pilgrim rules

[pieter pannevis]

 From the CSJ site:
Firstly, with regard to local people, one can be notably and unfailingly
appreciative, the expression of gratitude being the hallmark of the pilgrim.
(On the wall of the refugio at Mansilla de las Mulas is a notice which ends:
'And don't forget: the tourist says "Give me ..."; the pilgrim says
"thank-you"'.) Tourists feel they have a 'right' to expect this or that
because they are paying for it; the condition of the pilgrim claims no
'rights'. The things of the Camino belong to each and every pilgrim, to the
extent of taking responsibility for safeguarding them, but not in any
personal, proprietary sense.
Secondly, one can behave, dress, spend etc in a simple, discreet way that is
in keeping with the most basic form of travel and with the spirit of
encounter. That means not creating barriers between oneself and local people
by offending their sensibilities. (I observed two pilgrims in bikinis
promenading through a Galician hamlet last summer, leaving the residents
scandalised; pilgrims drinking other than moderately has the same effect.
Need one say anything about such practices as picnicking in churches,
littering, using the verges or the Camino as a toilet, leaving graffiti,
gouging one's initials on trees?)
With regard to one's fellow pilgrims, one can adopt an attitude of service.
The more of them there are, and the more there come to, be in future years,
the more need there is for the consideration that dispels anonymity. It may
be no more than offering encouragement to someone who is finding the going
difficult. But what about carrying a plastic bag while walking, to collect
other people's litter, or making a point of keeping to hand some small
useful objects such as penknife or needle and thread, with the specific aim
of being ofuse to fellow pilgrims? What about resolving to do some
unobtrusive act of kindness each day to improve the quality of someone
else's journey? Or taking the initiative in the refugio and gathering a
group together to share the experiences of the Camino. Or learning enough
elementary first-aid to be able to deal with blisters, tummy troubles and so
one, for any companions as well as oneself?
One veteran hospitalero commented after the onslaught of 1993 that the best
thing the jacobean associations could do for the Camino would be to stop
sending pilgrims down it. I disagree. By all means, let us keep encouraging
people to make the pilgrimage to Santiago but let us be clear about a few
things. There is the Camino one walks and the Camino one lives - often as a
result of having walked it. There is no doubt, in my mind at least, that if
in the approach to 1999 the physical Camino is further 'improved' by the
authorities so as to eliminate its more challenging features and to make it
'accessible' to untrammelled hordes using every modern form of conveyance,
not only will the physical integrity of the route be altered for ever, but
that essential component of the pilgrimage, the perspective of those
'dedicated others', will also change. Increasingly there are more and more
instigations to regard the Camino as a commodity and the growing number of
pilgrims and travellers on it as captive consumers. Defence of the historic
route is one of our prime collective responsibilities. But may I be so bold
as to suggest that everyone who sets foot on the Camino has the personal
responsibility to reinforce, through the way they enact their pilgrimage,
its character of simplicity, self-sacrifice, openness to encounter. That
will in turn reinforce the dedication which has been an essential element in
sustaining it for the past millennium, so that it has a fair chance of
surviving into the next.


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