Please help me with some research - Por Favor!

[JohnnieWalker]

Hola

I am preparing a presentation which I hope will stimulate debate about some of the assumptions often made about pilgrims and the welcome they receive on the Camino and in Santiago. I would be grateful if you could fill in the questionnaire and pass it on to other pilgrims you know. It will only take a few minutes and is completely anonymous.

Click here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pilgrimswelcome

Thank you

John

 

[fortview]

Done
Not easy to answer some of those questions though.....!

 

[annakappa]

Done! In fact the questions are often difficult to answer (for me). I would have liked to have a "don't know" button. Anne

 

[Kiwi-family]

As Anna says, I really didn't know the answer to some of the first questions. I answered them though :wink: Just wondering how successful the survey will be in achieving the aims it set out to

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hola - I understand. The first set of questions are about our impressions of other pilgrims. Just that.

Thanks

John

 

[fraluchi]

I am preparing a presentation which I hope will stimulate debate about some of the assumptions often made about pilgrims and the welcome they receive on the Camino and in Santiago.https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/pilgrimswelcome

I was a bit perplexed about a few questions and therefore couldn't give an appropriate answer. In fact, a "don't know" vote should make some answers easier.
Did I feel being welcomed at entering the Cathedral in Santiago? Perhaps by the beggars at the various porches :!: :cry: Assumptions about pilgrims? The answers were easier to come by along the Camino rather then at the pilgrims' office in Santiago. :idea: The clothes don't make the monk :roll:

 

[lindseh]

I did the survey. But I'm curious to hear what you might have to say about my experience, John! I'm wondering if I just got someone on a bad day or something. It left a bad taste in my mouth and is making me think twice about going to get a compostela after my next camino.

I understand that the Camino is a religious pilgrimage and that the compostela is a religious document. But isn't there some way you could offer some other kind of compostela to those who do not have religious reasons? When I checked 'no religioso", the man behind the counter gave me a disapproving look, and lectured me that those with religious motivations were worthy of a compostela. What really bothered me was his tone - he was talking down to me, and I tend to feel he was probably stereotyping me because of my youth. So he told me to change what I had put down in order to receive one. I did, but now I wish I didn't. I would rather have stayed true to myself than walk out with a piece of paper. As we all know, it's about the journey, not the destination.

I never found the people of the Camino to discriminate between the religious and the heathens like me, and I was tremendously disappointed by finding this attitude in Santiago if all places. I don't think my reasons for doing the Camino can be fairly and accurately summed up by 'no religioso', and I refuse to believe that my Camino was less valid and less valuable than a religious one.

Sorry, that was most definitely a rant, but it has always really bothered me to feel so unwelcome in a place that I had walked so far and through so much pain to see. I'm curious if anyone else had a similar experience...

 

[SYates]

Unfortunately SurveyMonkey is down at the moment, but will do it later! SY

 

[FatmaG]

I too tried this morning without success.

Now it works again...

 

[SYates]

Now it worked for me also ;-) I answered the questions about my own experience but how can I judge the convictions of others. If this survey is for the upcoming Congress in Santiago about Christian hospitality it needs rewording ;-( SY

 

[SYates]

... But isn't there some way you could offer some other kind of compostela to those who do not have religious reasons? ...

Lindsey, sorry to hear about your bad experience! I am also astonished that the person in the office didn't know that there is in fact a simpler document than the Compostela for those that make the Camino not out of religious / spiritual reasons! Perhaps it was his first day? The alternative document simply states something on the lines of "The Cathedral welcomes you cordial to Santiago and the tomb of St. James and wishes you all the blessings." SY

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Hola lindseh

I too am very sorry that you had this experience and I've been thinking about it since I read it when you posted.

If you don't mind I'm going to use your experience in a discussion in the Pilgrims' Office - I think the problem is basically one of language. Often when we are speaking a language which is not our mother tongue it is very difficult to judge our tone and often words which we might use in our own language are much more aggressive in another. Sometimes I hear staff in the office genuinely trying to be helpful by saying "do you know if you tick that box you won't get a Compostela?" or something like that. They really want to avoid disappointment. It is also hard for them to explain in another language the whole concept of "walking for spiritual reasons" which is the distinction which is made between walking for "religious reasons" and "religious or other" reasons. Again being helpful I hear colleagues chatting with Spaniards who say they definitely did not walk for religious reasons and don't want anything to do with the church! Staff will ask gently - did you do this for a promise or a vow? Did you make the camino in memory of a loved one? Basically they are asking, "did you do this for higher reasons other than sport or culture?" because they don't want the pilgrims to be disappointed by not getting a Compostela. Translate all of that into another language and it can come across as intrusive and off putting.

As has been said there are two certificates one for pilgrims who say they walked for either religious or religious or spiritual reasons and the other for pilgrims who walked for non religious or non spiritual reasons.

I hope this helps.

John

 

[Susannafromsweden]

....the whole concept of "walking for spiritual reasons" which is the distinction which is made between walking for "religious reasons" and "religious or other" reasons.

But can you only say "religious reasons" if you are a proper catholic?
If you are not catholic you walk for "religious or other", or is it spiritual?

I wonder as I'm a member of the Swedish church which is Lutheran.
Om my last camino I got a few questions about that.

 

[SYates]

....the whole concept of "walking for spiritual reasons" which is the distinction which is made between walking for "religious reasons" and "religious or other" reasons.

But can you only say "religious reasons" if you are a proper catholic?
If you are not catholic you walk for "religious or other", or is it spiritual?

I wonder as I'm a member of the Swedish church which is Lutheran.
Om my last camino I got a few questions about that.

I am an Anglican and I never had anybody question that I am walking for religious reasons despite not being a Roman-Catholic ;-) SY

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Survey done Johnnie, and have passed it along to a few Camino friends. Brief, and didn't take long.
Margaret

 

[JohnnieWalker]

....the whole concept of "walking for spiritual reasons" which is the distinction which is made between walking for "religious reasons" and "religious or other" reasons.

But can you only say "religious reasons" if you are a proper catholic?
If you are not catholic you walk for "religious or other", or is it spiritual?

I wonder as I'm a member of the Swedish church which is Lutheran.
Om my last camino I got a few questions about that.

Hola I was only referring to what happens in the Pilgrims' Office when you go for your Compostela. There are no questions whatsoever about religious denomination. There are three questions - Did you walk for 1 Religious reasons 2 Religious or spiritual reasons 3 Non-religious reasons

John

 

[lindseh]

...

As has been said there are two certificates one for pilgrims who say they walked for either religious or religious or spiritual reasons and the other for pilgrims who walked for non religious or non spiritual reasons.

I hope this helps.

John

Hi John,

Thanks for your thoughtful response. I never really considered the idea that perhaps the tone was just a product of using a second language. As it was two years ago, I don't remember it clearly enough to analyze whether it was a product of me being overly sensitive or if there really was something more concrete that made me feel like I was being judged so harshly, I just remember how I felt. But I'm glad to hear that I still get something if I check "no religioso". I will do that next time.

I don't really care what piece of paper I get - in fact, I don't really care if I get a piece of paper at all. But going to the pilgrim's office with the pilgrim family feels like an integral part of the Camino, and I don't want to miss out on it.

Yes, feel free to share my experience with the pilgrim office. I don't mind at all.

Ultreia,
Lindsey