Walter Starkie

[andy.d]

I'm using some of the time I have while my knee heals up to re-read Walter Starkie's seminal 'The Road to Santiago', his account of pilgrimage in 1954 (while drawing on a couple of pilgrimages in the 1920's). I haven't read it for several years, and it is excellent - do read it if you can, it will make the pilgrimage a richer and deeper experience.

One of the things that has struck me is how much of the time he doesn't walk. He's always getting lifts, or being on the train. He takes a diversion to visit some monasteries for the day riding on a mule (with four bocadillos, a cheese, and several litres of tinto). When he does walk in France, he hurts his feet and has to get a lift to Lourdes to heal up.

"Pilgrims now have an easier time today than thirty years ago [ie the 1920's] owing to the great development in Spain of the bus routes between the various pueblos."

And there can be no doubt at all that Starkie's is a deeply profound pilgrimage.

This is profoundly comforting to me as I emerge from a few weeks healing my knee and prepare (I hope) to walk the final week or so of the Cistercian Way. I have tried to expand that a little bit on the blog here.

Andy

 

[Tincatinker]

Nice one Andy. Its not what you do, nor how you do it: it's why you do it that is at the heart of pilgrimage. All the rest is just stuff...

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Imagine if no compostela were offered. The Camino would be quite different!

 

[andy.d]

Imagine if no compostela were offered. The Camino would be quite different!

I don't think Starkie is especially interested in a Compostela other than as a historical artifact. The pilgrimage itself and the arrival and prayer at Santiago Cathedral are the important thing for him.
For myself, my Compostelas carry meaning.
On the Cistercian Way, I am looking forward to a pilgrim blessing at Tintern Abbey and when I reach Penrhys, celebrations with the people at Llanfair Church and a solitary trip to the Well.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

In 1957 there was no requirement to walk 100 km for a Compostela. There may not even have been a Compostela, but if there was, it was given to anyone who visited the tomb of the Apostle. The distance requirement is a modern modification according to the Cathedral website. The Camino barely existed, and the number of pilgrims was in the dozens, not the hundreds of thousands.

Without the advent of the 100 km requirement and the Compostela itself, it is hard to imagine that the Camino would be what it is today. With no prize at the end there would not be the Sarria Surge. Without the prize at the end, would the 8% of pilgrims who walk for cultural reasons be almost the only pilgrims? Would MacLaine, Kerkeling, and Sheen have had anything to do with it? The questions are rhetorical, by the way; there is rarely actual evidence for speculation on what might have been!

 

[SYates]

Whilst I understand what you mean ( I hope) there are some possibilities for misunderstanding in your post. My remarks in italics and take them with a grain of salt, I might be wrong ;-) Buen Camino, SY

In 1957 there was no requirement to walk 100 km for a Compostela. - Correct!

There may not even have been a Compostela, but if there was, it was given to anyone who visited the tomb of the Apostle. - Correct, the 100/200km requirement was introduced for the Holy Year 1993, before that indeed everybody that showed up in the Sacristy of Santiago Cathedral got a Compostela (which was far more simple in design) no matter how they got to Santiago. As the old saying goes, it was the thought/devotion not the matter of transport that counted.

The distance requirement is a modern modification according to the Cathedral website. The Camino barely existed, and the number of pilgrims was in the dozens, not the hundreds of thousands. - Correct, apart of one point, the Camino never went into non-existence (that would have been difficult!), but it was, nearly, forgotten over centuries, but it was and is still there, waiting for those that want to take this road ...

Without the advent of the 100 km requirement and the Compostela itself, it is hard to imagine that the Camino would be what it is today. - That is were I strongly disagree, many, many of us have and will walk the Camino without a 'Compostela reward' at the end. We collect it when it is offered, but we still would make the pilgrimage if it wouldn't be offered. The Camino is so much more than a piece of beautifully designed paper ...

With no prize at the end there would not be the Sarria Surge. - Correct, without a Compostela things and pilgrims would be more widely spread.

Without the prize at the end, would the 8% of pilgrims who walk for cultural reasons be almost the only pilgrims? - That is where the 'religious/spiritual intention' has become a self-fulfilling prophesy. To 'qualify' for a Compostela you have to tick the spiritual/religious box on the piece of paper. As the Compostela is offered, 'you' tick it if you want it. And the Pilgrims Office can show in their statistics that nearly all pilgrims did their pilgrimages for spiritual and/or religious reasons. A true kettle of worms if we think more closely about it ...

Would MacLaine, Kerkeling, and Sheen have had anything to do with it? - I think yes, like all pilgrims they had their own reasons to embark on this pilgrimage they way they did it. MacLaine did the way before it really became world famous, Hape Kerkeling published his book many years after having walked the Camino (publishing his book might be influenced by the fame of the Camino in Germany btw but I do believe that when he set out he did it for his personal reasons), Sheen - don't know too much about his/his sons motivations, but it really does seem that the idea for the movie and the idea of pilgrimage occurred very closely together in time.

The questions are rhetorical, by the way; there is rarely actual evidence for speculation on what might have been! - I just added a bit more evidence and a whole lot more of speculation ;-)

Buen Camino, SY

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Prior to 1993 the annual number of Compostelas was negligible. MacLaine walked in 1994, the year of OJ Simpson, so the prior Holy Year probably was popularized among her New Wave friends. Kerkeling walked in 2001 as numbers were beginning to rise after two successful Holy Years.

Large numbers of the devout were not mobbing the Camino in 1954, and may not have mobbed it in 2016 without the 1993 100 kilometer rule! Again, it is all speculation. The Mencken in me thinks that it the Compostela that has led to popularity, a brilliant marketing move if true.

 

[SYates]

And lets not forget all these pilgrims going home and telling ALL their friends how great the Camino is ;-) Word of mouth is one of the most powerful promotions in existence ;-) SY

 

[andy.d]

Starkie arrives in Santiago for St James Day 1954 - the Marian and Jubilee Year. He finds that the festival has changed since the 20's from a local Galician one to a Spanish national one. Santiago is rammed with pilgrims arriving by motor transport and train - so many that it recalls for him the great pilgrimages of the Middle Ages.
He notices a reasonable number of people who have travelled on foot or horseback.
He ends the book by lamenting how organised the pilgrimage has become (in 1954) but celebrating the small number of lonely pilgrims who walk alone.

I'm hoping to be recovered enough to walk again to Our Lady of Penrhys in a week. There's no certificate for this, just a holy well and a statue, and a welcome from local friends.

 

[OTH86]

Didn't have time to read the book, so scanned it to my phone to read along the way. Alas, I'm a day behind. Alas#2, he says almost nothing about Eunate
Thanks, @andy.d, for starting this thread!! May your healing go quickly!!
Terry

 

[alaskadiver]

I wanted to buy the book awhile back but it's priced too high in my opinion.

 

[andy.d]

I wanted to buy the book awhile back but it's priced too high in my opinion.

I got a second hand copy several years ago; I don't think it cost too much, but there aren't that many around. Perhaps the popularity of the Camino will mean someone republishing it?

 

[William Marques]

It is a book well worth reading if you can get your hands on one. It was republished in 2003 by John Murray.

I was in Santiago in the 60's and it was certainly a strong pilgrimage centre then and I was aware that some curious people walked there even then, though our family of course went by automobile.