Tradition…. When to start wearing your scallop shell?

[Camino Chrissy]

I pick up a small stone to bring back home which I put with other stones I have collected from around the world as momentos.

I do a similar thing as I collect stones and shells from various travels.
On my recent Via Francigenica walk last fall some of the paths were made using recycled broken tile pieces mixed with gravel. I was fascinated by the variety of colors intermingled so I collected a few tiny interesting pieces to take home as momentos.

 

[kelleymac]

I had been waiting until we finished our pilgrimage at Santiago de compostela, but then was given a scallop shell in O Cebriero, by the father of a family who invited my son and I to join them for lunch. Upon finding out we didn't have shells he left the restaurant and ran to the tourist shop nearby. -- Later, I gave that shell to a friend who was going to walk the camino with her teenage daughter.

Now, on my everyday small backpack, I have a small metal scallop shell and a tau cross. To those who know, the shell identifies me as a pilgrim and the tau as a follower of Christ.

 

[dougfitz]

I never knew the shell was supposed to be the symbol of a completed Camino to Finesterre

I don't think early pilgrims would have understood that at all either, although they might have wanted to collect one in Santiago once they had visited Santiago's tomb.

 

[MilenaS]

I've never worn a shell - but now I have cloth badges from Camigas, this website and the Norwegian pilgrim symbol on my backpack.

Ooooh, now you got me wondering. What is the Norwegian pilgrim symbol? I was planning on getting a red T for the hiking association, but maybe a pilgrim symbol as well

 

[Bradypus]

Ooooh, now you got me wondering. What is the Norwegian pilgrim symbol? I was planning on getting a red T for the hiking association, but maybe a pilgrim symbol as well

This is the symbol used to mark the pilgrim routes to Trondheim.

Signs - S:t Olavsleden

The St Olav’s Cross leads the way. This symbol appears as a metal badge and a sticker, and is found at regular intervals along the entire St Olavsleden trail.

stolavsleden.com

 

[MilenaS]

This is the symbol used to mark the pilgrim routes to Trondheim.

Signs - S:t Olavsleden

The St Olav’s Cross leads the way. This symbol appears as a metal badge and a sticker, and is found at regular intervals along the entire St Olavsleden trail.

stolavsleden.com

Thank you! Should have thought of it myself.

Got lost in Oslo in September, got of on the wrong train stop, wondered around for an hour through industrial areas to get to my hotel, and suddenly I came across the Pilgrim signs

 

[kelleymac]

I have made pilgrimage to Rome (so I can wear a key), and to Santiago (a shell). Now I just need to get to Jerusalem (palms).

 

[Shona]

The friend with whom I walked my first Camino came from Orkney and her family gave her a shell from the beach there and one for me. We tied them to our backpacks with tartan ribbon which had presented itself to us out of the blue. We then caught the first of several trains to SJPP. we were hailed with several ‘Buen Camino!’s on our way through London and Paris - which felt very special indeed.
After that first Camino I bought a backpack. The one I carried on the CF was a borrowed one as I had never owned a bp and did not expect to walk more than one Camino
my Orkney scallop shell has now viewed the VdlP backwards, attached to the back of my very own backpack and waiting to likewise view the Invierno this autumn, fingers crossed

 

[Adhemar78]

For first timers, do you start wearing your scallop shell when you start the camino, or only after you have finished?

I purchased one from the Camino Forum store before my first Camino and wore it on my backpack from the start of both that and my second Camino which I recently completed. And from what I observed while doing both Caminos the vast majority of my fellow pilgrims generally did the same.