[Gocamino] Acaciopaz at yahoo.com.br

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hello you all,

My first Camino was entirely unplanned, unsought, unimagined and the spiritual compulsion that brought it about caught me completely by surprise (had to buy a backpack, shoes and walking stick at SJPP). Originally I had gone as a sort-of Spanish- speaking care taker of my sister in law Liz, whose Camino it was, on behalf of the worried family.

Liz had planned her Camino pilgrimage for some time, but faced with its realities  she had to divest herself of much of what she had taken, including Linda Davidson’s book which I kept and took with me.

That was in 1999, a Xacobean Holy Year.  In the seven years. and three more Caminos since then, I have read lots and lots of books on the Camino, in several languages, and have not found a single one that can begin to approach Linda’s. Her book is a treasure trove of historical and cultural information, including spiritual and religious insights provided by Linda’s colleague and collaborator, Maryjane Dunn, with whom Linda had written several scholarly works on the Camino.  Linda’s book is a jewel of precision, completeness, relevance, information, specificity when needed, and organized retelling of popular lore; I have taken the book  with me every single time I have gone back.  Its one shortcoming is that it is only available in English. The countless hours that I’ve spent translating parts of it for scholars, church people and pilgrims on the Camino, have produced a chorus bemoaning its unavailability in a Romance language.

The only other Camino work that has impressed me significantly is the British video “Within the Way Without” about which much has been written here.  The DVD, too, is only available in English, but it has been shown in Santiago in theatres and churches entirely dubbed in Spanish.

Well…. after the euphoria of reaching Santiago the first time, and while in a suspended state of ecstasy, somehow albarinho-nurtured, I volunteered to translate Linda’s book. While my offer (thank God!) was not taken seriously, it was suggested that I translate significant Camino and pilgrimage information from Santiago into English for the benefit of English-speaking pilgrims who do not read Spanish, and, forthwith,  they subscribed me to services that e-mail me all sorts of information….. and here we are.

 

First, to answer your questions, while I have been a died-in-the-heart Catholic all my life, and was born to my religion like a fish to water, I don’t know anything about dogmas  or church politics, or divisions, and haven’t the slightest idea what a “Cabildo” may be, or a “dean”. 

 

But there is a “dean” of the Cathedral and, at present, he is in Jerusalem with members of the group called “Xacobeo” inaugurating an exhibition on the”Camino de Santiago” there. This exhibition, derived from the International Conference on Holy Cities held in old Jerusalem last week, will remain permanently in the Holy Land.

 Yesterday the Galicians visited the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Pontifical Institute to establish a student interchange program between Jerusalem and Santiago students and pilgrims.

The works that compose the Camino exhibition will remain with the Franciscan monks of the Holy City in Old Jerusalem who will continue to show them.

>From Jerusalem the Galician delegation, headed by the Dean, will go to Bethlehem, the city of Christ’s birth, to meet with the Independent Palestine Authorities tourism and travel minister to seek to establish a similar student interchange.



For years and years hundreds, if not thousands, of pilgrims have complained about the lack of signs when arriving at the Santiago. While many pilgrims, including myself, savored the additional challenge of finding our own way to the Cathedral, the overwhelming majority have not.  Hence the signs.   

Another development of interest, particularly to techies, is the on line museum of Galician sounds which has just added sounds from the Cathedral and the squares around it. (You-tube like); one of the contents is particularly touching because one can hear the “Berenguela” (The Cathedral’s big bell that chimes the time) tolling the hour through the water falling in the horses fountain of Plateria Square.  The site is reached by going to

www.escoitar.org   (escoitar means “to listen” in Galician). When the page opens up there is a map of Galicia; click on Santiago (where everything converges) when the roll-down menus show up first choose “Corunha”, the province, then “Santiago”, the city, and then in the empty box type “berenguela”….. Several choices will come up, some with the sounds of people walking and talking  when the bell strikes.  Choice No. 3 is the one with the bell and the water….. it is really quite lovely and moving.

Other choices have the recorded sound of Obradoiro at dawn…. solitary footsteps and whispers, and then the bell giving the hour.

 

Enjoy!

 

Rosina

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