Camino Crafts - Christmas Decorations

Every year I make advent calendars for my family and this year I decided to give my Dad's a Camino-theme on some days by putting in some Camino-inspired decorations fro the tree along with his chocolate.

I bought some shrinkables plastic from the local bead shop (this is a sheet of plastic that looks like one of the acetate sheets that used to be used for OHPs that when heated in the oven shrinks in size). I then used some permanent markers to draw designs on the sheet

Two shells and an arrow from the Camino and the symbols for the via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome (which me and Dad have walked 20 miles of) and the walk to Mont St Michel in France (not walked yet!). Seeing as the sheet of plastic is completely see-through I simply placed it over my computer screen and traced these images straight from there but you could also print out images to copy or draw them free-hand

The next step is to cut the images out - obviously the Camino shell is quite fiddly and I didn't think the individual parts would shrink well so I cut around the image instead. At this stage use a hole punch to make a hole for your thread - the plastic becomes much thicker once shrunk and it's impossible to make a hole then

The shapes after shrinking - all that's left is to put some thread through the holes and then hang them on the tree!

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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.

Pilgrims' Trail to Saint Michels Mont, France

I have only walked two of the Camino routes (the Frances and Portuguese) and still want to try many of the others and yet I am also finding other Pilgrimage routes that I want to walk - I did the Pilgrims' Way in the summer which starts from Winchester which is also the starting point for the Pilgrims' Trail a 155 mile route that finishes at Mont St Michel in Normandy, France. The cult of saint Michel was popular in Britain from the 9th century and the Pilgrims walking this way were called Miquelots and many Pilgrims on their way to Santiago. The route is marked by green way markers in Hampshire taking walkers from Winchester to Bishop's Waltham to Southwick and then to Portsmouth where ferries are caught to France and Way markers become blue. Tradition says that, in 709 Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and told him to build a chapel in his honour on the island. The bishop obeyed and soon sent a group of monks over...

On the Camino

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