What is a Camino?

The pilgrim’s office in Santiago asks each pilgrim who checks in whether they walked the Camino for religious or spiritual reasons (or both, or “other”). Responses are about equal between the two. Lots of people walk the Camino for traditional religious reasons. Of course, this figure was close to 100% in the Middle Ages at the high point of the Camino.

When you spend all day walking and thinking about things, see all the other people doing the same thing, talking to people of all countries and ages, do the same routines every day (walk, wash, eat, rest, sleep, repeat) — it is hard not to start thinking about your life, what makes life worth living, what goals you have in your life, etc., that is, it brings out the spiritual side of everyone. This is one of the great things about the Camino.

The Camino Frances, the path we took in 2013, is along an ancient pilgrimage path, you walk in the steps of pilgrims from 800 years ago. My guess is that few pilgrims from long ago would be foolish enough to walk the Camino del Norte, the path we are taking now. It is so hilly and slow. So, what difference does that make? How important is it to walk an ancient path? It depends. The Norte, and the Portuguese Camino, that we walked two years ago, definitely have a different feel, the history is missing.

Long ago there was the Camino where people walked the easiest ways. In the past few hundred years there are the road builders who also go the easiest ways. Now in 2018 we find the authentic paths are along major highways, authentic but dangerous. Even along the Frances they have, for years, been changing the path to avoid dangerous road walking. Do you lose authenticity? Certainly you do in some ways.

On the Portuguese and Norte they do this extensively. We have already encountered several places where they redirected the path away from a road and up through the mountains and forests. Very pretty walking but not a way any pilgrim intent on getting to Santiago and getting dispensation for his sins would go.