nonsense whari. I suppose you got to cast that first stone because you walked to Santiago from Canada without flying in one of those polluting airplanes. You drew your moral line in the sand in a slightly different place than the majority of others do. Whoop-di-do. It's still drawn in the sand and leaves a mark.
Once upon a time we are told a small group of people disturbed the landscape to bury the remains of one whom they revered. Others came later and stacked stones on the site. Others came later and stacked many more stones to mark the site. The stacked stone could be seen for kilometers in all directions, and attracted still others -- millions of others, guided in recent history by arrows painted on trees, rocks, and other surfaces -- and in some places by new stacks of stones. Here is a recent picture of the stacked stone:
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Diogo,
No one is advocating erection of new structures or shrines along the various ways to Santiago. Some, including me, are pushing back against the notion that no one ought to move or stack a stone along any of the ways to Santiago -- and the notion that one who would do such a thing is somehow thoughtless or reckless. The irony is that there would be no caminos or forum if people had not stacked stones to mark a site.
If one is concerned about the weight of stones stacked on the cross on the Caminho Português, then one may move those stones to the ground.
Diogo,
No one is advocating erection of new structures or shrines along the various ways to Santiago. Some, including me, are pushing back against the notion that no one ought to move or stack a stone along any of the ways to Santiago -- and the notion that one who would do such a thing is somehow thoughtless or reckless. The irony is that there would be no caminos or forum if people had not stacked stones to mark a site.
If one is concerned about the weight of stones stacked on the cross on the Caminho Português, then one may move those stones to the ground.
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