What is Pilgrimage? Expectations for the journey

By -

              To me, a pilgrimage is simply a significant journey. A pilgrimage is often towards a certain destination, but there are also internal and spiritual pilgrimages that can be done within the self. However, when I think about pilgrimage, I often think of a place pilgrimage such as the one we are doing to Santiago de Compostela. Although I am not necessarily expecting a life-changing revelation, I am hoping that the path will give me some time for inward reflection.

              To be a pilgrim is to be in a liminal state. Pilgrims are at a threshold, or an in-between state. Perhaps I entered into this liminal state after I got accepted to this study abroad program. Or maybe it was when I started packing. Or when I stepped off the plane in Madrid. It could even begin with my first step on the Camino. To be a pilgrim is to always have new beginnings. A pilgrim is interested in the journey just as much as the destination.

              One thing I am bringing with me on this trip is everything I learned in L373. This includes the historical context of the Camino and tales about both medieval and modern treks on the Way. It also includes “The Way” and other pictures and videos I’ve seen of the Camino and Santiago de Compostela. In some ways, this knowledge will help me because I will know what to look for and how to connect what I observe to things I learned in class. However, I also want to leave some of this knowledge behind and just experience the path on my own and make my own conclusions about it.

              A question I have for myself is ‘am I capable?’ I’m hoping that the Camino will be a challenge, physically, mentally, and socially, and that I will be able to rise to it. I also have a question of the path’s capability – to change me or open my eyes in a way I’ve never experienced. I don’t want to force myself to feel anything, so I want to walk and just see how the path works on me.

              For expectations, I really hope to experience the feeling of communitas, not only with my fellow IU students, but also with other pilgrims I may encounter along the way. I’ve experienced feelings like communitas in the past, but I think it would be cool to have that feeling in the context of pilgrimage. This is also something that scares me because I am not always the best at communicating with others, especially those who do not speak English. I want this journey to push me out of my comfort zone and make me put my Spanish skills into practice. I also want to understand why people went (and still go) on pilgrimage. I know many of the answers to that question already, but I think I will gain a new understanding by actually walking the path myself. The thing I want to achieve is a feeling of accomplishment when I see the cathedral in Santiago and knowing that I earned my Compostela.

              To end this post and begin my time on the Camino, I’ll leave a quote from “To Shake the Sleeping Self” by author/traveler Jedidiah Jenkins that encapsulates one of the reasons I chose to travel this summer – a change from routine and a chance to go and see.

              “When you don’t know what to do, you travel. You go out and see. You have to rattle the bed, shake yourself out.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

For all my fellow sufferers

By -
Image
Day four of walking the Camino! Today was a short (relatively speaking) 17 kilometers. My back no longer really feels my backpack, and fairly soon into the walk my feet—grown tired (at last!) from begging me to stop pounding them down uneven declines—have a tendency to go numb(ish). However, today I thought my right knee would explode. When I got out of bed this morning I slipped on a compression band, sliding it over the already swollen bulge that is my knee cap. The knee groaned, creaked, and shot warning fires in protest. I explained (polite but mildly impatient) that there simply is no other way, that it was time to walk it off (figuratively) even though walking (literally) was the cause of its inflammation in the first place. It protested violently with every step. I argued that Spain was beautiful and the journey lovely. The knee remained unimpressed—insisting that I should go on without it and it would take a taxi and meet up with me in Salceda. I did what I could to drown the ...
Read more

Communitas on the Camino

By -
As our destination for the night began to come into view, I felt a strong feeling of accomplishment at the work that was done that day. We had walked quite a ways from our starting point in Sarria and to finally see our destination was relieving. As the town of Portomarín came into view, I looked back to reminisce on the trek of the day. As I was looking back, I was surprised to see a group of 15-20 pilgrims that had been traveling with our group on and off throughout the day.  When I turned around and saw all the pilgrims traveling together to reach our temporary destination, I was overcome with the feeling of “communitas.” Communitas is described in our readings as the feeling we get when we are united together as pilgrims, where geographic and social identities are lost in the act of pilgrimage. The differences between us become less important as we share a common goal.  This is a feeling that I feel will be present throughout our journey. The feeling of unity between pilgr...
Read more

The end of the earth (or just the beginning)

By -
Image
Ahead lies the Atlantic Ocean, a vast expanse of sapphire blue water that goes on for miles and miles, even beyond what can be seen. Behind is the lighthouse that sits at the point of Finisterre. Underneath my feet are the granite boulders that line the coast and the mountains surrounding the estuary. All around are pilgrims and tourists stopping to take in the seaside view. Being in Finisterre, it is easy to see why it was once thought to be the end of the earth. I take a moment to sit down on one of the rocks, which is warm because the sun is brilliantly beating down on Galicia today. Looking out across the ocean, I start to imagine what it would have been like for medieval pilgrims and people even before then who traveled to Finisterre and truly believed that it was the edge of the earth. I’ll be honest, it is hard for me to imagine that because I know that 3,000 miles away lies the United States. However, I am amazed by the leap of faith it took for explorers to travel o...
Read more