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Pagan Camino book?

biloute

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Chemin du Puy & Camino Francés (summer 2014), Chemin du Puy & Camino Francés (possible summer 2019)
Does anyone know of a historical text/book on the Camino before it was the Way of St James? I found a little bit of information on the web but nothing very detailed, just that Celts were making the trip and going to Finisterre rather than Santiago. I’m looking for research sources for a story I want to write for Nanowrimo 2018.
 
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Does anyone know of a historical text/book on the Camino before it was the Way of St James? I found a little bit of information on the web but nothing very detailed, just that Celts were making the trip and going to Finisterre rather than Santiago. I’m looking for research sources for a story I want to write for Nanowrimo 2018.
I think there were mentions of a literature on this topic before on the forum but really can't remember the titles of the threads. Maybe take a look in Camino related literature sub-forum?

Anyway keep us posted, please.

Good luck!
 
you have my attention, sounds very interesting, sorry can't be of assistance but would love to know more about it too so will keep an eye on this thread. Good luck with NaNoWriMo and your project!
 
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I read that, as well as another article or two online. Not many details, just enough to entice. I’ll see if I can get access to EBSCOhost through my library.
 
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@biloute, enter pagan into the Search field for this forum and sort through the results. This thread came up, perhaps useful for you, I'm sure there is more: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/looking-for-pre-christian-camino-books.19765/

I personally think most of it is based on the fact that people have lived in the area for a long time and a single ancient author (Ptolomy) who wrote a sort of geography book mentioned a site with solis arae - altars to a sun god - on the Atlantic coast but nobody really knows where and what it was. Good luck with your novel and the competition!
 
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A very interesting topic to research! Hope to see the outcome. I personally wrote a Camino history from a Jewish perspective, titled "A Jew on the Camino, with details of Jewish communities along the Camino predating Christianity.
Good luck with your research
David
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
A very interesting topic to research! Hope to see the outcome. I personally wrote a Camino history from a Jewish perspective, titled "A Jew on the Camino, with details of Jewish communities along the Camino predating Christianity.
Good luck with your research
David

Do you mean pre-dating the beginnings of the Christian pilgrimage?

Or predating Christianity itself? I find the later hard to conceive of prior to the first century Diaspora of Jews by the Romans.
 
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Jews first arrived in Spain as slaves of the Romans, following the fall of Jerusalem in 70CE. This predates Chritians arrival. Jewish slaves built Leon, Pamplona and the road connecting them. These are the roots of the Spanish Jewish community.

Right, coterminus with the Diaspora and before the Christianization of Iberia. Yes. I understood you to say before Christianity itself and that confused me.
 
Tons of fascinating ritual archaeological remains along the Galician coast, but much of the pre-Christian religious lore is pure moonshine. The man to talk with is Jose Suarez Otero, he knows that subject and countryside better than anyone I know, he's on the faculty at U of Santiago, but has been lecturing in Berlin for a while. You can find him on FaceBook.
 
A very interesting topic to research! Hope to see the outcome. I personally wrote a Camino history from a Jewish perspective, titled "A Jew on the Camino, with details of Jewish communities along the Camino predating Christianity.
Good luck with your research
David
Is that history online, so we can read it?
 
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A bit of history is appropriate. St James, son of Zebedee, called Boanerges, was among the first four apostles of Jesus. Peter and Andrew were chosen first, then James and John (the Evangelist). Santiago is St. James. Iago, Diego, and Jaime are al renditions of Hebrew Yacov, or Jacobus, Latin for James. According to Chistian legend, the apostles chose lots for the ends of the earth where they would evangelize. All this occured certainly before the Roman sack of Jerusalem. St. James, Santiago, went to Hispania, Latin for what would come to be España. Were captive Jews brought to Hispania by the Romans before Santiago arrived? I need proof to come to that conclusion.
 
It is impossible to create compatibility between historic facts and religious myth.
Historical facts: many thousands of enslaved captives from Judea were brought to Spain as a result of the failed uprising of the Jews in 66-70 CE. This is well documented by several contemporary historians.
The Yaacov (James) trip to Spain is as unsubstantiated myth. Those who wish to believe it can, of course.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
It is impossible to create compatibility between historic facts and religious myth.
Historical facts: many thousands of enslaved captives from Judea were brought to Spain as a result of the failed uprising of the Jews in 66-70 CE. This is well documented by several contemporary historians.
The Yaacov (James) trip to Spain is as unsubstantiated myth. Those who wish to believe it can, of course.
Myth, legend, or unsubstantiated history, it is the reason why a Pilgrim does this journey.
 
Each person has her/his own reason for making the trip ... of the hundreds I met on my two journeys few called themselves "Pilgrims ".
 
Really? :oops::oops: To be other than a pilgrim is to be a tourist, which seems a sort of insult around here.
 
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No insults meant. The vast majority of the many Camioers I spoke to had no pilgrimage aspirations
 
Really? :oops::oops: To be other than a pilgrim is to be a tourist, which seems a sort of insult around here.
I think we are in danger of losing the pagan plot :cool:. I must say when I hear the term "pagan" in connection with European history, I usually think of the autochthonous peoples who had lived there for quite a while before Christianisation was completed. So not necessarily non-Christians such as Jews or Muslims but Celtiberians, Celts, Gauls, Germanic tribes; also Romans and Greeks if you will; predominant cultures, multiple deities, that sort of thing. I guess that's what the OP had in mind. It doesn't diminish or ignore the contribution of others who appeared later on the scene.

As to pilgrims or no pilgrims, both sides are right. Many self-identify as pilgrims on all sorts of quests in contrast to regarding themselves as tourists. Very few, at least according to my impression, show a burning desire to reach the (presumed) tomb of the Saint because they have a close relationship with him and regard that as the main purpose of their journey to Santiago, as it was the case during the earlier incarnation of this pilgrimage. It's a question of definition. Can we leave it at that?
 
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Were all pilgrams whether we realise it or not ... whether on the camino or just traveling through life !
 
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Sorry I’ve been away so long. I was looking for stuff like the rumored altars to the sun god, or why pre-Christians might have journeyed to Finisterre. Basically, one of my main characters is a Druid and I was theorizing why he might choose to do the Camino.
 

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