Camino a Santiago - caminoasantiago.com

The history or legend , because there are theories for all kind of tastes, starts on 813, when the bishop from Iria Flavia, Teodomiro, informs to the King Alfonso II about a discovery of a tomb with rests of the body of the apostle Santiago. He had been decapitated in the year 42 in Palestine, but his followers stole the body and put it in a little stone boat which arrived in Iria, afterwards he had been transferred to Santiago where a cathedral was built up starting year 1075. The things before where done without any rush and penalizations, and much better; I am sure that this one will survive to the one in Madrid (Almudena) even though it is placed next to the sea and this makes to be cleaned very often due to high humidity problems.

The Glory’s Portico, maybe one of top works from the Romanic, was started on 1168 by the master Mateo and finished by his follower on1211. It is very good covered from the climatology because it creates a second facade in the main entrance, there where “santo dos croques” stands, and a column which is shaped with the hand of millions of pilgrims.

Later works added for instance the baroque façade at the Obradoiro market place, which in my opinion is the least harmonic with the rest of the cathedral, I rather see the Platerías façade or the Quintana one, with the Clock Tower, the Berenguela and the Saint Door, which is normally not visual except the Saint Years (Xacobeo), when this is opened in an official event to start the Xacobeo Year, and the Door is kept opened in order to let the pilgrims pass through.

There are even earlier theories at the Romans time or even at the Celts, as a mystic way. It is said that through the Milky Way anywhere in Europe you can reach Santiago, as curiosity Compostela “Campo de estrellas” or “way of stars” in English, is said that comes from that name; but the way did not finish in Santiago but continued up to Finisterre; the last earth known by the human beings, and further was incognito. One of best books from Sánchez Dragó, “Gargoris and Habidis, Magic History of Spain “ together with Magic History of Santiago’s Road, tells the theory that the rest of what Prisciliano was, a Galician man which confronted to the Church hierarchy in the IV century and he was executed in the german city of Treveris in the year 385.

Goethe said “Europe started with Santiago’s Way”, and his history has always amazed me. I met dozens of pilgrims in the 80’s when I was studying in Santiago and pilgrims where no tourist fashion, 1000 pilgrims in 1980 against 150.000 in 1999, and I have it literally at the door of my house, because 20 meters from my house in LA Coruña there is a St. Jacob’s Shell, which is the symbol used to represent the way, in this case the English one because they were coming by boat to Coruña o Ferrol, and from there they continued up to Santiago.

In 2004 25th of July will be a party all over Spain because this falls on a Sunday, and therefore it will be again a Rejoice year or better said a Xacobeo year. This norm provokes that on leap years there is an irregular cadence, of 11, 6, 5, 6, 11, 6 … years, latest years 1993 and 1999 and the following 2004, 2010; 2021, 2027, 2032… Last one on century XXI will be year 2094, which seems far away but if we look back at Camino de Santiago’s begin, it has been done officially already since 1122, since Calixto II the Pope proclaims the Bula. In 1999 it was named Cultural Itinerary of Europe though Community, and since 1993 the number of pilgrims hasn’t stop growing geometrically, by foot, by bike, by horse or by other means such as roller skaters.

The first question that you might ask yourself is, what other roads are there? Because the most known one which is followed by 95% of the pilgrims is the French one, which enters to Galicia through Piedrafita de Cabreiro. The millenary history tells us that there are more than pilgrims are, more in depth in the previous times when there were no roads or signs. With the years the roads became unified to 8 principal ones: apart from the French there is the North Way, The English Way, the Primitive Way, Coast Way, the Finisterre-Muxía Way, the Portuguese Way and the Silver Way. Just like an octopus with 8 tentacles which hugs Galicia and crosses all type of landscapes, from valleys to mountains, rivers, beaches, forests and nature on its most virgin states in some of the places.