Hornillos del Camino: what's the difference?

[Bert45]

I took a photo of the Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu in Hornillos del Camino. I googled for some information and found this:

Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu​

"Durante la época medieval fueron creados aquí tres hospitales para atender a los peregrinos. Dos de estos lugares llevaban el nombre de San Lázaro, destinado a leprosos y peregrinos, y el Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu en Hornillos del Camino, es el único que se ha mantenido, creado para romeros y peregrinos. Actualmente este recinto tiene un área separada como lugar de encuentro de la peregrinación moderna." [/viajecaminodesantiago.com/camino-frances/hornillos-camino/]

"... para romeros y peregrinos." My small Spanish-English dictionary translates 'romero' as 'pilgrim'. 'peregrino' is also translated as 'pilgrim'. So the Hospital was created for pilgrims and pilgrims. An automatic translation gave me 'created for rosemary and pilgrims', which seemed an unlikely alternative.

My question is, therefore, what's the difference between a romero and a peregrino?

 

[Kiwi-family]

could it be this?

 

[dbier]

Weren't Romeros pilgrims to Rome?

 

[dick bird]

Weren't Romeros pilgrims to Rome?

Originally, yes, but the word ´romero´ was later extended to mean all pilgrims. In English, the same thing happened to the word ´palmer´ so romero and perergrino could be taken as synonyms, if not exact ones. A local festival is referred to in Spain as a ´Romería´, especially if it involves a procession. ´Romero´ is also the word for ´rosemary´.

 

[Kathor1]

Indeed, the RAE says that romero and peregrino are synonyms.

Here on the forum posters sometimes emphasise that a romería is a short pilgrimage, for example a pilgrimage that takes only a day or less, and peregrinación is a long-distance pilgrimage.

The English language lacks nouns that would make a distinction between the two. German has Wallfahrer and Pilger where it is similar: the two words are synonyms but Pilger is more associated with a longer pilgrimage than Wallfahrer.

See www.rae.es and www.Duden.de.

 

[bullingtonce]

I took a photo of the Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu in Hornillos del Camino. I googled for some information and found this:

Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu​

"Durante la época medieval fueron creados aquí tres hospitales para atender a los peregrinos. Dos de estos lugares llevaban el nombre de San Lázaro, destinado a leprosos y peregrinos, y el Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu en Hornillos del Camino, es el único que se ha mantenido, creado para romeros y peregrinos. Actualmente este recinto tiene un área separada como lugar de encuentro de la peregrinación moderna." [/viajecaminodesantiago.com/camino-frances/hornillos-camino/]

"... para romeros y peregrinos." My small Spanish-English dictionary translates 'romero' as 'pilgrim'. 'peregrino' is also translated as 'pilgrim'. So the Hospital was created for pilgrims and pilgrims. An automatic translation gave me 'created for rosemary and pilgrims', which seemed an unlikely alternative.

My question is, therefore, what's the difference between a romero and a peregrino?

It's rather obvious: 'romero' is a character in an Italian opera and a 'peregrino' is a quite fine delicate wine. One you drink, one you don't drink other than you figuratively 'drink' in the opera as it plays itself out. Chuck

 

[Kathor1]

That's not even funny, Chuck. You could at least have made a bit of an effort and quoted Dante.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

The English language lacks nouns that would make a distinction between the two. German has Wallfahrer and Pilger where it is similar: the two words are synonyms but Pilger is more associated with a longer pilgrimage than Wallfahrer.

Possibly wayfarer but I don't think anyone would be putting it into a pilgrimage context.

Note the similarities between the German and English words though.

 

[CWBuff]

That's not even funny, Chuck. You could at least have made a bit of an effort and quoted Dante.

OK... I'll try this one: "A Roman Pilgrim walks into a Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu Albergue.... but then I digress...."

 

[CWBuff]

Indeed, the RAE says that romero and peregrino are synonyms.

Here on the forum posters sometimes emphasise that a romería is a short pilgrimage, for example a pilgrimage that takes only a day or less, and peregrinación is a long-distance pilgrimage.

The English language lacks nouns that would make a distinction between the two. German has Wallfahrer and Pilger where it is similar: the two words are synonyms but Pilger is more associated with a longer pilgrimage than Wallfahrer.

See www.rae.es and www.Duden.de.

that was my thought almost immediately - the word "romero" seems to me like "rover"

 

[AidaYYC]

View attachment 179559

could it be this?

In the vernacular, a Romero was a pilgrim that came through Rome or from that direction.

 

[David Tallan]

I took a photo of the Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu in Hornillos del Camino. I googled for some information and found this:

Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu​

"Durante la época medieval fueron creados aquí tres hospitales para atender a los peregrinos. Dos de estos lugares llevaban el nombre de San Lázaro, destinado a leprosos y peregrinos, y el Hospital de Peregrinos Santo Espíritu en Hornillos del Camino, es el único que se ha mantenido, creado para romeros y peregrinos. Actualmente este recinto tiene un área separada como lugar de encuentro de la peregrinación moderna." [/viajecaminodesantiago.com/camino-frances/hornillos-camino/]

"... para romeros y peregrinos." My small Spanish-English dictionary translates 'romero' as 'pilgrim'. 'peregrino' is also translated as 'pilgrim'. So the Hospital was created for pilgrims and pilgrims. An automatic translation gave me 'created for rosemary and pilgrims', which seemed an unlikely alternative.

My question is, therefore, what's the difference between a romero and a peregrino?

I learned a long time ago that a romero was a pilgrim to Rome, a palmero was a pilgrim to Jerusalem, and a peregrino was a pilgrim to Santiago - the three primary medieval Christian pilgrimage sites.

I subsequently learned that the meanings had shifted over time and in different locations/languages, so that what I had originally learned didn't necessarily hold any water.

Personally, romero and palmero have root meanings that are specific to those pilgrimages, while peregrino strikes me as more generic. I would have called pilgrims to Santiago "concheros".

 

[AidaYYC]

I l

I learned a long time ago that a romero was a pilgrim to Rome, a palmero was a pilgrim to Jerusalem, and a peregrino was a pilgrim to Santiago - the three primary medieval Christian pilgrimage sites.

I subsequently learned that the meanings had shifted over time and in different locations/languages, so that what I had originally learned didn't necessarily hold any water.

Yes, definitions vary over time, but I thank you for that historical definition. Buen Camino

 

[Bert45]

My thanks to all of the above (with one exception, perhaps).

 

[mark connolly]

A "pilot-fish"?

roam | Etymology of roam by etymonline

"walk, go, walk about;" early 14c., "wander about, prowl," a word of obscure origin,… See origin and meaning of roam.

www.etymonline.com

Definition of ROMERO

pilot fish… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[Kathor1]

@Bert45, I don't know whether you will find this information useful for your photo caption: the text from the viajecaminodesantiago webpage makes it sound as if the building in Hornillos was built in the Middle Ages and is the only one of three medieval albergue-hospitals that is still standing but this is not accurate. More trustworthy sources say that the medieval hospitales of Hornillos have disappeared.

An article in the Diario de Burgos from March 2017 about the owner of the building in question and his plans to turn it into a Camino pilgrim albergue says that the building dates from 1515.

So this building appears to be a nicely renovated 16th century building. According to local news media, the owner started renovation about many years ago with the aim of opening another pilgrim albergue in Hornillos. He even obtained a € 50.000 grant from one of the EU programs for rural development. But it seems that it is not (yet?) in use as an albergue for Camino pilgrims?

When I saw photos I thought at first that the beautiful "tavern sign" is very old but a closer look shows that it is contemporary. All very pretty though. I had not noticed it at all when we walked through Hornillos.

---

 

[Joe C]

I learned a long time ago that a romero was a pilgrim to Rome, a palmero was a pilgrim to Jerusalem, and a peregrino was a pilgrim to Santiago - the three primary medieval Christian pilgrimage sites.

The newly-released newsletter of the Confraternity of St. James has an article that talks about these distinctions.

 

[JabbaPapa]

My question is, therefore, what's the difference between a romero and a peregrino?

Romero is derived from a Greek Ῥωμαῖος, meaning Roman (Catholic) (by semantic opposition to Eastern Catholic & Eastern Orthodox), and meaning Western Crusaders and Pilgrims to the Holy Land, from that Greek/Eastern perspective.

Peregrinus > peregrino/pilgrim referred originally somewhat specifically to the pilgrims of the Way of Saint James, from the Latin peregrinus meaning foreigner/traveller/pedlar (in Imperial era legal Latin it also meant a non-Citizen inhabitant of the Empire, which became increasingly obsolete as Citizenship rights became more common).

Both words eventually just meant pilgrim in the various Romance languages, though for example peregrine in English retains the meaning of foreign/from abroad -- Spanish has retained some of the old distinction whereby romeros are pilgrims heading East, and peregrinos those heading West.

The third of these words, palmero, is from a Catalan original referring to Jerusalem pilgrims in particular, though it too has a general meaning of pilgrim.

So that despite some specific & particular uses, in Spanish generally peregrino means pilgrim to Santiago ; romero pilgrim to Rome or generally/further East ; palmero pilgrim to Jerusalem/the Holy Land.

 

[Kathor1]

The newly-released newsletter of the Confraternity of St. James has an article that talks about these distinctions.

About the distinction (if any) between romero and peregrino in contemporry Spanish?

The quoted text in the first post is taken from the webpage of a Spanish travel agency who sells Camino travel. If I’ve not mentioned it before: context, context, context is everything when trying to understand the meaning of unfamiliar foreign words.

And they did not even write the text about the three medieval hospitales of Hornillos themselves but copy-pasted it. The line “creado para romeros y peregrinos” turns up dozen of times in Google Search, always in connection with Hornillos. These are the usual online copy-paste jobs with the occasional slight editing thrown in. Romeros is just a space filler in this text and in this context. There is no deep meaning behind it. These medieval albergue-hospitals served all travellers. They were not like today’s Camino albergues where nowadays some of these albergues serve only one-directional pilgrims on foot or on bicycle on the way to Santiago …

I see that the CSJ newsletter costs £5 and is not accessible online.

 

[Kathor1]

Some more text analysis .

The motherlode is the website of the town administration of Hornillos where they have a paragraph under the tab “History” saying: Con los años se crearon hasta tres hospitales, el de San Lázaro, destinado a leprosos y peregrinos, el del Santo Espíritu, creado para romeros y peregrinos y otro más, hoy desaparecidos. Can you not feel the stylistic need that requires a yada y yada after the first lepers and pilgrims? You cannot reproduce this stylistic element in an English translation of the sentence but that is all there is to it. Also note that the town administration writes that all three of these medieval albergues have disappeared. Not even the name of the third hospital is known today.

And @Bert45 ought to ask for a larger Spanish-English dictionary for Christmas or better yet, make more use of the RAE that is online and free.

 

[dick bird]

hoy desaparecidos.

Not sure how word order works in Spanish, but surely desaparacidos, given its postion in the sentence, could be taken as describing the romeros y peregrinos?

 

[Kathor1]

Not sure how word order works in Spanish, but surely desaparacidos, given its postion in the sentence, could be taken as describing the romeros y peregrinos?

That would not make much sense to me. We could do with some native Spanish speakers with a firm grip on grammar and vocabulary . For me it's clear: Los hospitales - hoy desaparecidos.

 

[Pafayac]

Not sure how word order works in Spanish, but surely desaparacidos, given its postion in the sentence, could be taken as describing the romeros y peregrinos?

Non, it describes the 3 hospitales.
In French, there is a single word "pèlerin" to denote all the pilgrims.
In old French, the term "roumieu" or "romieu" was also used, but I am not sure it was dedicated to pilgrims to Rome.
Most of the middle-age pilgrimages were local, and I think they were called "romieu" or "pèlerin", without taking account their destination...

 

[Kathor1]

I learned a long time ago that a romero was a pilgrim to Rome, a palmero was a pilgrim to Jerusalem, and a peregrino was a pilgrim to Santiago

Where did you read that peregrino was exclusively used to denote a pilgrim to Santiago? Here on the forum? I may err but I think this wrong belief stems from a badly understood or badly reproduced quote from Dante's Vita Nuova, and he wrote in Italian. But now even more forum members will believe it.

 

[David Tallan]

Where did you read that peregrino was exclusively used to denote a pilgrim to Santiago? Here on the forum? I may err but I think this wrong belief stems from a badly understood or badly reproduced quote from Dante's Vita Nova, and he wrote in Italian. But now even more forum members will believe it.

It was so long ago that I have no recollection where. I think it was before I joined the forum. And it may not have been in the context of Spanish. That's why I acknowledged the terms may mean different things, not only in different places and times, but in terms of different languages.

 

[Kathor1]

The point is that at no time and in no language was Spanish peregrino (or Latin peregrinus or Italian peregrino as a variant of pellegrino, etc etc) a term that referred only to pilgrims to Santiago.

 

[Bert45]

I think that sentence could be better, or more easily, understood with brackets instead of commas: Con los años se crearon hasta tres hospitales (el de San Lázaro, destinado a leprosos y peregrinos, el del Santo Espíritu, creado para romeros y peregrinos y otro más) hoy desaparecidos. Which makes it clear that all three hospitals have disappeared.
The large house on the right at the entrance to the village (the one with the 'tavern sign') has some words carved on a stone on the left-hand side of the door. It says:
HOSPITAL DE PEREGRINOS SANCTI SPIRITUS.
Of course, that doesn't mean that it's true, and if Kathar1na's research has led us to the right answer, it's not true. But why would anyone get a stone carved with that inscription? I can only suggest for the same reason that some people buy a plaque that says "Dunroamin" or anything, really. What's wrong with a number and leave it at that? The house number is 31D, Calle Real, btw. Above the window on the left of the door, there is a Santiago cross (in relief). Above the keystone there is a small carving, also in relief, of the chalice; perhaps I should say 'a chalice'. On the other side of the 'tavern sign' it says 'CASA ?? CURA'. I cannot be certain of the two characters in the middle, probably EL. What makes you say that the sign is contemporary, Kathar1na? I'm not saying it's not, just asking. You thought it was old at first. What made you change your mind?

 

[JabbaPapa]

Not sure how word order works in Spanish, but surely desaparacidos, given its postion in the sentence, could be taken as describing the romeros y peregrinos?

No. It clearly refers to the old hospitales.

 

[Kathor1]

On the other side of the 'tavern sign' it says 'CASA ?? CURA'. I cannot be certain of the two characters in the middle, probably EL.

“casa del cura” - the priest’s house

 

[Kathor1]

Who knows? Perhaps there was once a medieval pilgrim albergue in the location Calle Real 31D in Hornillos del Camino, perhaps the local priest was once housed in the building and provided shelter for pilgrims, the fact is that it is a nicely restored building and it is not medieval. I wonder why it is not open to current Camino peregrinos and not run as an albergue.

I have to correct an earlier post. The owner/representative of the building did not receive a grant from the EU's LEADER program. He merely submitted a request for such a grant and it was for an adecuación edificio para albergue y servicios. On my long way to Santiago I did not only develop an interest in Romanesque art, I also got interested in how all this great infrastructure is financed and I especially wondered about all these beautifully restored buildings. While I looked around I stumbled across a list of requests that had been submitted for such grants (Solicitudes Recibidas) during 2014-2020 and of the requests that were accepted (Expedintes Certificados) - see here on the website of the association AdecoCamino (Castilla y León).

It was interesting to see where "our taxpayer money" went, and especially nice to see that some of it was used for the restoration of Gothic crucifixes and retablos (altar pieces) such as in Hontanas, but also for the restoration or improvement of albergue-bar-restaurantes and bar-cafeterias in Castrojeriz and Hontanas, in addition of course to numerous other commercial, cultural and social projects on and off the Camino Francés. Spain is still a major beneficiary of these programs.

 

[Kathor1]

You thought it was old at first. What made you change your mind?

The font. The close-up which shows that it is new. But mainly the font. The fact that there is even writing on it. For me the whole thing has a Ye Olde Albergue feel to it. It looks very nice though.

 

[Bert45]

I guessed that the other side said CASA DEL CURA, but I couldn't make out a 'D'. Now that I look again, I can see the 'D' with the 'E' written inside it, as is very common on other inscriptions. It was just that the downstroke of the 'D' and the horizontal lines of the 'E' were clearer than the curve of the 'D'.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

There is plenty of "Ye Olde" going on along the Way, and a whole load of these claims to "medieval," "legendary," or especially "Templar" pasts are all tourist-office hot air. It is not that hard to research a property in Castilla y Leon; pilgrim hostels opened and closed and appeared and vanished just as they do today. I find it instructive to see along the trail memorial stones for albergues and pilgrim stops of the past, especially when some day-to-day albergue issue has me all in knots. So many centuries of people spent their working lives serving the pilgrims -- some pilgrims, some romeros, some just traveling along. They disappeared into history, just as their albergues, projects, and pilgrims have.
(IMHO, the "romero" referred-to is someone on a short-term "romeria" to a more local holy shrine.)
Sic transit hospitalera.

 

[Tincatinker]

The "pilgrimage" to the Virgen del Rocio is a "Romero" https://www.huelvainformacion.es/elrocio/activado-Plan-Romero-Rocio-2024_0_1902409939.html

Virgen del Rocío - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

es.wikipedia.org

as it has been since times out of mind. Which I guess suggests that the Pilgrim; Peregino/a; Rocieros and Rocieras can decide for themselves what their journey is called and can undertake with their hearts rather than the help of the lexicologists

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Ye olde - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bert45]

In 2014, when the Streetview cameras drove by, the stone on the left of the door had not been carved with the words HOSPITAL DE PEREGRINOS SANCTI SPIRITUS. So that's good to know.

 

[Kathor1]

Sic transit hospitalera.

What a coincidence that you would post in this thread, @Rebekah Scott . I had searched the forum for Lluch and found a post from you. The house next to the house discussed in this thread has a more interesting and more relevant history: it is the house that Lourdes Lluch rented one summer more than a third of a century ago. It was the start of the Spanish HosVol organisation - Hospitaleros Voluntarios (albergue volunteers).

Lourdes Lluch was the first private person - i.e. not a Friends of the Camino association or other organisation - who opened a shelter for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. A photo of the sign on the building in the Calle Real in Hornillos is copied below, and here is the quote from the 2018 forum thread:

The first known pilgrim refuge-albergue of this incarnation of the Camino opened in Hornillos del Camino in 1990, in a rented house. Lourdes Lluch, the first "hospitalera voluntaria," was a teacher on her summer break. She wasn´t part of the youth hostel movement. She was a pilgrim who wanted to help other pilgrims. (She still does. You can find her at Betania in Fromista, and running the Winter Pilgrim website. She is quietly fabulous.)​

​

 

[kptorrahk]

Moderato´s Edit: there is a Google translate version in the next post.

I agree with @Kathar1na 's earlier post. I lived in spain for 10 years and i noticed that the term  romeria is used to define processions and short pilgrimages, usually connected to local saints.

Whether it's connected to Rome I'm not sure, but the plant romero, rosemary in English, is used often in religious ceremonies as an offering.

This text in Spanish may help shed some more light on the huge importance of the plant:

EL ROMERO Y SUS BENEFICIOS CURATIVOS.

Un arbusto milenario que posee muchas cualidades curativas.

Desde la época de los romanos se le adjudican incontables propiedades terapéuticas. Aprenda a utilizarlo regularmente en la cocina cotidiana.
Ya desde el origen de la palabra romero nos anticipa una rica veta poética. «Rocío de Mar» (ros marinus) le decían los romanos a este arbusto originario del mediterráneo y que aún hoy en día crece silvestre en Italia, Francia, España y Norte de África.
Al mirar este humilde arbusto que suele estar en algún rincón del jardín, difícilmente imaginamos que haya dado origen a tantas leyendas, anécdotas e historias desde los más remotos tiempos.
En Egipto se lo depositaba en las tumbas para que no se extinga la memoria de los difuntos.
Entre los griegos y luego los romanos era consagrado a Afrodita, la diosa del amor y los placeres sexuales. Por eso formaba parte de las coronas de las novias con el fin de augurar una feliz consumación del matrimonio.
Cuenta la leyenda que el romero tenía las flores blancas. Cuando la Sagrada Familia viajaba de Israel a Egipto, la Virgen María apoyó su manto celeste sobre una planta de romero: desde entonces sus flores que eran blancas cambiaron de color.
La Edad Media nos ha legado multitud de fórmulas de remedios y ungüentos. Los monjes, que apreciaban mucho sus virtudes, lo cultivaron en los conventos diseminándolo así por toda Europa. Se colocaba en los banquillos de los acusados para evitar el contagio de la «peste de las crujías».

Carlomagno decretó que se cultivará en todos los jardines del Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico, que abarcaba Italia, Francia, Alemania y regiones de otros países.
En 1598 fue introducido en Inglaterra.
Cuenta la leyenda que un ángel le dictó la receta de un agua rejuvenecedora a la reina Isabel de Hungría en el siglo XIV. Ya reumática y casi paralítica, con esta fórmula cuyo componente principal era el romero, a los 72 años recuperó su salud y conquistó al rey de Polonia que era 20 años más joven.
Tan rico en historias como en virtudes terapéuticas el romero es rescatado hoy en día como un poderoso agente

Leyendas populares de la planta de Romero

La planta de romero es muy popular por sus propiedades medicinales y su aroma. Es una de las hierbas aromáticas con más uso en la cocina, la salud y la belleza, pero el romero esconde mucho más. Según cuenta la leyenda trae buena suerte, veamos por qué.

Sus usos en la historia

Las propiedades medicinales de esta hierba aromática eran muy conocidas desde siglos pasados. Los griegos y romanos la llamaban “rocío marino” o “rocío del mar” por su presencia en las cercanías de la costa mediterránea, y tenía muchos usos. La utilizaban en sus cultos y ofrendas a los dioses; la empleaban en coronas de romero para ayudar a los estudiantes en sus exámenes mejorando su memoria (atributo medicinal característico del romero); y también perfumaban sus casas quemando romero.

En el antiguo Egipto, en cambio, la planta de romero era considerada un afrodisiaco que utilizaban en las coronas de las novias para asegurar el placer sexual en el matrimonio.

También era usada como símbolo de inmortalidad y colocaban un ramito de hojas de romero en las manos de sus difuntos para acompañarles en su viaje a la ultratumba. Está tradición se extendió en gran parte de Europa y se comenzó a depositar en los cementerios junto con el laurel y el mirto.

En la Europa de la Edad Media los monjes empezaron a cultivar planta medicinal romero en los conventos y monasterios. Luego, está tradición se extendió por toda Europa y empezó a utilizarse en gran cantidad de ungüentos y remedios gracias a los beneficios del romero para la salud.

En esa misma época, los peregrinos cristianos relajaban sus pies con las propiedades calmantes del romero planta después de largas horas de peregrinación.

La leyenda de la Virgen María

Hay varias leyendas que relacionan la planta de romero con la Virgen María, y por eso es hoy día es un símbolo de la Navidad. Se dice que la Virgen perdió su manto azul durante su huida de Egipto y cayó sobre un arbusto sin flor, el romero, que luego floreció con pequeñas florecitas azules. Otra historia cuenta que el arbusto de romero sirvió de asilo a la Virgen María ocultándola también durante su huida.

Estas leyendas han popularizado la creencia de que cuando florece tu planta de romero es porque la Virgen ha pasado cerca y la ha rozado con su manto. Por estó es una tradición popular poner en las casas en la Nochebuena para traer la buena suerte

 

[dick bird]

I agree with @Kathar1na 's earlier post. I lived in spain for 10 years and i noticed that the term  romeria is used to define processions and short pilgrimages, usually connected to local saints.

Whether it's connected to Rome I'm not sure, but the plant romero, rosemary in English, is used often in religious ceremonies as an offering.

This text in Spanish may help shed some more light on the huge importance of the plant:

EL ROMERO Y SUS BENEFICIOS CURATIVOS.

TRANSLATION GOOGLE)

ROSEMARY AND ITS HEALING BENEFITS.

An ancient shrub that has many healing qualities.

Since Roman times, it has been credited with countless therapeutic properties. Learn how to use it regularly in everyday cooking.
The word rosemary already has a rich poetic vein in its origins. The Romans called this shrub native to the Mediterranean “Sea Dew” (ros marinus) and still grows wild in Italy, France, Spain and North Africa today.
Looking at this humble shrub that is usually in some corner of the garden, we can hardly imagine that it has given rise to so many legends, anecdotes and stories from the most remote times.
In Egypt, it was placed in tombs so that the memory of the deceased would not be extinguished.
Among the Greeks and later the Romans, it was consecrated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexual pleasures. That is why it was part of brides' crowns in order to predict a happy marriage.
Legend has it that rosemary had white flowers. When the Holy Family was travelling from Israel to Egypt, the Virgin Mary placed her blue mantle on a rosemary plant: from then on its flowers, which were white, changed colour.
The Middle Ages have left us a multitude of formulas for remedies and ointments. The monks, who greatly appreciated its virtues, cultivated it in convents, thus spreading it throughout Europe. It was placed in the docks of the accused to avoid the spread of the "plague of the cloisters".

Charlemagne decreed that it should be cultivated in all the gardens of the Holy Roman Empire, which included Italy, France, Germany and regions of other countries.
In 1598 it was introduced into England.
Legend has it that an angel dictated the recipe for a rejuvenating water to Queen Elizabeth of Hungary in the 14th century. Already rheumatic and almost paralyzed, with this formula whose main component was rosemary, at 72 years old she recovered her health and conquered the king of Poland who was 20 years younger.
As rich in stories as in therapeutic virtues, rosemary is rescued today as a powerful agent

Popular legends of the rosemary plant

The rosemary plant is very popular for its medicinal properties and its aroma. It is one of the most used aromatic herbs in cooking, health and beauty, but rosemary hides much more. According to legend, it brings good luck, let's see why.

Its uses in history

The medicinal properties of this aromatic herb were well known since past centuries. The Greeks and Romans called it "sea dew" or "sea dew" because of its presence near the Mediterranean coast, and it had many uses. They used it in their cults and offerings to the gods; They used it in rosemary wreaths to help students in their exams by improving their memory (a characteristic medicinal attribute of rosemary); and they also perfumed their houses by burning rosemary.

In ancient Egypt, on the other hand, the rosemary plant was considered an aphrodisiac that was used in brides' wreaths to ensure sexual pleasure in marriage.

It was also used as a symbol of immortality and they placed a sprig of rosemary leaves in the hands of their deceased to accompany them on their journey to the afterlife. This tradition spread throughout much of Europe and began to be placed in cemeteries along with laurel and myrtle.

In medieval Europe, monks began to cultivate the medicinal plant rosemary in convents and monasteries. Later, this tradition spread throughout Europe and began to be used in a large number of ointments and remedies thanks to the health benefits of rosemary.

At that time, Christian pilgrims would relax their feet with the soothing properties of the rosemary plant after long hours of pilgrimage.

The legend of the Virgin Mary

There are several legends that relate the rosemary plant to the Virgin Mary, and that is why it is a symbol of Christmas today. It is said that the Virgin lost her blue cloak during her flight from Egypt and fell on a flowerless bush, the rosemary, which then bloomed with small blue flowers. Another story tells that the rosemary bush served as a refuge for the Virgin Mary, hiding her during her flight as well.

These legends have popularized the belief that when your rosemary plant blooms it is because the Virgin has passed by and touched it with her cloak. For this reason, it is a popular tradition to put it in houses on Christmas Eve to bring good luck.

 

[Kathor1]

Whether it's connected to Rome I'm not sure, but the plant romero, rosemary in English

The Spanish word for English rosemary and the Spanish word for English pilgrim sound the same but have nothing to do with each other and have a different etymology. Good places to check on the meaning and etymology of Spanish words that are the same but have different meanings are the RAE and Wiktionary.

Spanish synonyms are: romero <-> peregrino for the person and romero <-> rosmarino for the plant.

 

[Kathor1]

We've been producing a lot of words in this thread .

I think that nobody has actually mentioned this explicitly: Current Spanish has these words for a pilgrim: el peregrino, el romero and el rociero. Of these three, only one word is associated with the name of the destination of the pilgrimage in current Spanish: The Rociero - the pilgrim on the way to El Rocio.

In the early 1980s, I heard of pilgrimage in Spain for the first time. It was the famous pilgrimage to El Rocio and at the time it was mentioned in a popular song by a group called Amigos de Gines: Vaya un mes de Mayo. Unforgettable.

 

[Bert45]

What a coincidence that you would post in this thread, @Rebekah Scott . I had searched the forum for Lluch and found a post from you. The house next to the house discussed in this thread has a more interesting and more relevant history: it is the house that Lourdes Lluch rented one summer more than a third of a century ago. It was the start of the Spanish HosVol organisation - Hospitaleros Voluntarios (albergue volunteers).

Lourdes Lluch was the first private person - i.e. not a Friends of the Camino association or other organisation - who opened a shelter for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. A photo of the sign on the building in the Calle Real in Hornillos is copied below, and here is the quote from the 2018 forum thread:

The first known pilgrim refuge-albergue of this incarnation of the Camino opened in Hornillos del Camino in 1990, in a rented house. Lourdes Lluch, the first "hospitalera voluntaria," was a teacher on her summer break. She wasn´t part of the youth hostel movement. She was a pilgrim who wanted to help other pilgrims. (She still does. You can find her at Betania in Fromista, and running the Winter Pilgrim website. She is quietly fabulous.)​

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View attachment 179731

I knew I'd seen that sign somewhere, but I couldn't remember where. Thanks, Kathar1na. It seems that it is not there any longer, at least, I can't see it in Streetview's imagery of 2014.

 

[Kathor1]

It seems that it is not there any longer, at least, I can't see it in Streetview's imagery of 2014.

The sign was not yet there in 2014. It was put up in 2015. To celebrate 25 years of hospitalero/hospitalera volunteers on the Caminos in Spain. 1990-2015.

I found a few photos on the net. Backwards in time: when the sign was installed; the two houses at an earlier point in time; a rare photo from 1990 - Lourdes Lluch in the rented house and two pilgrims.

 

[Bert45]

I must have seen it (the plaque) in 2016, and 2022, and this year, I suppose. I don't want to confuse matters, but I have stumbled across a photo I took in October 2022. It shows a chalice and keys, like the one at 31D, but different. And, sorry, Kathar1na, I didn't take a wide-angle shot showing which house it was on. I captioned my photo: "Symbols of the Chalice and Host and of St Peter on the lintel of the building that was once the hospital, Hornillos del Camino." I can only think that I got that information from a plaque on the building. But that window is not on the house next to 31D. In fact, I've looked on Streetview and I can't find a house with that window or plaque in Calle Real. D'oh!

 

[Kathor1]

I can only think that I got that information from a plaque on the building.

And what a pity that you did not also take a photo of that plaque on that building!!! I often do this but then I don't take as many photos as you do.

Because now we don't know whether you got this information directly from the building or also from a tourist office webpage or somebody's blog or something like that.

Because I've seen this image with this information before and it was on the internet - and just in case I've not mentioned this before: regard anything that you read on the net anywhere as doubtful. What you want are the original medieval documents that mention the building, the piece of land or the persons in question, such as a contract, a donation, or a letter, provided that such original documents still exist.

 

[Bert45]

And what a pity that you did not also take a photo of that plaque on that building!!! I often do this but then I don't take as many photos as you do.

Because now we don't know whether you got this information directly from the building or also from a tourist office webpage or somebody's blog or something like that.

Because I've seen this image with this information before and it was on the internet - and just in case I've not mentioned this before: regard anything that you read on the net anywhere as doubtful. What you want are the original medieval documents that mention the building, the piece of land or the persons in question, such as a contract, a donation, or a letter, provided that such original documents still exist.

Persistence pays off! I had looked all along Calle Real and Calle Cantarranas (twice) without seeing the plaque or even a window like the one in the photo. But, a couple of minutes ago, I continued my search from Calle Real to Calle San Pedro, and there it was, high up on Calle San Pedro 14. I now think that I must have got the information about a chalice and keys of St Peter from the internet, but the information was about Calle Real 31D, not Calle San pedro 14.

 

[Kathor1]

In 2014, when the Streetview cameras drove by, the stone on the left of the door had not been carved with the words HOSPITAL DE PEREGRINOS SANCTI SPIRITUS. So that's good to know.

And in 2005, when a Camino pilgrim walked by and took a photo, neither the plaque on the left of the door nor the artful sign higher up on the wall were there. A 2024 look can be a little deceptive.

As a variation of the thread topic, we can now ask: What's the difference between 2024 and 2005?