source of "con pan y vino"

[on.pilgrimage]

I remember hearing this phrase often around the time I was on the pilgrimage, and even seeing it once on a billboard. Does anyone know when this phrase started to be associated with the Camino?

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hola

It has probably forever been associated with the camino and with pilgrimages in general. It is a traditional Spanish proverb which also appears in other languages:

"Con pan y vino se anda el camino" or "se hace e l camino" The word camino in this sense simply means "life". A rough translation might be " with food everything seems better"

In Italian - panza llena, corazón contento

There is an associated proverb - "Los duelos con pan son menos" which is also used in Mexico as "las penas con pan son menos"

Best

John

 

[Portia1]

There are very religious connotations as well: "companion" is someone with whom you share bread--a very ancient understanding that when you share a table and thus bread, you enter into a relationship. In the ancient world, if you shared bread together, you were duty bound to protect that person from threat. Bread and wine are also the component parts of the Eucharist (Holy Communion) and the elements our Lord used to remind who and whose we are each and every time we share bread and wine at table with those we are journeying with. As an Episcopalian (Anglican), I honored the Roman Catholic restriction to not partake of the Eucharist in Spain because I am not Roman Catholic (though there were many who told me to ignore it). However, I deeply experienced Eucharist all along the way of the Camino as bread and wine were shared every evening among pilgrims who had become "one body" as we traveled the same road with our many differing stories and hopes and dreams. Bread and wine are food for the journey--in body, mind and soul.

 

[Priscillian]

The sharing of bread and wine was also an Agape: a feast of love. In that way the last supper was an Agape (sharing and charity). Agape is one of the Four Loves: Eros (romantic and physical love), Storge (affection; friendship), and Filia (brotherly love) are the others.

C.S. Lewis' book on the subject has long been a favourite of mine.