December, 2003 pilgrims

[Rosina Lila]

Hello you all,
I just got the December pilgrims information.  I should think that with the opening of the Holy Door and the Xacobean New Year celebrations the people at the Archdiocese who compile the figures must have been very busy.  At any rate, better late than never.
457 pilgrims received the Compostela last December; 134 women and 323 men.  Of these pilgrims, 442 expressed a religious reason for making the pilgrimage (97%) and 15 declared a cultural/educational motive (3%) . 437 walked and 20 rode bicycles.
1 pilgrim declined to reveal his/her age, 37 were over 60 years old, 319 were between 30 and 60 years of age and exactly 100 were under 30.
Of the 457 pilgrims a54 were from countries other than Spain:  41 from France, 21 from Germany, 12 from Canada, 9 from the USA, 9 from Holland, 8 from Portugal and the rest from 22 other countries for a total of 28 in all.
356 followed the French Way, 80 (!) the Portuguese Way, 11 the Northern Way, 9 the Via de la Plata, and one solitary pilgrim walked the English way.
109 of the pilgrims started out in Sarria, 51 in Valencia (!), 41 in SJPP (the French pilgrims?), 31 in Roncesvalles, 29 in Tuy, 24 in dear O Cebreiro, 22 in Astorga, 18 in Le Puy, 15 in Villafrance and the rest in decreasing numbers, in Leon, Pamplona, Ponferrada, and other places all 100/200 kilometers away from Santiago.
Again, these are the pilgrims that received the Compostela, not, by any means, all the pilgrims that may have been on the Camino.
I noticed that 12 of the pilgrims were from Canada and 9 from the USA. Being that the population of the USA is ten times the population of the USA the number of Canadians pilgrims, in proportion, continues to astonish me.
Warm regards,
Rosina