Walking to Santiago
I look at the pilgrim’s Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain as a metaphor for life. Each individual’s journey through life. Your own journey through life. Although I have not yet done “The Walk,” (and I wait with patient enthusiasm to do so, soon), I have done much study to get a sense of what the Camino de Santiago is all about. I have read many books, viewed many web sites, and visited many Camino group Facebook pages, to get a feeling of the Camino and learn its history.
Although there are many commonalities in these different accounts - the weather, the blisters, the challenge of the climb, and the blazing sun on the long flat Meseta - they all had their own adventurous story to tell, the story of their journey to visit the relics of St James at the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela.
Stories of the Camino date back 900 years with the discovery of the Codex Calextinus written by an unknown author sharing his thoughts and experiences. The Codex Calextinus, kept safely at the Cathedral de Santiago, consists of 5 books and an appendix. Book V is considered the first individual account of the Camino and a traveler’s guide. It includes information about the towns, the churches, and places to stay along the route, as well as where to find safe water, and warns of several sources with tainted water.
From reading about these different experiences, both modern and ancient accounts, I learned that each person had to walk their own Camino. They each handled their challenges in their own way, not without help, but in their own way. Some had to learn how to do this along the way, that the walk was their own to make. They learned to walk at their own pace, make their own decisions when to rest and when to move on. I believe that by the end most realized this is how life should be lived. You should Walk Your Own Camino.
If you would like to read a translation of Codex Calextinus Book V, click the link below. Paperback and eBook are available.
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