12/7/15
Walking on the Santiago involves a personal interaction with
the symbols and landscape in many different ways. Three components contribute
to this personal interaction. The first of which is that the historical
significance symbolically influences the pilgrims. Actual warriors from history
had tred upon the pathway that runs through the Camino de Santiago. In
addition, the Camino has been a popular Christian pilgrimage for over 1000
years.
The second attribute is that the symbolic statues amongst
the trail convey deep meanings. Dr. Redick stated in his “Walking the Camino”
paper that “The two images of Saint James, seeming to gaze down at me from east
and west, remain indelible impressions of that day.” This quote seems to state
that these two statues emanate a deeper meaning than one may initially see on
the surface. Dr. Redick stated that the two opposite images, peace and war,
being in the same plaza symbolizes the “discourses of stability and change.” He
said that these two images haunted his journey from the beginning of the Camino
in France. This symbolic nature of the statues caused interpersonal reflections
and impressions amongst the pilgrims.
The third aspect that contributes to this personal
interaction is that the many symbols that comprise the Santiago journey require
personal interpretation. One can engage in personal interaction with the
symbols by interpreting them in one’s own way. Mythic and ritual symbols are present
on the Camino. It is stated in the paper that, “Pilgrims use all their senses
to gather information for a meaningful interpretation of the journey.” This
quote is followed up by the assertion that pilgrims insert themselves bodily (rather
than merely reading or hearing) into “a sacred narrative, a myth, and thereby
identify bodily with the story.”
No comments:
Post a Comment