[Gocamino] Clarity (my version, of course)

[Elcaminomejala at aol.com]

Greetings fellow pilgrims. Here are some thoughts I'd like to share.  

1. Credencial del peregrino 
"Passport" highly recommended to have in order to: 
1) be able to stay in albergues, also called refugios and hostels,  that 
exist especifically to house peregrinos, so that they can rest, spend  the night, 
share a most important fellowship with other pilgrims, etc. I  know of 
pilgrims/non-pilgrims/quasi-pilgrims, et al, that have been  allowed to stay in 
albergues sans the Credencial. Granted, it's not the  norm. 
2) obtain the Compostela in Santiago
 
2. Compostela 
Diploma-like document pre-printed in Latin with your Latinized name  inked in 
by a Compostela Oficina del Peregrino clerk, which history  was succintly 
given by Silvia in a previous e-mail. Thank you Silvia
 
3. Fisterrada. 
The Camino to Fisterra version of the Compostela 
 
 
The Fisterrada is a  different looking document from the  Compostela. 
Diploma-like, it's in Galego, with beautiful, dramatic symbols  and colors in good 
taste, and a simpler, less formalized, text.   It's put out by the Ayuntamiento 
(City Hall) of  Fisterra. Young, dynamic, Fisterra albergue hospitalera par  
excellence, Begoña Baldomar, has been dispensing it for years after a  serious, 
personalized, very human and pilgrim  oriented  interview upon arrival  at 
the  albergue. You come in when it opens in the pm, sit, rest, are given a  
hot/cold cup of tea and cookies, depending on the time of the year,  and then when 
you are ready and somewhat rested go into her little office  and "check in." 
You can get the Fisterrada right there and then 
 
I continued using the same Credencial I presented in Compostela at  the end 
of my Caminos at the Oficina del Peregrino in order to stay in  albergues on 
the way to Fisterra, as well as to obtain the Fisterrada  

Another alternative if you just want to do the Santiago-Fisterra  Camino by 
itslef is to get the Credencial in Compostela at the Oficina del  peregrino 
 
The Camino to Fisterra is still oficially frowned upon by the  Catholic 
Church, as pagan, etc. Another side to their argument is  that the Camino 
officially ends in Santiago. 
 
The counter position is that for many pilgrims it historically ended  at the 
Costa da Morte, Fisterra, where they burned their smelly, rotten,  pilgrim 
garments, and grooved in and got high in their own rituals,  looking to 
experience the sunset, still unique, in what was once  believed to be the end of the 
world as known 
 
Other people think that there's a matter of economics behind the  Church's 
position

 
4. Reasons for doing the Camino (and getting the  Compostela)
If you want to obtain the Compostela presto, people advise to say  when asked 
that you did the Camino for religious reasons. Period. They say  you'll get 
it on the spot. No lie-detector tests given. That's what I  heard repeatedly 
during the Caminos. That being the situation, most fellow  pilgrims I know that 
have wanted hassle free Compostelas don't  get bugged down about it and say 
"yes" to religious reasons 
 
Should the above be true, it may be the reason why the statistics  published 
by the Church show a dramatically higher number of peregrinos  granted 
Compostelas for "religious reasons" 
 
In my experience, most people that I have met in my Caminos,  with a couple 
of exceptions, have walked for a combo of  spiritual/phys
icall/artistic/historic/culinary, and I don't know what  else, reasons, religious not being one of 
them 
 
And, hey, who am I or anyone ecumenically to say what is and should  be or 
not be?
 
A friend in Iria Flavia told me that she has a problem in reconciling  her 
readings on the decline of people going to Church in Spain and other  European 
countries, on the one hand, and then reading that most  folks walk hundreds of 
miles for "religious reasons"
 
"It don't jive," said she, her bad translation of "no me vale" 
 
But guys, in the long analysis, I hope that we may all agree in that  the 
Camino is/may be a metaphor of life as it is and/or how it  should/could, be, 
meaning that in the end it's a matter of conscience,  and, hey, who gets hurt in 
the end? 
 
Abrazos,
 
xm