A low pilgrim population in the 80s turned an ancient path into more of a medieval legend.

Rather than a well-known travel destination, the ancient ‘Way of St James' was then little more than a dusty relic of Christian, and pagan, history.

However, 21 years later, statistics show that 301,036 pilgrims received their Compostela certificates in 2017.

The powerful resurgence in the popularity of pilgrimage, particularly of the Way of St James, is undeniable.

Is pilgrimage providing the perfect nourishment for the ritualistic needs of a spiritually hungry generation?

The concept of ‘going on pilgrimage' has traditionally evoked many ideas: undertaking a journey to serve a personal purpose; giving expression to a difficult situation through bodily action, in the hope of securing an outcome; following in the footsteps of many who have walked the same path before; fulfilling a religious obligation.

Camino

The idea of pilgrimage has over time evolved to meet the expectations of a 21st century world and yet still, whether the hope is for healing, miracles, peace, or even weight loss, people choose to walk the gruelling 500 miles of the Camino, with the bare minimum of possessions, more than a thousand years after the first pilgrims.

There is little doubt that the Camino owes much of its newfound fame to the media.

Through Martin Sheen's 2010 film, The Way and the well-read German book, Ich bin daan mal weg (‘I'm off then'), to the BBC's recent celebrity challenge, Camino: The Road To Santiago, audiences around the world have discovered the charms of the pilgrimage and have flocked to immerse themselves in the wonders of the Camino.

The common threads of these pieces weave one theme: a focus on the inner life with the hope of some dramatic, irrevocable change by the end of the journey.

Biblical and anthropological insights could shed some light on why this might be.

The God of the Old Testament provided the people of Israel with ritual instruction, intending to show them how properly to praise their creator and provider.

Rituals were the intended outlet for the heart, reinforced with a physical action.

Fasting

One such example is fasting.

As Karen Eliasen describes: ‘Fasting as a ritual act is not merely a symbol or a metaphor for some other-worldly activity. It is an experience of concrete, this-worldly changes.'

Eliasen continues to say that these physical changes are part of a communication and dialogue between God and the people.

In a similar way, pilgrimage is a way of physically enacting and embodying a conversation with God.

It encompasses all manner of the human being: it is spatial, physical and it speaks to the inner emotional and spiritual dynamics of a person.

To provide an example of this in another cultural context, anthropologist Catherine Allerton studied the padong journeys undertaken by the brides of Manggarai of Eastern Indonesia, whereby brides would walk long distances from their kin towards their spouse's family, wailing on the way as a fully embodied image of the journey the heart is also taking.

Such pilgrimage rituals witness to an important inner journey and to the importance of documenting emotions through physical manifestations.

However, it is the anthropological theory of ‘liminality' developed by Victor Turner that might be the most important lens through which to study the contemporary allure of pilgrimage. Continue reading

• Emma Holland is Producer of Pray as you go. She walked the Camino in 2014.
• Image: Thinking Faith

The film, opening in New Zealand on August 6, focuses on the experiences of the pilgrims and their reaction to a daunting, but inspirational, journey on an ancient pilgrim route, called "The Way of St James".

It takes six pilgrims from their starting point to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain where legend says the remains of James the Apostle, the patron Saint of Spain, lie buried and focuses on the most common route to Santiago ­ from France, across the Iberian Peninsula, to Santiago.

The journey takes over 30 days.

The film is a real­life variation of the fictional movie, "The Way" (2010), starring Martin Sheen, which also honoured the Camino de Santiago by showing a group of pilgrims doing the walk.

Sheen is also associated with the making of this documentary.

The pilgrims from 3 to 73 years come from different countries. Together, they cross an entire country along hiking paths, stony roads, and narrow tracks with just a backpack, light provisions, a sense of adventure, and a willingness to find a deeper, more spiritual purpose to their existence.

The film tells us forcefully, that "the real Camino is their lives".

• Tomas Moreno is doing the Camino walk without any idea about its physical rigours, and he starts the journey with blisters on his feet.
• Wayne Emde is doing the walk to honour the memory of his dead wife and is still grieving about his loss.
• Jack Greenhaigh is doing the walk to accompany his friend, Wayne.
• Annie O'Neill is committed religiously to the walk, but her physical health raises serious questions about whether she will be able to complete her journey.
• Sam from Brazil, is clinically depressed and has just lost her job, and a boyfriend on drugs, and is searching for what should come next in her life.

A travelogue and a spiritual quest

As a travelogue, the scenery is glorious, and the film's photography is outstanding.

The movie takes us from bright sun to freezing rain through forests, valleys, over misty mountains, and by spectacular lakes and rivers.

The mountains form the foreground to richly coloured sunsets, and the fields are full of flowers.

As well, the film offers the viewer a charming and picturesque look at the different towns and villages along The Way, and we are transported to Santiago through towns and villages littered with scenic monasteries, churches, and wayside chapels.

As a spiritual quest, the film is inspiring.

There are many reasons why the six pilgrims want to complete the walk, and the movie captures the variability of their different motivations very movingly. They vary in their religious background, and in the particular motivation for why they want to do the journey.

They get tired, cry from time to time (not just from pain), and deal courageously with the obstacles in their path.

They are exhausted and exhilarated, feel lonely, want loneliness, and are deeply grateful for the sharing of the highs and lows of their experiences with those around them.

The film captures the trials and tribulations of a pilgrim's journey, and demonstrates shifts in personal self­awareness and the deepening of relationships with other pilgrims.

First and foremost, however, it illustrates the spiritual growth of the pilgrims themselves.

An underlying message of the movie is the worthiness of those one meets on The Way.

Anyone found in need on The Way is always helped.

Someone is there to carry a pilgrim's pack, to exchange a pair of boots for a better pair, to push a young child's pram, or just to offer friendship and solace.

The film dramatises the different ways people find their purposes in life and the courage to pursue them.

The film is well paced, well­directed, not obtrusively religious, and never loses its focus on people as human beings.

This is a Catholic-­looking film by a non­-Catholic Director.

It sensitively celebrates the spiritual journey of a diverse group of people across a wide spectrum of emotions and experiences, and it conveys uplifting and powerful messages about resilience, courage, and hope.

- Peter W. Sheehan is associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Films and Broadcasting

Image: Natural Awakenings - New York City Edition

Walking the Camino opens in New Zealand theatres on August 6. See the movie and enter the competition to win a trip for two to Spain.

View the trailer

Now, over 200,000 people a year spend several gruelling weeks along the route.

Traditionalists turn up their noses at the crowds, but the rewards are still vast.

In the Middle Ages, pilgrimages were neither a quest for meaning, nor an opportunity for contemplation, nor an event.

People had real worries and pilgrimages were part of a deal.

On the one hand was the willingness of the faithful to suffer, on the other was God's capacity for deliverance.

The one walks, the other heals — a transaction based on reciprocity.

Similar to mendicants, pilgrims had no possessions beyond what they carried with them: a walking stick, a small sack of belongings, a gourd full of drinking water and the clothes on their back.

They were filled with reverence and, not uncommonly, a thirst for adventure.

The grave of St. James in Santiago de Compostela has been a pilgrimage site for over 1,000 years.

When times were quiet, only a dozen people would make the effort.

At other times, it would be a couple of thousand.

But the quiet years are over.

More than 200,000 people followed the Way of St. James last year. And this year, those who make money from the steady stream of wayfarers are in a particularly celebratory mood.

Four million copies of the book "I'm Off Then: Losing and Finding Myself on the Camino de Santiago" by German TV celebrity Hape Kerkeling have been sold in Germany, and its impact has been huge: Since its publication in German nine years ago, Germans have made up the largest share of foreigners making the pilgrimage.

Last year, according to church statistics, 16,000 of them turned up in Santiago, a new record. And now, German public television station ARD is making the movie. Continue reading

Source

• Article and image: Spiegel Online