A frivolous question regarding credenciales past and present

[Takahiwai]

Apologies to those who detest frivolous questions - please move on; nothing to see here.

When I walked my first camino from Chartres to SdC (autumn/winter, 1998), no matter where I stayed - mostly campsites and modest hostels in France, almost exclusively refugios in Spain - the person I dealt with would stamp the credencial, date it, sign it, and quite often add some kind of comment. It really personalised the credencial, and helped me to remember the people I'd met.

On subsequent caminos, all that extra detail had disappeared, and I generally just got a stamp, and occasionally it was dated.

This year, for the first time in 25 years, in the albergue of Alegria on the Via de Bayona/Camino Vasco Interior, my credencial was stamped, dated, signed, and the delightful hospitalera wrote a little message.

So, my question is this - do you get comments written on your credencial nowadays, or is it really a thing of the past?

I'm genuinely interested, so this is not a frivolous enquiry on my part!

 

[TravellingMan22]

Apologies to those who detest frivolous questions - please move on; nothing to see here.

When I walked my first camino from Chartres to SdC (autumn/winter, 1998), no matter where I stayed - mostly campsites and modest hostels in France, almost exclusively refugios in Spain - the person I dealt with would stamp the credencial, date it, sign it, and quite often add some kind of comment. It really personalised the credencial, and helped me to remember the people I'd met.

On subsequent caminos, all that extra detail had disappeared, and I generally just got a stamp, and occasionally it was dated.

This year, for the first time in 25 years, in the albergue of Alegria on the Via de Bayona/Camino Vasco Interior, my credencial was stamped, dated, signed, and the delightful hospitalera wrote a little message.

So, my question is this - do you get comments written on your credencial nowadays, or is it really a thing of the past?

I'm genuinely interested, so this is not a frivolous enquiry on my part!

Half of my stamps have been stamped by myself, with the stamp on a table, and I nearly always date myself. I much prefer this as makes it easier, and don’t want any comments taking up space, or me being a drain on anyone’s resources! Not sure how common it is. I guess I get most of my stamps in bars at lunchtime which maybe busy.

 

[Takahiwai]

Half of my stamps have been stamped by myself, with the stamp on a table, and I nearly always date myself. I much prefer this as makes it easier, and don’t want any comments taking up space, or me being a drain on anyone’s resources! Not sure how common it is. I guess I get most of my stamps in bars at lunchtime which maybe busy.

I think there were bigger spaces on the credenciales, back in the day!

 

[naplesdon]

After walking various routes for 8 years, no one has ever written a comment in my passport.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

On my recent Invierno/Ingles Camino about half the time the date was not added to the daily sellos, so I did it after going to my room. A few even handed me the stamp to do it myself. Very impersonal, but I do not speak Spanish and mostly stayed in private accomodations.
My only very special sello was this one made with shiny gold wax and a sprig of eucalyptus, but for what the room cost, it should have been 14k gold.

 

[TravellingMan22]

I think there were bigger spaces on the credenciales, back in the day!

Ah never knew that! Finished my 6th Camino a couple of days back and wasn’t going to get a cededencial/ compostela initially. I did get a credential and got stamps for the first couple of day but didn’t bother after that, so habit has been broken!

 

[TravellingMan22]

Ah never knew that! Finished my 6th Camino a couple of days back and wasn’t going to get a cededencial/ compostela initially. I did get a credential and got stamps for the first couple of day but didn’t bother after that, so habit has been broken!

Not even a date on the last 4 I got! Think I stamped most of them.

 

[Takahiwai]

On my recent Invierno/Ingles Camino about half the time the date was not added to the daily sellos, so I did it after going to my room. A few even handed me the stamp to do it myself. Very impersonal, but I do not speak Spanish and mostly stayed in private accomodations.
My only very special sello was this one made with shiny gold wax and a sprig of eucalyptus, but for what the room cost, it should have been 14k gold.
View attachment 180965

That is a rather splendid, special sello!

 

[mspath]

Camino Frances
Grañón
San Juan Bautista albergue

February 20, 2007



Drawn in my Credential by the vivacious French hospitalero this sello is a precious memento!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

@trecile has a couple of personal, special sellos. Maybe she will add them to this thread.

 

[Takahiwai]

Camino Frances
Grañón
San Juan Bautista albergue

February 20, 2007



Drawn in my Credential by the vivacious French hospitalero this sello is a precious memento!

That's what I mean!

 

[mspath]

Here is another.

Camino Frances
Agés

photo taken February 2, 2008



On a cold winter afternoon this tile marked the only open pilgrim place,
Casa Caracol/House of the Snail.



Once I entered the hospitalera, drew and then dated this special "stamp" in my Credential.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Here is another.

Camino Frances
Agés

photo taken February 2, 2008



On a cold winter afternoon this tile marked the only open pilgrim place,
Casa Caracol/House of the Snail.



Once I entered the hospitalera, drew and then dated this special "stamp" in my Credential.

Amazing! I think much has probably slowly changed since that time. Your sellos are very special indeed. Thanks for sharing them!

 

[J Willhaus]

Camino Frances
Grañón
San Juan Bautista albergue

February 20, 2007



Drawn in my Credential by the vivacious French hospitalero this sello is a precious memento!

Yes, we don't have a sello at Grañón (because the stamp is in your heart). Pilgrims are encouraged to get one from one of the bars.

I have never had comments on any of my credentials.

 

[Pafayac]

I heard it depends on how the hospitalero considers you: if he/she think that you are kind, he/she adds given name, a word...

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Yes, we don't have a sello at Grañón (because the stamp is in your heart). Pilgrims are encouraged to get one from one of the bars.

Although I have personally never had opportunity to stay at Granon, I know many pilgrims often love the unique experience. I find it odd that they choose to have no sello for the reason you mention. They could design a unique sello that would express a special meaning and leave a smile on the faces of those who stay there. It would bring back a good memory of their time spent in that place. Telling them to go to a bar for a sello seems counterproductive to what Granon is all about...just my opinion, of course.

 

[Takahiwai]

Grañón is such an iconic stop now, that I can barely equate it with the place that I found in '98. I stayed there in a desperate attempt to distance myself from a mad peregrina from Brazil, whom I'd first found in Puenta la Reina. Such a special place - I was there alone - the famous parish priest gave me a tour of the facilities. We were probably somewhat into winter by this time. Looking at nowadays videos of the place - the fireplace in my day was just an open space, and there were heaps of logs to chuck on. Didn't meet a soul there.

 

[Flog]

Although I have personally never had opportunity to stay at Granon, I know many pilgrims often love the unique experience. I find it odd that they choose to have no sello for the reason you mention. They could design a unique sello that would express a special meaning and leave a smile on the faces of those who stay there. It would bring back a good memory of their time spent in that place. Telling them to go to a bar for a sello seems counterproductive to what Granon is all about...just my opinion, of course.

If you stayed at Grañon, you might have a different undestanding.. or have a diffeent view at least. I remember, when the hospi explained there was no stamp, it will be on your heart, I looked at him and looked around and thought: this better be good.. and it was, it was a pleasant, memorable winter evening and stands out among many.

I've gotten a few personalised stamps over the years.. little drawings, short comments, drips of wax etc. Yea, I think it's a personal thing with some hospis and volunteers.. and I'm happy to add, I've done it myself for pilgrims..

 

[J Willhaus]

Although I have personally never had opportunity to stay at Granon, I know many pilgrims often love the unique experience. I find it odd that they choose to have no sello for the reason you mention. They could design a unique sello that would express a special meaning and leave a smile on the faces of those who stay there. It would bring back a good memory of their time spent in that place. Telling them to go to a bar for a sello seems counterproductive to what Granon is all about...just my opinion, of course.

It is the decision of the albergue founders. All the townspeople are very proud of the albergue and love to meet pilgrims. We just didn't get a stamp on that day and we always remember why.

 

[Pafayac]

It is the decision of the albergue founders.

Yes, the founder of the donativo, a priest, was afraid that the sellos lead to a competition in order to get one more...
A visionary.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Yes, the founder of the donativo, a priest, was afraid that the sellos lead to a competition in order to get one more...
A visionary.

Well, there has been a thread in the past from someone who loves to collect sellos and enjoys doing it. Whether the person is a pilgrim ot not, who are we to say? I recall enjoying reading the thread. Either way, I'd think the "competition" was within himself; not competing with another soul. That said, the founding priest had a right to set up his own rules...so be it.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

On recent 'lesser walked' routes -- Baztanes, Salvador, and Primitivo from Ovideo (rather than from Lugo), I received a personal touch from someone on each one, but it is not common anymore...
I do, however, think that even if it is just a small matter of refilling the ink pad and making sure that pens are available, *someone* is going out of their way to make sure that the tiny little chapel, hermitage, or ancient church still has a stamp on offer. So many of those places are maintained purely by those most proximal to them... (they are not owned or maintained by "the church" and may not have been since the 1820's or so). And I am not certain (anyone with more historical training than I have, please confirm or rule out?) but I think that the smallest chapels may have always been built, "owned" and maintained by the local community. I am sure that is true for the private chapels on estates that at one time belonged to the very wealthy. I do not know if those very wealthy people might also have been the benefactors for village chapels...

 

[dbier]

Primitivo, after Lugo, before Melide. Others on the route have written about the artist who sells leather work and jewelry. He hand draws his sello (San Xorge). Also on this page, I wrote a couple of dates, but the sello owners wrote the others.

 

[trecile]

@trecile has a couple of personal, special sellos. Maybe she will add them to this thread.

If you insist.

This one was hand drawn at Albergue Lamas in Pradela before they had an official sello made. I'm the ponytailed pilgrim in the drawing walking up that steep hill.



I got this very elaborate sello at the pilgrim information center in Lalín on the Invierno.



Here's a thread with more sellos:

Your most valuable stamp​

 

[Camino Chrissy]

@dbier, I love your bracelet! What a great memory when you wear it.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Even with an official stamp, they still add a pilgrim by hand - or they did on 6 June!

A “purchased” sello - not everyone got a dangly angel


And from the Primitivo:

 

[David Tallan]

Apologies to those who detest frivolous questions - please move on; nothing to see here.

When I walked my first camino from Chartres to SdC (autumn/winter, 1998), no matter where I stayed - mostly campsites and modest hostels in France, almost exclusively refugios in Spain - the person I dealt with would stamp the credencial, date it, sign it, and quite often add some kind of comment. It really personalised the credencial, and helped me to remember the people I'd met.

On subsequent caminos, all that extra detail had disappeared, and I generally just got a stamp, and occasionally it was dated.

This year, for the first time in 25 years, in the albergue of Alegria on the Via de Bayona/Camino Vasco Interior, my credencial was stamped, dated, signed, and the delightful hospitalera wrote a little message.

So, my question is this - do you get comments written on your credencial nowadays, or is it really a thing of the past?

I'm genuinely interested, so this is not a frivolous enquiry on my part!

On my current Camino, generally just a stamp, sometimes a stamp and date, once a stamp, date and signature.

 

[John Sikora]

You are right. On my first Camino, most places stamped and made sure that they dated (and some signed) the stamp. On my last Camino, last year, some places didn't even offer stamps, most didn't date and none signed. The usual response to "Do you have a stamp" was a hand wave over to a point on the bar where you could stamp the credicial yourself. I understand it is a waste of time for most business owners and their employees, but a tradition seems to have gone by the wayside to some extent.

 

[VNwalking]

So, my question is this - do you get comments written on your credencial nowadays, or is it really a thing of the past?

It's never happened to me. But then I only walked my 1st camino 10 years ago.

 

[isobelmtl]

Apologies to those who detest frivolous questions - please move on; nothing to see here.

When I walked my first camino from Chartres to SdC (autumn/winter, 1998), no matter where I stayed - mostly campsites and modest hostels in France, almost exclusively refugios in Spain - the person I dealt with would stamp the credencial, date it, sign it, and quite often add some kind of comment. It really personalised the credencial, and helped me to remember the people I'd met.

On subsequent caminos, all that extra detail had disappeared, and I generally just got a stamp, and occasionally it was dated.

This year, for the first time in 25 years, in the albergue of Alegria on the Via de Bayona/Camino Vasco Interior, my credencial was stamped, dated, signed, and the delightful hospitalera wrote a little message.

So, my question is this - do you get comments written on your credencial nowadays, or is it really a thing of the past?

I'm genuinely interested, so this is not a frivolous enquiry on my part!

I have served as hospitalera in Porto and Ponferrada. I always stamped and dated with my initials all credentials. In fact we also kept a record in a special registry with several pieces of info on the pilgrims when I was in Ponferrada in a donativo albergue. The Spanish police have access to this registry because there were sometimes searches for missing persons or criminals ( not on my watch I’m glad to say) Surely the date is necessary to determine eligibility for certificate.

 

[Lydia Gillen]

Camino Frances
Grañón
San Juan Bautista albergue

February 20, 2007



Drawn in my Credential by the vivacious French hospitalero this sello is a precious memento!

How Beautiful, and typical of the hospiladeros in Granon to give of their very best and a bit more. Lydia

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Here is another.

Camino Frances
Agés

photo taken February 2, 2008



On a cold winter afternoon this tile marked the only open pilgrim place,
Casa Caracol/House of the Snail.



Once I entered the hospitalera, drew and then dated this special "stamp" in my Credential.

The Casa Caracol was run by Anja Lund, a Dutch hospitalera who worked in the off-season as a Doctors Without Borders medico in Africa. She was an early model for me, helped us get set up at Peaceable Kingdom, back in 2006. (ed. I may be wrong about her nationality..)
Her place was very basic and totally donativo, run with all her heart. She eventually closed when other albergues opened up in town and pilgrims abandoned the homely and rugged for more cushy digs. I went through there two years ago and Anja was still there. But Casa Caracol is long gone.

 

[JabbaPapa]

So, my question is this - do you get comments written on your credencial nowadays, or is it really a thing of the past?

Occasionally, yes.

 

[kelleymac]

I never got comments, but almost always a date was written in...until we came to Galicia. Then there was a stamp on the table for us to use and fill it in ourselves. sigh. Grañon's was a drawn heart of course.

The last time I walked in Spring 2019, we took the flight from SdC back to England. My older son was studying at Oxford, so my younger son and I stayed in rooms at St. Steven's House. Walking the corridor that evening I was surprised and blessed to hear gregorian chant from the chapel there. The next morning, I asked if St. Steven's had a stamp and I showed them my credencial. They were delighted to say yes, and scurried about looking for it. It is the last stamp for that camino.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

On my recent Invierno/Ingles Camino about half the time the date was not added to the daily sellos, so I did it after going to my room. A few even handed me the stamp to do it myself. Very impersonal, but I do not speak Spanish and mostly stayed in private accomodations.
My only very special sello was this one made with shiny gold wax and a sprig of eucalyptus, but for what the room cost, it should have been 14k gold.
View attachment 180965

I think the "stamp it yourself" is because you can then control where the stamp goes. I've had, especially towards the end of a Camino, stamps flamboyantly plastered here and there - not good when running out of space. It's the same with national passport stamps now we British have to be stamped in and out of mainland Europe - French border control is the worst - pick any page from 40 and stamp away!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I think the "stamp it yourself" is because you can then control where the stamp goes. I've had, especially towards the end of a Camino, stamps flamboyantly plastered here and there - not good when running out of space. It's the same with national passport stamps now we British have to be stamped in and out of mainland Europe - French border control is the worst - pick any page from 40 and stamp away!

Yes, they can get quite sloppy when placing their sello themselves. I always dislike the generic "return address" stamps as they are soulless.
I do always open my credential though and point directly to the square box it needs to go in, which seems to help.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Grañón is such an iconic stop now, that I can barely equate it with the place that I found in '98. I stayed there in a desperate attempt to distance myself from a mad peregrina from Brazil, whom I'd first found in Puenta la Reina. Such a special place - I was there alone - the famous parish priest gave me a tour of the facilities. We were probably somewhat into winter by this time. Looking at nowadays videos of the place - the fireplace in my day was just an open space, and there were heaps of logs to chuck on. Didn't meet a soul there.

Stayed there 24/09/01 no stamp, just a scrawled signature and "Grañón"

IIRC there was a communal meal, a pleasant talk up in the choir loft (?) and a uncomfortable night on a thin pad in the attic near a hole in the wall and no tap water after 9pm! It all comes flooding back now!

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I think there were bigger spaces on the credenciales, back in the day!

My 2001 credencial was issued at SJPP and consists of blank pages, no boxes. No comments attached to any of the sellos I'm afraid.

 

[Takahiwai]

My 2001 credencial was issued at SJPP and consists of blank pages, no boxes. No comments attached to any of the sellos I'm afraid.

The first one I used was issued by the Confraternity of St. James in London. It was a huge thing, with a hideous mustard-coloured cover. The sello boxes were very large though, iirc, and could accommodate any size of sello. I got a Spanish version at Roncesvalles, and you've reminded me that in those days they were just blank. On my two caminos at the beginning of this year, some of the sellos were so large that they took up two boxes, or more!