Anyone who has walked the Camino will have seen people
walking with daypacks probably setting off quite late compared to the Pilgrims
who stay in albergues who must set off by about eight. Maybe they walk
in a big group or maybe there are just a few of them but if you are a Pilgrim
who is walking with seven or eight kilograms on their back then you have
probably, as I have, been struck by some feeling of superiority and feeling
that you are the true Pilgrim whereas they are not but is that true? Is someone
who ‘slackpacks’ not really a Pilgrim?
Slackpacking is a term that probably comes from those
walking trails in America and, as defined by Slackpacker.com as someone who
has, ‘.. encountered backpackers with tons of gear .. and you want no part of
it. But you love hiking.. you’d enjoy week long expeditions, if only you could
jump in a car at the end of the day and head off to a comfortable bed.’ The
site suggests that a slackpacker, ‘represents anyone that fits in between
casual day hiker and the backpacker’ and another definition would be any kind
of trekking or hiking with support thus those who walk with a day bag on the
Camino would fit into this grouping.
However although the term may be new the way of walking is not – as Sylvia Nilsen writer of ‘Slackpacking the Camino Frances’ by Lightfoot Guides points out there is a history of slackpacking for example in the 15th century those who could afford it would travel on the postal service or in the 17th century when the ‘Grand Tour’ was popular people would travel with a ‘Cicerone’ (tour guide) and craters (travel agents) would arrange transport, accommodation and food to Santiago. In the middle ages pilgrims of wealth may even have been carried on litters by their servants or slaves.
However although the term may be new the way of walking is not – as Sylvia Nilsen writer of ‘Slackpacking the Camino Frances’ by Lightfoot Guides points out there is a history of slackpacking for example in the 15th century those who could afford it would travel on the postal service or in the 17th century when the ‘Grand Tour’ was popular people would travel with a ‘Cicerone’ (tour guide) and craters (travel agents) would arrange transport, accommodation and food to Santiago. In the middle ages pilgrims of wealth may even have been carried on litters by their servants or slaves.
A more modern example would be the use of Sherpas by those
climbing Mount Everest – Sir Edmund Hillary climbed in 1953 with his Nepalese
Sherpa Tenzig Norgay. On this expedition there were 362 porters and 20 Sherpas
and 10,000lb of baggage. Such was the importance of the Sherpas that throughout
his life Sir Hillary always said that he and Norgay reached the summit at
exactly the same time. Would anyone though say that Sir Hillary was not really
climbing Mount Everest just because he had help?
Historically we are told that pilgrims carried everything
that they required on their journey, carrying their cloak, staff, hat and
cockleshell along with enough food for the day (and money, if they had it, to
buy more supplies as they went). This though is a lot less than the modern
pilgrim will carry so should we call these early pilgrims slackpackers, after
all monasteries would have food and bedding waiting for them at the end of the
day.
Additionally most of the historical evidence we have of these pilgrims come from those on horses (probably because these were the richer pilgrims and thus more likely to be educated) so can we be entirely sure of the experience of pilgrims on foot? And those on horses cannot be seen to be physically carrying they luggage so should the horses, and not the riders, have gained the Compostelas?
One of the characters in ‘The Way’ makes the point that the
difficulty of the Camino is inherent in the Way itself – why make the road more
difficult?
Matthew 11:28 states that, ‘Come to me, all you who are
weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’ Should we take this as being a
guiding principle then for the Camino? Do you have to be ‘burdened’ in order to
be a Pilgrim? Or is this a too simplistic view of this passage, a burden after
all does not have to be physical but can be emotional or mental or related to
health. Ultimately not everyone can physically walk the Camino with a 7 or more
kilogram weight on their back and surely it would be wrong to force them to make
the attempt? This would mean they could not journey to Santiago and would cut
out those who make the Pilgrimage by wheelchair or the couple I saw on one
Camino where the husband was on a bike that pulled a trailer with the wife in
because she could not walk, can we doubt that she was doing all that she could
to reach Santiago in the best way that she could?
Then again we should perhaps consider the ‘rules of the
Way’: some albergues (I am thinking mainly here of the municipal albergues in
Galicia and also the Confraternity of Saint James’ two albergues one in Rabanal
and the other on the Northern Way although I am sure that there are many other
examples) do not allow Pilgrims ‘with support’ to stay with them. This then
suggests that Pilgrims who are slackpacking would find it easier to continue
walking on to another albergue than those who carry their own bags do, that
they are less deserving of assistance.
Perhaps though we must consider the ultimate source of
knowledge about whether someone is a pilgrim: the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
itself.
The Cathedral website (http://peregrinossantiago.es/eng/pilgrimage/the-compostela/) states that: ‘In the 20th century the growth of
pilgrims arriving in Santiago by vehicular transport gave rise to a concern
that the aspects of effort and sacrifice previously characteristic of the
pilgrimage may be lost or diminished. It was also the case that there was a
growth in certificates issued by other bodies which sought to imitate the
traditional Compostela. Therefore the Cathedral of Santiago decided that to
gain a Compostela a pilgrim had to provide evidence on a Credencial that they
had walked or travelled on horseback at least the last 100kms of their journey
to Santiago and, if travelling by bicycle, the last 200kms. That rule still
stands today.’
Thus the conditions for gaining a Compostela, as stated by
the Cathedral website, are:
- You need to have made the pilgrimage for religious reasons or for a similar motivation such as a vow.
- You need to have walked or travelled on horseback at least the last 100kms, or cycled the last 200kms, to arrive at the tomb of the Apostle in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
- You should collect at least two sellos (stamps) each day on your Credencial. This will usually be where you sleep and one other place such as a Church, ayuntamiento, café etc. You must ensure that you do this at least in the last 100 kms from the Cathedral of Santiago if you are walking or on horseback and 200 kms if you are travelling by bicycle.Nothing is said here about carrying any weight at all, yet alone all of your weight thus if the Cathedral says that ‘slackpackers’ are Pilgrims can we argue with that?We must also consider just what a pilgrimage is – is it not a journey where the journey is marked more by the spirit in which you travel rather than the method that you take?And most importantly it must be remembered that the Camino is a personal journey and so should we not all be free to make it in the best way for ourselves? And should we not be bale to walk without judging others as long as we walk or travel with respect to other pilgrims.Plus very few of us walk as the ‘original’ pilgrims of the medieval period did: how many of us start from our front door and walk all of the way to Santiago and then walk all of the way back home? Compared to them aren’t we all ‘slackpackers’?Well, what are your thoughts about this? Are ‘slackpackers’ Pilgrims or are they missing out on something important about the Way?
A pilgrim is a pilgrim, no matter the way he or she choose to do it's one way. For a lot of people, even walking with a daypack during 15 or more km it's a gigantic challenge.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think is that all pilgrims should respect each other. The ones who carry the heavier packs, and the ones who carry the lightest packs. All we are going to the same place, with the same objective. The way we do it it's different, but hey, I love bushwacking, and there are people who hate it because it's challeging.