[Gocamino] New York Times Article on Walking the Camino

Sun Apr 21 11:36:37 PDT 2013

Hello you all,
The article is chock-full of factual errors inexcusable in someone who claims to have written four books about the Camino (100,000 pilgrims in 2010? the certificate of pilgrimage "pietatis cause" is called the Compostelana? the distance from Roncesvalles to Santiago is how many miles?  etc. etc. etc). To me, there appears to be no coherent focus in the full-page article. It seems  supercilious, dismissive of the Camino religious influence and history and very nearly derogatory of those who labor therein.. The few references to the albergues do not neglect mentioning  "snoring" and bedbugs, with nary a word about the dedication of the hospitaleros and the camaraderie among the pilgrims that the albergues nurture.
According to the writer he "debunked" the assertions of a priest that the Camino has a religious purpose. The writer continues to asserts that pagans  and others followed the "Via Lactea" long before the tomb of Saint James was believed to be in the Santiago environs.  Somehow the writer neglects to mention that there is not an iota of evidence, literary or otherwise, claiming that such pilgrimages in fact existed as such.
While the tenor of the article appears to be meant to minimize the religious influence in the Camino the author then owns to a "miracle" on his behalf attributed to  Saint James. Go figure!
Ill information abounds in the writing. Somehow the author asserts that "Santiago" is the ancient version of the name Saint James.  How anyone interested, in the least, in the ways and culture of Spain could possibly not know that Santiago is one of the most currently and continuously popular names bestowed on baby boys not only in Spain but throughout all the Spanish-speaking countries is indeed a puzzlement.
Well, enough of that.
I should like to mention that about a year ago Martin Sheen and his son published a book, actually written by them, not only about making the movie "The Way"  but about (I think, unintended) personal revelations which were, to me, profoundly impressive about the relation of a father with a son and a son with a father. The book also mentions aspects about Martin Sheen's personal life that go a long way to explain why he made the movie.  He was only 21 years old when Emilio was born, and throughout his professional career whenever he went on location (which was often) he took his entire family with him. While most of us know that he donated his earnings from the The Way movie to Camino-related groups, decades ago  when he was in India during the filming of the movie "Ghandi" he was so saddened by the poverty that he found there that he donated not only us salary from the movie, but other personal assets to try and somehow alleviate the poverty he found there..... and so on, and on, and on.
Reportedly, Martin Sheen is a devoutly religious man who doesn't miss Mass on Sundays and  attributes his overcoming personal huge problems, including a heart attack, to the unwavering faith that he has followed since childhood.
I don't remember the name of the book (which I gave away to a friend) but I am sure that anyone truly interested in the Camino would enjoy reading it,
very much indeed; it is like seeing the movie all over again, but from the inside.
Myself, I haven't been to Santiago since the close of 2010.  For selfish, and petty,  reasons, mostly:.
I have two friends in Santiago who are a dream: both are connected with the Pilgrims' office, possess graduate degrees, are multi-lingual and cosmopolitan (both have lived abroad) and know everything about the first and last Santiago stone, folk-tale, history, and then some.  One of the lures of Santiago for me was the tremendous pleasure of their company and their sharing so generously  their Santiago erudition. But a couple of years ago, compelled by the female "biological clock"  they got married, within months of one another, proceeded to have children (one a lovely boy and the other a beautiful girl) and both disappeared into motherhood..... as it should be, I suppose.  While I know that they would still find time for me if I went to visit I love them too dearly to intrude in their family bliss.  It is too soon. Perhaps I'll go for Christmas.
Which is why I have been sort-of absent from this venue.  I haven't had much to say.
Except for one thing:  those of us who subscribe to Time-Warner cable can get a special Spanish super-package for an extra $5 per month through which one can get directly from Spain TVE and another national TV channel from Spain, and about 10 or so different channels from South America.  TVE has been presenting a series called "La mitad invisible" (the unseen other half) which covers aspects of popular artistic efforts and sites generally not published. A couple of weeks ago they had one such program  about the Santiago Cathedral and some aspects of the Camino. It was, indeed revelatory and mind-boggling........ I watched and my Santiago pedantry and arrogance were duly humbled.  Golly, so many, many things that I did not know about! so many misconceptions that I harbored! 
I'll see whether a copy of the program can be obtained. It is priceless.
Meanwhile, hugs to all. 
Rosina

-----Original Message-----
From: E. O. Pederson <eopederson at msn.com>
To: saintjames <saintjames at yahoogroups.com>; GOCAMINO <gocamino at oakapple.net>
Sent: Sat, Apr 20, 2013 10:10 am
Subject: [Gocamino] New York Times Article on Walking the Camino

The travel section of tomorrow's New York Times includes an article by Jack Hitt 
about walking the Camino with his daughters. Hitt wrote one of the first, and in 
my estimation still one of the best, personal recollections of walking the 
Camino, walking in the 1990s before it was "developed," Off the Road (New York: 
Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-7432-6111-9). 

The link to tomorrow's article is:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/travel/hiking-through-history-with-your-daughters.html?_r=0&nl=travel&adxnnl=1&emc=edit_tl_20130420&adxnnlx=136

E. O. Pederson
Fairfax, VA

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