Camino with Kids
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It is something you earn, and ideally find yourself on the coast or after ordering à great meal In Santiago or passing by the market. I read something one day that claimed the shell was a way to identify oneself as a pilgrim In order to get assistance from the locals, churches, etc. With or nylon, polysomething and Merino clothes, or backpacks, walking poles and walking shoes, I don't think we need a shell purchased In a souvenir shop to let people know we are walking on the Caminos.Sorry if this has been addressed but I'm just looking for a quick answer.
Is the scallop shell something you buy at the beginning of your camino to help identify you as a pilgrim or is it something you buy at the end as a sign of completion? And where do you buy it?
Thanks!
Some people claim that it should accompany you on the whole Camino. Other people claim that it should only be obtained at the end of the Camino. Many of these people claim only one way is "correct" or "right" but usually the certainty is based on which old wive's tale they heard first or sounds right to them. I figure that these two options have been argued about for many, many centuries - shockingly, even before this forum started. The only "proof" and logic that I have seen and makes sense to me says that many pilgrims through the centuries made their Caminos with a scallop shell, but you know what? It really doesn't matter. Take one with you if you want to. Get one at the end of you want to. Don't get one at all if you want to.Sorry if this has been addressed but I'm just looking for a quick answer.
Is the scallop shell something you buy at the beginning of your camino to help identify you as a pilgrim or is it something you buy at the end as a sign of completion? And where do you buy it?
Thanks!
Think Ill start a new thread .... (after dinner now! maybe tomorrow!)Alison - I love that. Bringing something from home to soak up the Camino energy.
Last year we were cleaning out my grandparents' house after my grandpa passed away and I found a scallop shell on my grandpa's work bench in the garage - just randomly there - no other shells, nothing else from the beach, just this scallop shell. There were a lot of random things in his workshop, so who knows. I took it as a sign though. I put the shell in my pocket and now I drive around with it my car - thinking of my grandpa and the Camino. We return to the Camino in May and I will take this shell with me
Mine was weightless once it came back from my pilgrimage. I put it on the scale and it read "0 grams". Really. Must be something miraculous about the scallop shell that has been on Camino. Next time I suspect it will actually register less than 0 and actually ease my burden . . .I don't think I've ever seen anyone list their coquille (concha, scallop shell, pick your language) in their packing lists, at least not any that included the weight. I weighed mine the other day and it came in at about 50g (it's about 5" or 12cm across). About the same as my swiss army knife and a bit more than a Clif bar (40g). I had to choose, I'd carry it and get rid of one of my Clif bars. Wouldn't want to have to make the choice between it and the swiss army knife, though.
Considering that many of the pilgrims in the Middle Ages would have lived near shorelines or within trading distance of them, or walked by beaches on the their way, did the church also guard all the beaches of Europe on the Mediterranean, Aegean, Black, North, Baltic, Irish Seas, English Channel and Atlantic Ocean? I've been looking for a good history book that addresses this issue and finally puts my doubts to rest but, sadly, I've been unsuccessful so far although I did stumble upon this poem from the early 1600's: http://www.bartleby.com/101/77.html . Someday though, I hope to have certainty one way or the other.The shells were sold to pilgrims In The middle ages by over 100 vendors In Santiago. But "counterfit" shells started being sold in towns along The way, Leon for example. To stop this cheating The Church took back The control of "Shell issuing". A good history book and not a tourist guide will explain this In detail.
Try Mille Fois à Compostelle. Super detailed references.Considering that many of the pilgrims in the Middle Ages would have lived near shorelines or within trading distance of them, or walked by beaches on the their way, did the church also guard all the beaches of Europe on the Mediterranean, Aegean, Black, North, Baltic, Irish Seas, English Channel and Atlantic Ocean? I've been looking for a good history book that addresses this issue and finally puts my doubts to rest but, sadly, I've been unsuccessful so far although I did stumble upon this poem from the early 1600's: http://www.bartleby.com/101/77.html . Someday though, I hope to have certainty one way or the other.
I think I've been Trumped! Thanks for the recommendation anyway.Try Mille Fois à Compostelle. Super detailed references.
Sorry if this has been addressed but I'm just looking for a quick answer.
Is the scallop shell something you buy at the beginning of your camino to help identify you as a pilgrim or is it something you buy at the end as a sign of completion? And where do you buy it?
Thanks!
I bought two shells (one for me and one for travel buddy) as well as a passport and plastic sleeve right from Ivar on this web site. They are in great shape and I received them within a week. They are very inexpensive, but the international shipping was $$. I wanted them before we arrive in sjpdp because we are flying into Paris. Staying in Paris a few days and you can get a pilgrim stamp at Notre Dame.Sorry if this has been addressed but I'm just looking for a quick answer.
Is the scallop shell something you buy at the beginning of your camino to help identify you as a pilgrim or is it something you buy at the end as a sign of completion? And where do you buy it?
Thanks!
Staying in Paris a few days and you can get a pilgrim stamp at Notre Dame.
Did I get that wrong? Was it 1604?Secondly, @MichaelSG, W Raleigh doesn't really count, I mean, 1603 ???
Hi Jason, I am in the California High Desert also, Morongo Valley and also planning to start my Camino in Septembre, the 16th. When will you be starting?In the medieval period it was a token that indicated completion of the pilgrimage... In the modern era it has become more a marker for pilgrims on the journey. Of course, you are free to do it either way!
Ivar sells some good looking shells in the Camino store (accessible via the services link on the menu) for a good price.
Grace+Peace
-Jason
@BillieBob I will be walking from St. Jean on Sep. 8th, so if I'm slow you might catch up to me!Hi Jason, I am in the California High Desert also, Morongo Valley and also planning to start my Camino in Septembre, the 16th. When will you be starting?
The belief in the power of relics and touch-relics (items that had been in touch with or close to the relics or shrine - even dirt or dust from the site) started to wane in the middle to late 1500s and to be regarded as superstition.
Thank you so much from saving me the translation and typing you didOK, now without so manys and s ...
By 1600, the nature of pilgrimages had changed (following Reformation and also reforms within the Catholic Church). People continued to go on pilgrimage to shrines as an act of devotion or veneration but the medieval cult of relics, the belief in the physical wonder-working power of the shrine, had declined by then. For the medieval pilgrim, the importance and power of shells and other items came from having been acquired near the shrine itself, due to being in the physical presence of the relics; a shell picked up on the local shore did not have this power. The belief in the power of relics and touch-relics (items that had been in touch with or close to the relics or shrine - even dirt or dust from the site) started to wane in the middle to late 1500s and to be regarded as superstition.
It's correct that by 1600, scallop shells had become a general symbol of pilgrimage in art (visual art, literature). Scallop shells were not only associated with the pilgrimage to Santiago but also with other sites such as Mont Saint Michel in Northern France and with pilgrimage in general.
Most of the sources quoted in Mille fois are reports written by medieval pilgrims: they refer to the scallop shells being offered and acquired in Santiago. There were cases of fraud, i.e. scallop shells were sold or manufactured in the form of badges elsewhere. The two references I mentioned earlier refer to such cases, i.e cases where pilgrims are said to have acquired them before reaching Santiago.
And now back to the power of the shells of the 21st century!
"The modern wearing of a shell by persons walking the pilgrimage routes seems to have sprung up naturally in the 1980s in an attempt to mark themselves as 'real' pilgrims as opposed to recreational hikers. The shell serves as an identity badge for modern pilgrims; its original medieval functions (amulet, touch-relic, verification of arrival) have been lost or forgotten".
...then I misunderstood you here. Buen Camino.It's correct that by 1600, scallop shells had become a general symbol of pilgrimage in art (visual art, literature). Scallop shells were not only associated with the pilgrimage to Santiago but also with other sites such as Mont Saint Michel in Northern France and with pilgrimage in general.
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