Whether you have one Camino under your belt or are a recidivist peregrino, there is always something special about getting your Compostela (certificate of completion) and Certificate of Distance at the Pilgrim Office in Santiago de Compostela. The office’s title in Spanish is the Oficina de acogida al peregrino — Office of Welcome to theContinue reading “Santiago and the Pilgrim Certificates”
Category Archives: Menu del Peregrino – a blog about the Camino
¡Viva San Fermín! ¡Gora San Fermín!
July has just passed, and in northern Spain one of the most famous fiestas of all took place, that of San Fermín in Pamplona (6th–14th), where the enciero (‘running of the bulls’) every morning is covered by national and international TV. The celebration is ostensibly in honour of the city’s patron, San Fermín, a memberContinue reading “¡Viva San Fermín! ¡Gora San Fermín!”
Galician pallozas (round houses) and the Casa Consistorial (council building) of Lalín
It is easy to marvel at the great architectural jewels of the camino, like the miniature Romanesque temple of Santa María de Eunate in Navarra that echoes the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the splendid Gothic cathedral of Burgos whose Chapel of the Constables is a veritable cathedral within a cathedral, or Gaudi’s inimitable archbishop’s palaceContinue reading “Galician pallozas (round houses) and the Casa Consistorial (council building) of Lalín”
Domhnall O’Sullivan Beare (1560–1618) — Ireland’s first Knight of Santiago
The most famous military orders from the middle ages are undoubtedly the Knights Hospitaller (who still survive in the form of the Order of Malta) and the Knights Templar (who have no end of occult junk written about them). Within Spain a number of prominent orders were established, most notably those of Calatrava, Alcántara, MontesaContinue reading “Domhnall O’Sullivan Beare (1560–1618) — Ireland’s first Knight of Santiago”
Easter and Granada
April, the month that Chaucer’s pilgrims saddled up for Canterbury, telling tall tales along the way, and in which the feast of Easter is most likely to fall. Anyone who has spent Easter in Spain will know of the impressive religious spectacles and processions held in many parts. While living in Navarre in 2022, IContinue reading “Easter and Granada”
Patron saints for the times in which we live
As the feast of St Patrick falls in the middle of this month (17th March), I thought it might be a good time to look at Santiago’s position as patron of Spain and some of the challengers whom he has faced along over the centuries. I wrote previously about how Santiago’s position as patron wasContinue reading “Patron saints for the times in which we live”
Finding love on the Camino
The title of this post might be a bit misleading because although it’s inspired by St Valentine’s Day, it’s not about those pilgrim romances that somehow develop while we’re all daily in a physically unattractive state that would never pass muster for a date in civil society. Rather it’s about a practice I encountered onContinue reading “Finding love on the Camino”
Padrón, peppers and preaching
The town of Padrón lies about 25km south of Santiago de Compostela (for those of you who use alternative measurement systems, in miles that’s 15.5, or in Camino it’s a day’s walk), and is perhaps best known internationally for the pimientos de Padrón (Padrón peppers), small peppers fried in oil until they blister and areContinue reading “Padrón, peppers and preaching”
Santiago peregrino (‘the pilgrim’): a saint just like you?
Since literacy levels were low in the middle ages, artists used a variety of iconographic means to communicate to their audiences, not least to help the viewer identify the subject of their works. Saints, in particular, were recognizable by how they dressed and by items associated with a defining event in their lives or theirContinue reading “Santiago peregrino (‘the pilgrim’): a saint just like you?”
Remembering John Brierley (1948-2023)
A while back I was asked to pen a tribute to John Brierley (1948-2023), for the Camino Society Ireland. He was the author of the most significant set of guides to the Camino in the English language (I discussed the maps in them previously) and a key figure in the modern history of the CaminoContinue reading “Remembering John Brierley (1948-2023)”
Denis Casey 