For non-peregrino peregrinos!

[tyrrek]

Hi All!

This is a difficult one. Let's start with the idea that the Camino for many people represents the journey through life; uphills, downhills, flat land, the dull and the exciting.

I have someone in mind who is helping me through my alcoholism. She's not a pilgrim, but I see her as that person at the bottom of the hill who is helping me get to the top and down the other side. I want to buy her a scallop shell to wear or to keep on her person to remind her of the role she plays in people's lives. I'd explain the significance, but I wear my shells as someone who has walked Caminos. Any objections?

Buen Camino!

p.s. I mean a jewellery scallop shell, not one from the fishmongers.

 

[colinPeter]

Hola tyrrek,
Sounds like a wonderful idea to me.
Buen Camino
Colin

 

[Kanga]

It is a lovely gift and a perfectly acceptable idea. Pilgrims have always gifted their scallop shells when they return home. One of mine I gave to a friend with a terminal illness. Another to a darling daughter starting life's journey as a new mother. It is not the object itself that is important but the story that attaches to it and the sentiment that goes with the gift. Find her a lovely jewellery shell and give it with joy.

 

[Loretta Jane]

Re: Re: For non-peregrino peregrinos!

Hi ......

p.s. I mean a jewellery scallop shell, not one from the fishmongers.

Do you intend to buy something in Santiago? What a lovely gift for someone special. There are so many styles of scallop necklaces from something simple on a leather necklace and and silver to gold with gem stones like opals and rubies. Large, small, some like medals or medallions. I wear different ones. Very rarely take offmy gold and ruby one, it is like a part of me now, for years.

 

[tyrrek]

Unfortunately I won't be in Santiago anytime soon, so will have to order online. However it will come from Santiago, or a pilgrim-related source. I've worn my shell every day since I left Santiago on my first Camino. The reason I asked the question was that on my second Camino Frances my walking companions commented on it and they firmly believed that it was something you wore as someone who had completed it (I don't know why). Buen Camino!

 

[tyrrek]

Thank you all for your responses. I'll be disappearing for a couple of weeks after Tuesday but will be back and hopefully down the other side of the hill after that! Buen Camino!

 

[codecables]

it was something you wore as someone who had completed it (I don't know why). Buen Camino!

That was the medieval tradition, as pilgrims would reportedly collect a shell on the beach in finisterra and later "proved" at home that they had done the pilgrimage to Santiago.
Anyway, buen camino, uphill, downhill and on the flat land!

 

[brawblether]

I can understand the point of view of those who hold to symbolism of the scalloped shell being that of pilgrimage, historically uniquely that of the Way of St James. When I was in SdC I bought a jet stone bracelet (I wasn't going to buy a shell becuase they all looked tacky to me, but I found one that I loved and so now I do wear it with pride and I'm so glad I have it) which is of the Galatia region. Perhaps as an alternative you might consider a piece of jet stone jewellery to represent the riches she has helped bring you at the end of a difficult journey?

 

[Kanga]

I can understand the point of view of those who hold to symbolism of the scalloped shell being that of pilgrimage, historically uniquely that of the Way of St James.

I don't think anyone is suggesting only those who have made the pilgrimage should use the shell. It is, along with the fish, one of the oldest acknowledged symbols of Christianity. It on the Pope's coat of arms and not many of them have walked to Santiago.

 

[brawblether]

I don't think anyone is suggesting only those who have made the pilgrimage should use the shell.

The comments above would suggest otherwise

It on the Pope's coat of arms and not many of them have walked to Santiago.

Each pope has his own coat of arms with symbols of his own choosing, Pope Francis has not chosen it as one of his.

 

[Kanga]

Nowadays the shell is known as the symbol of St James but as a Christian symbol it predates and is not exclusive to the pilgrimage to Santiago.
"The shell, has several symbolic meanings. First it refers to a famous legend about St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (354-430 AD). Once as he was walking along the seashore, meditating about the unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity, he met a boy who was using a shell to pour seawater into a little hole. When Augustine asked him what he was doing, he received the reply, “I am emptying the sea into this hole.” Thus the shell is a symbol for plunging into the unfathomable sea of the Godhead".
I love my shells, they carry my stories, but I give them away, and I buy shell jewellery as gifts. For everyone.

 

[hecate105]

The Scallop shell predates Christianity as well! For interesting info on the history, natural history and art and pilgrimage use of the scallop shell read the book 'The Scallop: Studies of a Shell and its Influence on Mankind' - usually available on Ebay. A beautiful book.
I took a shell along the whole of my pilgrimage and deposited it at the end. Then I bought myself a tiny silver one which I wear all the time to remind me of my true nature and place in the world - so easy to forget in the turmoil of modern life.....