Santiago riding down the waves

[Jilek, Glenn]

Sally and all...

One related item...I have heard that here in the "New World" the only Santiago that is known is the Santiago Matamoros.  That was the Santiago that brought Christianity to the native populations of South and Central America.  Unfortunately here conversion to Christianity was by the sword.  The Moors were not the only ones trampled under the hooves of his horse, but all "heathens", including indigenous peoples.  There is currently a movement in those Spanish American countries to change street names and eliminate those that honor the Conquistadores.

Glenn Jilek
Planning & Research Team Leader
Tel. (502) 223-6727
Fax (502) 223-6735


-----Original Message-----
From: Sally Haden [mailto:hadense1948ahotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 4:41 PM
To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
Subject: Santiago riding down the waves


Hello to all

I have been looking through the GOCAMINO archives to see what discussions
there have been in the past about St James in his now rather controversial
"Matamoros" garb ("Matamoros" means "Moor slayer", ie muslim killer) and I
found some very interesting discussions, some of which were especially
stirred by 9/11/2001.  I have long had an interest in Muslim-Christian
relations after studying the Crusades in history and having several muslim
friends.  So now that I hope to venture on the Camino next year and am
reading all about it, and listening to the voices on the forum, I've become
fascinated by the interplay of images around Santiago himself - because of
these two quite different images of him, the "Matamoros" and the peaceful
pilgrim.

I was particularly astonished by the photo link posted a few weeks ago (if
you want to see it, go to the archives on
http://listserv.uri.edu/archives/gocamino.html and look for mail on, or
about, 9th October 2003) of the statue of Santiago Matamoros in the
cathedral in Santiago.

It brought home the vividness with which Spain sometimes depicts Santiago,
and also the power of the forces in war, whether it is war centuries ago or
recent, far away or near...  On his great horse, waving his great sword,
triumphantly tramping muslims underfoot, Santiago in this representation is
shocking, and often more remembered than the probably equally represented
peaceful pilgrim all along the Camino, whom I hope to come to know too as I
walk.

However, the two images seem to me to represent two aspects of human
experience and life, like a coin has both heads and tails, rather than
positions one must choose between. I say that because I am not trying to
start an either-or, good-bad discussion.

Actually, to get to the point, I have quite a few questions, if anyone can
answer or wants to discuss...

Here is one (others later!).

It is about part of the mythology about St James, a part which I am sure I
saw somewhere but now I can't find any reference to it.  Isn't there a story
which was woven into the mythology that Santiago was 'seen' riding down the
waves, striding ashore onto a Galician beach on his great white horse?  And
is this the SAME image which came to be taken as a symbol for the Spanish
navy, especially as it set out in the 16th century across the seas in
various directions?

A few weeks ago I read a paragraph in one of the Confraternity of St James'
bulletins that a Scottish maritime archeologist, on his dig of one of the
biggest of the wrecked Armada ships off the coast of Donegal in Ireland, had
found a bowl with a depiction of St James mounted and riding down the waves
on the ocean. It is considered to be an allusion to Spain's conquest of the
Azores just thee years before the 1588 Armada, but seems to have become a
general symbol for the expansion of Christendom under the Spanish naval
flag.

Please can someone recount for me (or tell me where to look for an account)
the myth of Santiago's riding down the waves, and its source?

It interests me because it was, by chance, the very same time in my life
when I found myself at that bay (Kinnagoe Bay) where that Armada ship sank
in Donegal, that I first began to get interested in the Camino. At the time
I didn't see any connection although it certainly brought the Spanish Armada
into my awareness.  Incidentally, the entire fleet assembled and set forth
from La Corunna, Galicia.

Peace to all
Sally
Lancashire, UK

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