Scallop shell & Credencials....

[Emma]

Hi all,

I am flying in to Biarritz on 27th July - very excited - and bussing/training it to SJPP. Should I get my credencial here in Ireland before I go or will it be better to get it in SJPP? Is there a charge/expected donation for it? If so, how much?

Also, I've seen/read about pilgrims carrying scallop shells with them - I would like to have a small one with me. Should I get one before I get there or will I pick one up in SJPP?

Cheers!

Emma

[Covey]

Most Pilgrims get their Pilgrim Passport, called the "Carnet De Pelerin De Saint-Jacques" from the Pilgrim Office in St Jean.

This is of course a French based passport and those who start in Spain get a "Credencial Del Peregrino".

You can buy a scallop shell at any of the souvenir shops at St Jean and every stop to Santiago. You could of course go to a fishmonger and ask them for one, or buy a frozen Coquilles St Jacques in a supermarket, cook it for your supper, clean the shell and drill a hole for the string and hang on your pack!

[Emma]

Super, thanks Covey! I do like the idea of prepping dinner and then bringing that shell but am mad mad busy trying to get stuff organised before I go so think I'll either get one from a fishmongers or get one over there.

Much obliged!

[joe]

In the pilgrims office in St Jean, I recieved a free scallop shell, they have a box of them, just ask if they dont give you one. I already had one of my own but took it anyway... I later gave it to a German girl who didn't have one.

[Emma]

Thanks Joe! I'll bet the shell you gave the German girl means a bit more to her because she was given it along the way.

[unadara]

Emma
Like you I had earlier written a long reply and lost it! The Irish Pilgrim passport is meant to be unique though you have to pay for it go to irish st james friends site. Dont bring any clothes you arent going to wear whilst walking. The first day may be your longest/toughest by all accounts so I would book a place in stjean if you can as you arrive late off the train. Bag is well chosen just dont fill it up 10kg is too much, weigh all clothes, no cottons, v small light towel/travel one if you want. Buen Camino, look forward to your advice to me as we start on the 13th Sept.

[tmpcoleman]

Emma,
You can get the Irish credencial at the sacristy behind St.James' church. Cost 10 euro. It's the door with the Camino shell above it. It's a really special document and your first stamp will be St. James' church, where the Irish pilgrims began their journey in medieval times.
I got my shell on Bettystown beach, where I live!
Buen Camino,
Tom

[Covey]

I know that really the cost of things does not matter against the joy we get from walking to Santiago, BUT €10 for a Pilgrim Passport!!

[freedom13]

Yep, 10 euro for the passport from them. I thought it was a bit dear myself.

[Covey]

I seem to remember that the Pilgrim Office in St Jean charges €5 for their Carnet and when I picked up a passport from the Pilgrim Office in Santiago one year, it was FREE!

The UK Confraternity of St James issues a free Pilgrim Passport, but they do ask that you send them a stamped self addressed envelope!

Whilst the cost of walking your Camino is not really the issue, it is becoming progressively more expensive, especially if you want to walk the Camino Frances from St Jean. It takes the average Pilgrim 5/6 weeks to do and I doubt that many manage it on less than €25/day on the trail, and many have very expensive journeys just to get to the start point!

Apart from teachers, few get a paid holidays long enough to walk more than 2 weeks in one go, so the majority are probably funding themselves from savings and therefore are anxious to keep the costs down.

One Pilgrim told me that it was cheaper walking the Camino than going on a package holiday which is probably true, but most package holidays are 2 weeks, not 6!

Along the Camino Frances, many businesses rely on the Pilgrims for their livelihood, but in my view, there is no excuse for charging Pilgrims more than they charge the local customers.

[unadara]

We kinda think that as the Friends do such good work promoting or advising that €10 each is not so bad for a really nice Irish carnet, you can get it in the post but do they stamp it before they put it in the post ? The site says that the sacristy is very seldom manned. Only at mass times maybe. A spanish friend said she would not pay in France and waited until in Spain to get her passport.! I can't understand why pilgrims would be charged more for food than locals ?

[Emma]

I think I will get the one from St James' here in Dublin as really, my Camino has begun long before I will arrive in SJPP what with all the preparation - mental and practical. I do think it's a bit pricey though so maybe I'll pick up my next one in Santiago for when I go back as it seems most people on here don't just do one Camino and I do want to go again later to do Santiago to Finnistere/Muxia. That way, I can begin my next Camino with the ending of this one.

[unadara]

Their annual camino mass is on this Sunday 24th 11.30 James Church may go ? they serve refreshments after and might get some good contacts ? PM me if you going,might be out doing long walk either!

[Thomas007]

I was thinking I'd get my scallop shell at the start of my Camino at SJPP. Is it okay if I bring my own scallop shell from my home? I live near the beach in Cherbourg, France and the shells are easy to find. What is the protocol?

[joe]

There is no protocol, you don't even need to have a shell, it's just a symbol that pilgrims use so that other pilgrims and local people can recognise them. You don't even need a credencial if you aren't bothered about recieving the compostela (certificate).

I brought my own shell from home, it feels more unique with your own shell because the ones they give out at St. Jean are all the same and they are branded with a St. James cross on them, mine on the other hand was a pink/orange colour, a bit larger than others, and I attached my own string to it. So in fact, I would recommend you to take your own... oh! and one more thing, take a stone with you (maybe a stone which has some significance in your life), I made the mistake of not taking one and I felt a bit disheartened when I arrived at Cruz de Ferro with no stone to place there, but I did leave a prayer card which I had carried with me in my pocket from St. Jean

[HuskyNerd]

Oops, a partial correction of our dear friend Joe. A credencial actually is required in order to gain admittance to most albergues along the way. If a person is doing a camino via hotels, no need for a credencial, though.

[joe]

I walked with an American guy who stayed in a lot of the same albergues as me and he didn't have a credential, he got rejected a couple of times but I think they were municipal albergues... I don't think the private ones are as strict on these sort of things as much as the municipal ones.

[Precious1]

Hi Everybody,
Yesterday someone reminded me that John the Baptist has the scallop shell associated with him too, that is what he used to baptize>>>>>>>St. James came to the end of the earth to baptize.That is why he is holding the scallop shell in all the representations of him! Right?

[joe]

The Scallop Shell has many different stories and meanings... one is that the many different routes to Santiago are like the lines on the Shell, they all start at different places but they're all going to the same point.

[Precious1]

But it started with James the Great, before there were any trails going to his remains, right?

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Precious ~
The scallop shell has multiple meanings in the Christian church, and also with St. James. The scallop shell is, indeed, a symbol for baptism. Sometimes shells are used to dip into water, which in turn is poured over a convert's head. St. James was not the only apostle to baptize believers, though, so this doesn't quite explain why the scallop shell is closely identified with him.

Some believe the scallop shell as a symbol for the pilgrimage to this region is pre-Christian, something that was ultimately adopted (co-opted?) by those who helped create the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage, over a millennium ago. Ancient, perhaps Celtic, pilgrims would walk to Finisterre and, as a symbol of the completion of their pilgrimage to "the end of the earth" would return with a scallop shell. When the Santiago pilgrimage was inaugurated, the theory goes, this symbol became attached both to the pilgrimage and to "Santiago Peregrino" himself. Several legends were developed to cement the relationship.

This theory could be easily disproved if someone could round up a painting or sculpture or mosaic or fresco from pre-Santiago de Compostela days that shows St. James with a scallop shell. I don't believe that's happened so far, though.

[Precious1]

Hi Husky!!

This is really interesting...do you know more about these pre-Christian, perhaps Celtic, pilgrimages and what was their purpose?
Here is an oil painting of St. James with a shell...http://www.morcellirepossi.it/tipopa...p_image020.jpg
by Giuseppe Vermiiglio that I love. Doubt there would be images of the man back in 10 AD or whenever he was crucified and his remains purportedly brought back from Palestine, way before any cathedral. Anyway, I love the image of the shell, in all it's ramifications.. :]

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Precious ~
The Vermiglio painting is great! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if you might've seen the Santiago sculpture/carving in Melide at the convent chapel. That's my personal favorite. Santiago is leaning back and smiling. Looks like he's having a blast.

Little is known about the Celtic pilgrimage to Finisterre. A tiny reference is here: Cape Finisterre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Well worth your research to find out more!

[Precious1]

Hi Husky!!!

Yes, I do remember that sculpture of Sant Yago at the convent church in Melide!! And you're right, he seems pretty elated. That's the attitude!!! lol

Thank you for reminding me of it.....and that beautiful day.

[freedom13]

An extract from Rafael Lemas book El Camino Secreto de Santiago, an early origin story .....

In Moraime on the Costa do Morte there was once a Benedictine monastery. Archaeological investigations have also found, on this site, remains of a Visigothic settlement, and a Roman necropolis. Amongst other things, two bronze scallop shells were discovered, dating from early Roman occupation of the Peninsula. They are evidence of the worship of Venus. This symbol, claims Lema, was converted into one of the Camino de Santiago, but its origins are clearly maritime, and pagan.

Along with the Venus Cult, the Romans, especially those from North Africa brought the Cult of Isis. Both are considered goddesses of love. The cathedral itself is built over a pagan site dedicated to Jupiter and I myself have seen, in a tiny church near Padron, a large stone marker on which the name of Mercury is inscribed. I have promised never to reveal where as the lady with the key didn't even know its significance but said that it must never go a museum. I agree.

The lines and grooves on the scallop shell are said to represent the meeting of all the roads to Santiago de Compestela ; it is a nice image. However, the shell is also claimed to represent the setting sun; the rays off the horizon at the ends of the earth:
Finisterre.

Hmmm the mystery continues ...

[freedom13]

Another source implies thus ...

Although the route is primarily and ostensibly related to Christianity, there are clear indications of its having a pre-Christian pagan origin. According to some scholars, the site was associated with the cult of Venus or Aphrodite, who apparently was born out of a sea shell. For many, it was a Celtic journey with the presence of the Sun as the chief deity, the scallop ribs resembling the sun’s rays. For pre-Israelite people, the journey was analogous to the journey of death, traveling westward, to where the sun set to a region that for many was the end of the world. Even in the Christian symbolism prevalent at the place, a reiteration of the myth of death and resurrection is clear in the life of James.

Saint James, according to legend, was drowned in the Atlantic, and was the resurrected from the sea, covered with shell. A different tale narrates the same incident with a difference, which states that the mortal remains of Saint James was washed ashore covered in shell. The scallop shell thus became a symbol of resurrection. At the same time, the vestiges of an older myth of the resurrected pagan god also cannot be absolutely ignored. Because of all these factors, the scallop shell has become the veritable symbol of the Saint James Pilgrimage route.

[Precious1]

Bronze scallop shells dating from early Roman occupation?
Evidence of the worship of the goddess of Love, born rising out of a shell?
This is really fascinating. Freedom! Thank you for posting these excerpts.
Love the Celtic journey hypothesis of a pilgrimage following the Sun God to the end of the word, and how the shell represents the rays of the sun. Also that it represents all the paths from everywhere to the end of the earth, Finisterre, the last point on the Coast of Death.
Love the legends of how Saint James was brought back to life by scallops that covered his body and tossed him back on shore.
Seem to recall now a friend having told me that before. :]
The scallop shell is a design of nature lovely to behold, but fraught with so much mysterious symbolism, it takes on a grandeur much greater than itself. Now, where did I put mine? lol

[Larry]

Fellow Walker

I obtained my passport from the San Francisco Confraternity of St. James before I left but they are available at the church at St. Jean along with your scallop shell when you register. I think they are free (but I donated).
Buen Camino