jex weber
The Grand Social Experiment
From the Russian Rastafarian surf instructor to the all-male 52 piece US Glee Club; all walks of life unite on the Camino de Santiago.
words by carla hobbs
“ Why would any nut want to do that?” thought Neil McLeod upon first hearing of the Camino de Santiago.“ I put it down to overly religious zealots who probably carried wooden crosses and whipped themselves as they walked.”
After retiring five years later, the 60-year-old Scot has just completed the 500 mile walk across the north of Spain. A historic Christian pilgrimage, the route leads to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia where the relics of St James are believed to be located.
Attracting the pious in droves during the medieval era, the walk’ s popularity dwindled thereafter becoming almost non-existent. Recent years however have witnessed a sudden and dramatic increase in the number of people doing the Camino. While 55,004 pilgrims completed the route in 2000, by last year this had more than tripled to 192,488.
Paradoxically, this increase in popularity coincides with a notable decrease in Christian religiosity and church attendance across the majority of Europe. The unusual correlation is explained by the new motivations now driving people along the Camino. Indeed, the nature of the pilgrim has rather changed.
“ I was searching around for something exciting to do,” McLeod explains.“ Essentially I was bored of myself both mentally and physically.” After watching a film based on the pilgrimage called The Way,“ I decided there and then I wanted to complete the Camino.”
Along the route, the retired insurance consultant developed an unlikely friendship with a dreadlocked 33-year-old Russian surf instructor. McLeod says:“ He was a bit uncommunicative at first which suited me fine. After all, what did I have in common with a Rastafarian?” A few days spent walking together soon found McLeod having his blisters tended to by his improbable new friend.
The diversity of the pilgrims is closely related to the variety of their motivations. At 19 years old, Pablo Girault from Barcelona was also on the road to Santiago but as part of a drug rehabilitation programme. Travelling in a group of 20 men and four therapists, he explains:“ We were all trying to give up a destructive way of life.”
Over the course of their journey the group would meet a man trekking with a prosthetic leg, a grandfather journeying with his grandson who has Down’ s Syndrome, and a man who walks and sleeps beside his donkey. >>
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