Pilgrim Badges - Victoria and Albert Museum

I've written before about the history of pilgrim badges and on a visit to the Victoria and Albert museum I found two from Santiago.

This one is jet (a minor gemstone produced from decomposing wood being placed under high pressure millions of years ago. In Britain it is famously found in Whitby by the area around Santiago is also famous for it and you can still find items made from it when you visit the city) and has silver mounts and shows Saint James in his Pilgrim hat and holding his staff (Victoria and Albert Museum)

This one dates from 1600-1700 and shows Saint James' head and is also made of jet (Victoria and Albert museum)

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The Camino Primitivo

The Camino Primitivo (or the Original Way) is reportedly the very first Camino Way to Santiago in the 9 th century when most of Spain was under the control of the Moors and it runs from near the city of Ovideo in Asturias as it starts in Villavicosa (which also lies on the Camino Norte so many people follow this Way from Basque city of San Sebastian (Donosti in Basque) or in from the French border at Irun ( this route then hugs the Bay of Biscay passing through Guernica, Bilbao, Santander, Llanes before going under the Picos de Europa and then heads along the coast to Ovideo) before branching off onto the Primitivo which goes across the mountains and through the city of Lugo before joining the Frances at Melide. The route is 320km long. Image taken from https://viaalpina2013.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/camino-del-norte-camino-primitivo/

Symbols of the three main Christian Pilgrimages

The symbol of the Pilgrim to Santiago is the Scallop shell of which many can be found on the coast of Galicia and it is actually a symbol of the Pilgrimage (and has become a symbol of other Christian Pilgrimages too) partly because you could find the shell easily there and so could go back home and show it off as proof that you had done the Pilgrimage. It has also been included in carvings in some Churches.

Camino Mascot

Those who have walked the Camino will probably have seen one or more of the Camino mascots along the Way but do you know their names? http://m.elcorreogallego.es/xacobeo/ecg/xubi-jubila-pelegrin-mascota-xacobea/idEdicion-2010-06-08/idNoticia-555962/

On the Camino

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