Compostela, Credencial or Certificate of Distance?

[Satírico]

Greetings,

Which item do you value most highly, now that you are home again: the Compostela, the distance certificate, or the credencial? All are mementos of your adventure.

Maybe the answer is different for each camino you have followed, assuming there's more than one.

This question occurred to me whilst pondering another thread on the subject of the distance certificate. I do have one, for my second camino, but I doubt it's accuracy. It makes an estimate at the distance from one place to another, but the angels and devils are in the detail.

Buen camino,

Philip

 

[trecile]

Definitely, the credential, because each sello contains a memory.

 

[mspath]

Since the legend or hagiography of Saint James recounts that his dead body miraculously washed ashore in Spain, scallop shells from the sea are his symbol. Hence, from time immemorial carved shells decorate doorway lintels and latches along the pilgrim routes and pilgrims have scallop shells (in French, coquilles St Jacques) as their emblem.

2004 when nervously beginning my first camino a kindly volunteer of the Amis du Chemin de Saint Jacques in SJPdP offered me a pilgrim shell which I wore with pride. Over subsequent years a new shell was acquired for each additional camino yet today it is that first precious shell which hangs at the door of our French farmhouse continuing the timeless tradition of marking a pilgrim place....Long may it be so.

 

[Nanc]

I took a scallop shell that had been in my family for 50 year on my CF - precious

 

[StuartM]

I bought a painted stone for my daughter in Rabanal from a roadside donativo stall. Always reminds me of the Camino.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

A red silk rosary bracelet from the monastery at Ziortza...I wore it from there through the rest of my zig zag camino across many routes...(the key is around my neck because I had promised the housekeeper at the monastery at Valdedios that I would not, under any circumstances, loose it...she seemed doubtful---wonder why--until I put in on a cord holding my shell). The monks in Ziortza had prayed for safe weather and safe travel for me...and I felt/feel their kindness whenever I look at it.

 

[SYates]

The shell that was gifted to me on my very first Camino in 1999 and that is accompanying me ever since on all my Caminos.

Buen Camino, SY

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

Yes, my credencial. As @trecile says, each sello holds a memory... every unique stamp takes me back to a place, reminds me of a fellow pilgrim, a shared meal, a kindness along the Way...

Like the visa stamps on my old passports - before the e-gates.

 

[Sheffield James]

I'm not sure it's my most precious Camino souvenir but I have a great attachment to a humble barley-sugar sweet given to me by an Australian pilgrim on the first day of my first Camino in 2013.

As an inexperienced walker (+ type2 diabetic), I found the climb through the Pyrenees from SJPdP to Roncesvalles quite tough. My pace got slower and slower with each passing hour until my rest stops were becoming longer and more frequent than the time I spent actually walking.

Just when I thought I could go no further I met Pete the Aussie, who, as it happened, was also diabetic. He 'diagnosed' my problem immediately+ reached into his pocket to retrieve two barley-sugars to give to me. I took one there and then, with the second one intended to see me through to my end-of-day destination. The first one did the trick to the extent that I breezed over the top and down into Roncesvalles a mere 11.5hrs after starting out that beautiful end-April morning.

I never ate that second sweet. I carried it through to Santiago + brought it home as a tiny, yet treasured memento of Camino #1. I still keep it with my credencials, compostelas and other keepsakes, despite looking much worse for wear with each passing year. Thanks Pete!

 

[jerbear]

Peace of mind body and soul. Ahhhh

 

[KinkyOne]

A leather bracelet with metal "triskele":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_spiral
A very beautiful girl gave it to me during a fiesta in Muxia in 2015 and it's still on my wrist.

I just have to believe it would bring me back to Galicia

PS (Hello to Jerry!)

 

[Anemone del Camino]

I'm not a trinket person but I have to admit one gets tempted to bring something back home. So, I allow myself two things: a small pillbox and a fridge magnet. Ok, sonce last May also a patch to decorate my Camino backpack.

I have the shell I was given in SJPP, My credencies in my jewlery drawer with real pasports.

I saw a beautiful picture of the Meseta on the Forum and the photographer kindly sent me a higher def version, in exchange for which I made a donation to the Forum. I had it printed, 16"x20", and framed, and it's what I see when I look up from my desk at work.

I started collecting small boxes, pill box or smaller as a teenager, so I bought a silver one in Santiago. I also buy a fridge magnet when I go somewhere "special", so I have one from the Camino, bought in Santo Domingo. For my backpack I have an arrow and a boot.

Distance certificate (Primitivo) and two Compostellas are rolled up somewhere. I keep meaning to frame them, but the truth is that it's not the kind of stuff I like to hang at home.

What I wish I had is an original quality painting from an artist from somewhere along the Caminos I have walked or found in Santiago.

One from an artist would be the jackpot...In 2012 the Santiago University had an exhibit from an artist who painted about the Civil War and exiled Spaniards, like my family. Paintings of children afraid when bombs hit, holding their mother's hand and walking on the beach ready to board shops to take them into exile, like my mother must have done in Santander to noard the Tregastel in 1936. Talented artist, discovered in Santiago, and a subject with a lot of meaning for me. Perfect. Now, to track the family downto see if they are selling anything.

Failing that, I would like the small antique shop on rua San Roque to be open one day when I am there as the san Roque statue in the window is something I would bring home: a small antique statue of San Roque, with his dog. He is the patron Saonts of Dogs. If anyone ever sees that shop open, p,ease get a phine number for it so I can purchase that statue!

 

[JMac56]

View media item 5650Nuff said!

 

[MCFearnley]

My favourite souvenir is a turtle pin I was given by a fellow pilgrim I met along the way entering Pereje.
I heard some English spoken behind me and said hi to Marsha from California and her friend from Poland.
We chatted a bit and then, as I saw that they were fleeter of foot than I am, I suggested they do not slow down for me as I am a turtle.
Marsha stopped dead in her tracks and asked me if I had just called myself a turtle.
When I said that indeed that is what I called myself, she took off her hat and said let me give you this turtle pin off my hat.
As I was saying that she did not have to do that, she explained that I was the first other person she had ever heard call themselves a turtle. She went on to explain that she had a good friend who passed away who called himself "la tortuga" (turtle in Spanish) as he was a slow jogger. She was wearing the pin in memory of him.
As she handed me the pin she told me that I was put on her path as a sign that she should stop mourning his death.
I now wear the pin on my hat as a memorial of the encounter and to me it encompasses what the Camino means.

 

[Michael Caleigh]

One of my camino friends Clare from Barcelona gave me this after a few days walking together.
I haven´t taken it off since and it reminds me of the amazing talks we had and his cheerful personality.
There are not many people in my life like him that are so understanding and see life with such positivity.

 

[wayfarer]

In 2012 my wife bought me a silver shell in St Jean the day before I started my Camino, I wore it all the way to Santiago. In Santiago where she waited for me, she bought me a tou cross. These have rarely left my neck since then.

 

[Satírico]

View media item 5650Nuff said!

Yes indeed.

 

[Annie Little]

My " compostela" is the impressions , feelings , lessons , memories firmly imbedded in my heart ..... Safe there .... Will go with me to grave ..... I don't need the paper

 

[Gareth Griffith]

I bought a CD off the Jazzman that plays his guitar in one of the squares surrounding the Cathedral at SdC. Every time I hear his music I am transported back to that square, sat in the sunshine, enjoying a cold beer and the ambiance of that special place.
I also sat on a wall on the way into the cathedral square with a lady from Vermont that I had walked with from Sarria, I bought a CD from a guitarist there called Javier Pardo. We watched the world go by and waited for someone we knew to walk by. It was absolutely superb.
As we walked into SdC we met up with a couple from Denmark who kindly guided us to the pilgrims office and as we walked with them we met up with another chap from Leicester that I kept bumping into along the way. It is a wonderful experience walking into a strange city full of people that you know.
Like I said, the music brings all these pleasant memories back and gives me the urge to go again next year.

 

[clearskiescamino]

I still have a scallop shell from my first Camino in 2011. That means a lot to me.
Credencials hold great memories also.

 

[Satírico]

I bought a CD off the Jazzman that plays his guitar in one of the squares surrounding the Cathedral at SdC. Every time I hear his music I am transported back to that square, sat in the sunshine, enjoying a cold beer and the ambiance of that special place.
I also sat on a wall on the way into the cathedral square with a lady from Vermont that I had walked with from Sarria, I bought a CD from a guitarist there called Javier Pardo. We watched the world go by and waited for someone we knew to walk by. It was absolutely superb.
As we walked into SdC we met up with a couple from Denmark who kindly guided us to the pilgrims office and as we walked with them we met up with another chap from Leicester that I kept bumping into along the way. It is a wonderful experience walking into a strange city full of people that you know.
Like I said, the music brings all these pleasant memories back and gives me the urge to go again next year.

Nice. I also bought Javier's album. He was playing when I was on the roof tour. It was literally wonderful.

 

[Satírico]

A diversity of responses to my thread. I was hoping to get a little more opinion on how people value one 'intrinsic' souvenir against another, or whether one comes to mean more or less with the passage of time.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

A diversity of responses to my thread. I was hoping to get a little more opinion on how people value one 'intrinsic' souvenir against another, or whether one comes to mean more or less with the passage of time.

I'm not sure what you mean...I think there were several explanations on how their favorite memento has held through the years and why. Are you wanting people to limit themselves only to a compostella, credential, or distance certificate--which may not be significant nearly as much? Then I would guess most would say credential...as others stated above, it holds the memories in the stamps. the distance certificate is relatively new, and that would hold for me the least...it is more a 'bragging rights' piece of paper to me...it speaks of what was accomplished, without the "how" recorded in a series of stamps.
if you want to limit to those three, perhaps put up a survey with only those three choices.

 

[Satírico]

I'm not sure what you mean...I think there were several explanations on how their favorite memento has held through the years and why. Are you wanting people to limit themselves only to a compostella, credential, or distance certificate--which may not be significant nearly as much? Then I would guess most would say credential...as others stated above, it holds the memories in the stamps. the distance certificate is relatively new, and that would hold for me the least...it is more a 'bragging rights' piece of paper to me...it speaks of what was accomplished, without the "how" recorded in a series of stamps.
if you want to limit to those three, perhaps put up a survey with only those three choices.

The thread title has already been changed to clarify the curiosity which led to its creation. I'm not trying to survey people. It's nice to hear responses beyond the scope of the thread title, but at the same time I wonder how many of the early respondents noted the (previous) thread title without reading the primary posting.

No one could accuse you of bragging, Smallest Sparrow.

 

[Annie Little]

While I respect the original post .... It's semantics really since we al shared a different yet similar answer ...... At the end of the day it just means we are individuals ( in soooo many ways ) but we have shared a common dream / walked a common path...... to me THAT is what makes the Camino great ....
That's the intrinsic value as far as I am concerned

 

[MarcelWals]

The walking shoes I walked this Camino will be my most highly value. They were with me from the beginning till the end. They we're nice and shiny at day 1. If I look at them now, they are muddy, scratched and oldschool. They walked in sand, water, mud and sh*t but they made history. The Camino were the most exciting walk ever for my shoes! I will keep them like they are now. Don't clean them, let them just the way they are now. Will give them a special spot in our garden so it will remember me ,when I'm drinking a cerveza, to my Camino!

 

[Mike C]

My new pair of shoes that i had to buy that got me to Santiago are my most precious souvenir.

I wonder how many people value the missing mileage markers that they have stolen from the Camino. I don't think there was nothing that repeatedly sadden me more than to notice how many of them had been stolen along the route. May they be a symbol of shame to all those who posses them.

I was thinking that it would be an interesting idea to make up a 100 or so 100.000 markers and go attach them and leave a camera set up. As each person steals it replace it with another and start a website with the pictures of the thieves in action.

If any one reading this has one of these markers at home I guess it is more important you received your souvenir than it is for the millions of pilgrims whom followed after you and have no such reference.

Buen Camino

 

[inmari]

Greetings,

Which item do you value most highly, now that you are home again: the Compostela, the distance certificate, or the credencial? All are mementos of your adventure.

Maybe the answer is different for each camino you have followed, assuming there's more than one.

This question occurred to me whilst pondering another thread on the subject of the distance certificate. I do have one, for my second camino, but I doubt it's accuracy. It makes an estimate at the distance from one place to another, but the angels and devils are in the detail.

Buen camino,

Philip

I value them equally and miss them all a lot, as y backpack which contained them all, got lost on my way back home when switching from one plane to another. Travel insurance paid for most of the stuff in the backpack, but money cannot buy everything. I'll have to do another Camino to have another Compostela, I think. But that will be another one.

 

[Pam Scott]

Greetings,

Which item do you value most highly, now that you are home again: the Compostela, the distance certificate, or the credencial? All are mementos of your adventure.

Maybe the answer is different for each camino you have followed, assuming there's more than one.

This question occurred to me whilst pondering another thread on the subject of the distance certificate. I do have one, for my second camino, but I doubt it's accuracy. It makes an estimate at the distance from one place to another, but the angels and devils are in the detail.

Buen camino,

Philip

My small scallop shell necklace I bought at Albergue Camino del Perdon at Uterga.
I wear it every time I do a long distance walk. It also reminds me of a favourite Albergue.

 

[MCFearnley]

Now, as to which of the three I value the most, the compostela, the credencial or the certificate of distance? I have all three, but I would have to say the compostela I received at the end of my pilgrimage is the one I value the most. Mine is waiting to be framed with my scallop shell. The compostela is the religious and historical document; the motives for my pilgrimage were both religious and historical. The certificate of distance is a fun souvenir as is my credencial and they will both be kept with other mementos of my trip. I have a distance reminder in the form of a small tile magnet that is displayed on a magnetic blackboard in my home that I found in a souvenir shop in SdC, no need for me to frame the paper one.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

I was thinking that it would be an interesting idea to make up a 100 or so 100.000 markers and go attach them and leave a camera set up. As each person steals it replace it with another and start a website with the pictures of the thieves in action.

better yet if it would spray them with skunk scent.

 

[Satírico]

Now, as to which of the three I value the most, the compostela, the credencial or the certificate of distance? I have all three, but I would have to say the compostela I received at the end of my pilgrimage is the one I value the most. Mine is waiting to be framed with my scallop shell. The compostela is the religious and historical document; the motives for my pilgrimage were both religious and historical. The certificate of distance is a fun souvenir as is my credencial and they will both be kept with other mementos of my trip. I have a distance reminder in the form of a small tile magnet that is displayed on a magnetic blackboard in my home that I found in a souvenir shop in SdC, no need for me to frame the paper one.

Many thanks. I think you may be the first person to answer my question, not that the other responses weren't entertaining. Buen Camino.

 

[Gadflyparexcellence]

My " compostela" is the impressions , feelings , lessons , memories firmly imbedded in my heart ..... Safe there .... Will go with me to grave ..... I don't need the paper

Couldn't have been said any better!

 

[lunna]

All four of my compostelas, and my 1006km certificate of distance are all gathering dust in my drawers here in my apartment. Ironic, as one of the best things about the caminos is that you make do with less, and the certificates at home just at add to my clutter. So much for my dream of downsizing!