The influx is sparking concerns among locals about respect and preservation of their community.

Roberto Almuina, 73, chairman of the 600-member residents' association, voices these concerns: "We don't have the slightest problem sharing our city with visitors. The only thing we ask for is respect."

Every day, around 1,500 pilgrims arrive on foot or by bike, alongside other tourists and day-trippers who come by bus or cruise ship.

This surge leads to congested streets and noise pollution, with city guides using loudspeakers, despite regulations.

Videos on social media show groups of pilgrims entering Santiago de Compostela, often singing and shouting.

"This has to stop" one resident is heard saying in a video.

Almuina describes the situation as "unbearable" and criticises the large groups blocking the narrow streets of the old town.

"Groups of 40 people in six-metre-wide streets in the old town are not welcome" he exclaims.

Cyclists navigating through the historic centre and littering in the cathedral square are also major issues.

"This isn't a picnic area or a beach on the Mediterranean. This no longer seems normal to me. I don't do that myself when I'm in a foreign city" Almuina adds.

Fragile Santiago campaign

The residents' association seeks dialogue with local authorities instead of protesting.

Almuina suggests setting up information centres at key city entrances to inform visitors about proper behaviour.

The guidelines are often overlooked - despite the existing "Fragile Santiago" campaign which advises pilgrims to avoid noise and refrain from using walking sticks that cause pavement damage.

Almuina also proposes a tax on day-trippers to cover waste disposal costs, arguing that pilgrims should not be exempt from such fees.

Many popular tourist destinations have already implemented such a tax.

Mass tourism is likely to keep the city busy in the future.

Last year, 446,077 pilgrims received their diplomas in Santiago de Compostela, setting a record.

By mid-July 2024, the pilgrims' office reported a 15% increase over the previous year.

Sources

Katholisch

The Economic Times

A low pilgrim population in the 80s turned an ancient path into more of a medieval legend.

Rather than a well-known travel destination, the ancient ‘Way of St James' was then little more than a dusty relic of Christian, and pagan, history.

However, 21 years later, statistics show that 301,036 pilgrims received their Compostela certificates in 2017.

The powerful resurgence in the popularity of pilgrimage, particularly of the Way of St James, is undeniable.

Is pilgrimage providing the perfect nourishment for the ritualistic needs of a spiritually hungry generation?

The concept of ‘going on pilgrimage' has traditionally evoked many ideas: undertaking a journey to serve a personal purpose; giving expression to a difficult situation through bodily action, in the hope of securing an outcome; following in the footsteps of many who have walked the same path before; fulfilling a religious obligation.

Camino

The idea of pilgrimage has over time evolved to meet the expectations of a 21st century world and yet still, whether the hope is for healing, miracles, peace, or even weight loss, people choose to walk the gruelling 500 miles of the Camino, with the bare minimum of possessions, more than a thousand years after the first pilgrims.

There is little doubt that the Camino owes much of its newfound fame to the media.

Through Martin Sheen's 2010 film, The Way and the well-read German book, Ich bin daan mal weg (‘I'm off then'), to the BBC's recent celebrity challenge, Camino: The Road To Santiago, audiences around the world have discovered the charms of the pilgrimage and have flocked to immerse themselves in the wonders of the Camino.

The common threads of these pieces weave one theme: a focus on the inner life with the hope of some dramatic, irrevocable change by the end of the journey.

Biblical and anthropological insights could shed some light on why this might be.

The God of the Old Testament provided the people of Israel with ritual instruction, intending to show them how properly to praise their creator and provider.

Rituals were the intended outlet for the heart, reinforced with a physical action.

Fasting

One such example is fasting.

As Karen Eliasen describes: ‘Fasting as a ritual act is not merely a symbol or a metaphor for some other-worldly activity. It is an experience of concrete, this-worldly changes.'

Eliasen continues to say that these physical changes are part of a communication and dialogue between God and the people.

In a similar way, pilgrimage is a way of physically enacting and embodying a conversation with God.

It encompasses all manner of the human being: it is spatial, physical and it speaks to the inner emotional and spiritual dynamics of a person.

To provide an example of this in another cultural context, anthropologist Catherine Allerton studied the padong journeys undertaken by the brides of Manggarai of Eastern Indonesia, whereby brides would walk long distances from their kin towards their spouse's family, wailing on the way as a fully embodied image of the journey the heart is also taking.

Such pilgrimage rituals witness to an important inner journey and to the importance of documenting emotions through physical manifestations.

However, it is the anthropological theory of ‘liminality' developed by Victor Turner that might be the most important lens through which to study the contemporary allure of pilgrimage. Continue reading

• Emma Holland is Producer of Pray as you go. She walked the Camino in 2014.
• Image: Thinking Faith

Dear Friends
Today we finish our meeting of the Bishops Conference in Auckland and I fly out of New Zealand for five weeks.

As many of you know I walked the Camino eight years ago, leaving St Jen Pied de Port in France, up over the Pyrenees and on to Santiago de Compostella which I reached 30 days later and after almost 900 kilometres of walking. This is known as the "French Camino".

On Sunday 6 May I will begin walking from Lisbon to Compostella, the same place as last time, but this time it will be the "Portuguese Camino".

In 2010 my intention as I walked, prayed and reflected on this ancient pilgrimage was to pray for vocations to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Wellington. I will be doing the same this time.

You might like to join me in praying for Vocations as I walk to what is remembered as the tomb of St James.

The Camino was a wonderful experience for me last time.

I appreciated the time to walk and pray, to reflect and ponder as well as meeting many other pilgrims along the road and generally thinking about life's pilgrimage.

I am sure that these next few weeks will be just as blessed as last time.

It was very much like a retreat last time, and there are images and moments of discovery fixed very clearly and vividly in my mind, some of them are as clear and sharp—and just as important as images and discoveries I made on a 30 Day retreat over thirty years ago.

I will be carrying a little book with me entitled "A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino."

For each day of the pilgrimage, this guidebook has much practical information, with a section called "The Practical Path" and another called "The Mystical Path".

One of the day's Mystical Path reflections says this:

"Have you found the waymark that points you in the direction of our true Destination? Does it look familiar or are you left in doubt as to the right course to take? One thing is certain, it will only be found by following the wisdom of the heart. Everything we see with the physical eye is likely to lead us away from the mystical. We have become intoxicated with the things of this world and fallen into a deep stupor. We search for relics housed in stone buildings that mask the true home of spirit. We have forgotten the way Home .........."

There are many such reflections. I will have plenty of time to pray and ponder, to reflect and to give thanks. You will all be with me as I journey on pilgrimage to the tomb of St James.

With every blessing. + John

The film, opening in New Zealand on August 6, focuses on the experiences of the pilgrims and their reaction to a daunting, but inspirational, journey on an ancient pilgrim route, called "The Way of St James".

It takes six pilgrims from their starting point to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain where legend says the remains of James the Apostle, the patron Saint of Spain, lie buried and focuses on the most common route to Santiago ­ from France, across the Iberian Peninsula, to Santiago.

The journey takes over 30 days.

The film is a real­life variation of the fictional movie, "The Way" (2010), starring Martin Sheen, which also honoured the Camino de Santiago by showing a group of pilgrims doing the walk.

Sheen is also associated with the making of this documentary.

The pilgrims from 3 to 73 years come from different countries. Together, they cross an entire country along hiking paths, stony roads, and narrow tracks with just a backpack, light provisions, a sense of adventure, and a willingness to find a deeper, more spiritual purpose to their existence.

The film tells us forcefully, that "the real Camino is their lives".

• Tomas Moreno is doing the Camino walk without any idea about its physical rigours, and he starts the journey with blisters on his feet.
• Wayne Emde is doing the walk to honour the memory of his dead wife and is still grieving about his loss.
• Jack Greenhaigh is doing the walk to accompany his friend, Wayne.
• Annie O'Neill is committed religiously to the walk, but her physical health raises serious questions about whether she will be able to complete her journey.
• Sam from Brazil, is clinically depressed and has just lost her job, and a boyfriend on drugs, and is searching for what should come next in her life.

A travelogue and a spiritual quest

As a travelogue, the scenery is glorious, and the film's photography is outstanding.

The movie takes us from bright sun to freezing rain through forests, valleys, over misty mountains, and by spectacular lakes and rivers.

The mountains form the foreground to richly coloured sunsets, and the fields are full of flowers.

As well, the film offers the viewer a charming and picturesque look at the different towns and villages along The Way, and we are transported to Santiago through towns and villages littered with scenic monasteries, churches, and wayside chapels.

As a spiritual quest, the film is inspiring.

There are many reasons why the six pilgrims want to complete the walk, and the movie captures the variability of their different motivations very movingly. They vary in their religious background, and in the particular motivation for why they want to do the journey.

They get tired, cry from time to time (not just from pain), and deal courageously with the obstacles in their path.

They are exhausted and exhilarated, feel lonely, want loneliness, and are deeply grateful for the sharing of the highs and lows of their experiences with those around them.

The film captures the trials and tribulations of a pilgrim's journey, and demonstrates shifts in personal self­awareness and the deepening of relationships with other pilgrims.

First and foremost, however, it illustrates the spiritual growth of the pilgrims themselves.

An underlying message of the movie is the worthiness of those one meets on The Way.

Anyone found in need on The Way is always helped.

Someone is there to carry a pilgrim's pack, to exchange a pair of boots for a better pair, to push a young child's pram, or just to offer friendship and solace.

The film dramatises the different ways people find their purposes in life and the courage to pursue them.

The film is well paced, well­directed, not obtrusively religious, and never loses its focus on people as human beings.

This is a Catholic-­looking film by a non­-Catholic Director.

It sensitively celebrates the spiritual journey of a diverse group of people across a wide spectrum of emotions and experiences, and it conveys uplifting and powerful messages about resilience, courage, and hope.

- Peter W. Sheehan is associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Films and Broadcasting

Image: Natural Awakenings - New York City Edition

Walking the Camino opens in New Zealand theatres on August 6. See the movie and enter the competition to win a trip for two to Spain.

View the trailer