All-weather training

My I-pod weather forecast never mentioned snow.  But by the time we reached our turn-around point the dark clouds moved in and the light snow swirled around us. A wonderful thing these I-pods really are.  I realized I could take pictures with it.  Here is the road I like to walk down best.  By the time we reached the car again, there were no tracks from any other vehicles and we were very much alone on the road.  Out of the wilderness you might say as there were no homes nearby either.  It was great and exactly what I used to search for years ago.   

Rain in January

As I was walking yesterday afternoon it began to sprinkle rain.  It was amazing.  It smelled like rain and springtime and all good things to come.  I breathed deeply and turned my face into the rain.  What a lovely way to spend an afternoon in January while thinking of my coming pilgrimage. 

The Shell

 
When you see the scallop shell in images or Romanesque art and architecture you will know that this is a reference to pilgrimage made to Santiago de Compostela.  It is used most frequently as a symbol along the trail, particularly in Spain.  However, the Romanesque cathedrals in France along the Le Puy route also have this symbol in their sculptures.  This is a good indicator that the true pilgrim route went through these communities one thousand years ago. 

The search for relics

For the first week of classes I read a book called The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity by Peter Brown.  It is an interesting concept about the rise of Christianity and the veneration of the Saints.  I have not found much written specifically on this topic.  Peter Brown's lectures became part of this book, or rather part of this book follows his renown lectures.  Following I will include a few exerpts that I think might explain this.  But what is important is the concept of the veneration of Saints' relics - those parts of a Saint's remains that were kept at a Church where they could be honored and kept close to draw pilgrims to pray.  They are often associated with miracles gifted to the humble.

“The graves of the saints – whether these were the solemn rock tombs of the Jewish patriarchs in the Holy Land or, in Christian circles, tombs, fragments of bodies or, even physical objects that had made contact with these bodies – were privileged places, where contrasted poles of Heaven and Earth met.”

“…the saint in Heaven was believed to be ‘present’ at his tomb on earth.”

“To a Mediterranean man of traditional background, much of this would have been peripheral, and some of it, downright disgusting.”

“The rise of the Christian cult of saints took place in the great cemeteries that lay outside the cities of the Roman world; and, as for the handling of dead bodies, the Christian cult of saints rapidly came to involve the digging up, the moving, the dismemberment—quite apart from much avid touching and kissing—of the bones of the dead, and frequently, the placing of these in areas from which the dead had once been excluded….But the impact of the cult of saints on the topography of the Roman city was unambiguous: it gave greater prominence to areas that had been treated as antithetical to the public life of the living city….”

The idea was that Saint’s relics could redeem one’s sins.  This veneration of the dead was a considerable change from previous religious practice and in a way, brought Christians together in places of worship in ways they had never been (permitted) to before.  It was not long before this that Christians were forced to live in ghettos in Rome, persecuted for practicing Christianity off and on for centuries, and the saints were often the martyrs for their beliefs. 

Much of this took place in the time known as Late Antiquity, around the 6th century, C.E. By the 11th century massive churches were being constructed as places of worship and with a relic to draw the faithful, pilgrims made their way to be healed.  The architecture of this period is known as Romanesque.  For a wonderful look at the architecture of the pilgrim routes across France, with descriptions of the routes, photographs and videos of the marvelous architecture please try this website:  http://artsymbol.wordpress.com/.  Some of the places along the route that I will be travelling include: Le Puy en Velay, Conques, Moissac and these have terrific videos you can view.

I'm taking you with me

Wherever I go you are welcome to come. With you I will share my adventures; the ups and the downs, the amazement and the pain. I will teach you what I have learned. Together we will see history close-up and personally.  We will walk through trees that are different from our own. And travel paths trodden by many others to places of reverence.  From the flowers to the clouds, the pilgrims to the animals, I will go on to carry you with me.   And when I find what I have been looking for I will call upon you again and invite you to join me once more.  Then we will drink wine, sing our songs, and go on happily ever after. 

Leaving on an airplane

Got my ticket! Woohoo! Flying into Paris and out of Lisbon.  It's becoming a reality!  I'll be spending my birthday in France this year.  Can't beat that.  I never would have imagined that I would spend a block of time overseas.  I'll be counting the days now that's for certain. As the tune goes "all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. The dawn is breaking, it's early morn. The taxi's waiting, he's blowing his horn. Already I'm so lonesome I could cry...." I love that song.  I think I will have to make a trip to the old country (home state) one more time maybe before I leave but, maybe not.  And then we are off! Ahem, I am off!

Embrace your inner gypsy

I've been working on the technical aspects of spending several months in a foreign country.  Topics like how do I get money if I don't carry it all with me and so forth.  I think I mapped out the best possibilities.  Transportation to and from the start and finish and in-betweens was a concern.  I spent a few days working on how to get from Paris to Le Puy.  Then, as I was considering the numbers of days available I realized that I could actually take time to tour Paris in the springtime! Wow, what an idea! Can you say  "Take me to the Louvre"? Holy cow, can I ever!

Getting ready

I haven't been posting much so I haven't been documenting my progress.  I am looking forward to getting my flights arranged to France and out of Spain this month.  I am counting down the months now.  I will go sometime in May and start in the South of France at Le Puy en Velay.  This route is called the Via Podensis, an extension of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela into the South of France.  It is the most commonly travelled extension into France.  While this route goes through some tremendous countryside and visits many medieval towns it is actually not part of the medieval route.  The Via Podensis was developed in the 20th century as France was building hiking trails across country and promoting tourism through its smaller towns.  But there are some very interesting ancient castles and ruins as well as small towns where the majority of the structures date back to the medieval period.  I will be doing this route by myself and I plan to hop-skip across the 500 miles of this route by taking the train at some intervals.  I won't have time to complete this whole route before I meet up with my hiking partner in St. Jean Pied de Port sometime at the end of May, beginning of June. 

I've been getting my gear ready and setting aside clothing I plan to take on the trip.  Clothing is one of my biggest hangups and I'm certain I will overpack.  But since I plan to go in early to mid May and I will be crossing a couple mountain ranges I need to be prepared for cold weather as well as the heat of mid summer on the meseta in Spain where temperatures can get to 100 degrees.  I am fairly confident I have all my other gear either ready or set to order.  I am going to walk in Brooks running shoes - they are so comfortable - and I will buy two pair to travel with, so that I have a second pair if the first are wet.  They are lightweight and should be easy to pack. 

My biggest challenge yet is getting the historical detail I need to be able to complete the class requirements while I am on the Camino.  I will be earning 4 credit hours during the summer in France and Spain but I am not yet certain what that will entail.  I've been doing some reading on other peoples journals of their Camino and since my courses this spring are both relative to the medieval period in Europe I hope to have a better idea by mid-semester of what I will need to research for my summer special topics course.  In the meantime I will try to share some interesting bits of information about the medieval period and how it relates to this journey through this blog.  Happy new year!

Towns

I've had a couple recent experiences with people that have been more than a little discouraging.  I am not certain why there is such a pervasive attitude here that destroys community and makes people so self serving as to encourage the frequency of accusations and blame but it is more than common.  People can build a town to be a destination place for others to come but without sharing and goodwill there isn't community.  My uncle creates community in his own little social group but as a whole there is little community in this town.  Unless, of course, there is a big snowstorm.  But even then there seem to be more people willing to profit than to be neighborly and help each other out. 

I wonder if this is commonplace in our American society today or if it is somewhat unique to small towns.  As I read the newspaper from my hometown I get the feeling that the same attitudes are present there.  It is a much bigger town than this one but still there is a cutthroat mentality when it comes to profiting from others that, to me, destroys the ideal of working together for the benefit of all. 

If you don't know me well you may not realize that I am a big movie buff.  I love movies.  I devour the context of movies and the way they exemplify what we value in our society.  There have been a couple movies that have demonstrated the ideal of community, in so far as they show a group of people working together for the common good and safety of their community.  Can there be such places in real life?  I wonder.  I wonder if our economy promotes the disintegration of group effort and leans to the benefit of self at others' epense.  Shouldn't it be possible to work together in large groups as easily as it is in small groups?  I will look for these towns that show community and maybe I will find a new place to settle where people support each other rather than take from each other.  Perhaps this journey will take a long time, but wouldn't it be worth it to find a home where even the neighbor you do not know is willing to help rather than take from you?

Love

I believe I have loved a man more than once but it was the one time, the first time, that I have never been able to let go of.  It is important to have that one long love.  If you love, love well and love deeply.  I believe it.  I have done it and I have lost it, some time ago.  And I cannot ever get it back but I keep it close to my heart every day.  It is important to remember and to feel it.  It is important to go on living well and to the fullest possibility.  Maybe I will find a companion, eventually; someone who I can love and be loved by.  To share good times and bad times and to care for each other.  I live for that day.