What did you do with your compostella/shell

[Gumba]

Hi, just looking for ideas/inspiration for having our compostellas and shells framed - anyone care to share pictures?

thanks

 

[Stephen]

A bit of a confession here. I've sometimes used one as an ashtray.

 

[Peter Barker]

A bit of a confession here. I've sometimes used one as an ashtray.

LOL

 

[Hiawatha]

Here's mine.

 

[Icacos]

My compostella is in its tube, in a drawer somewhere. As to the shell, I didn't have one, mainly because I couldn't think of what I would do with it post camino.

 

[domigee]

My compostella is in its tube, in a drawer somewhere. As to the shell, I didn't have one, mainly because I couldn't think of what I would do with it post camino.

My compostellas are in their tubes too, only opened one once to show people when I was doing a ‘talk’.
My one shell is always on my rucksack

 

[Terri B]

The Compostella is framed and on my study wall, the shell is with my credentials and other memorabilia in the box my Keens came in.

 

[Iriebabel]

Framed but I kept out the original shell for my next camino. ....my second stamped pilgrims passport will be displayed in another frame

 

[Bala]

I carried two shells. One is still on my backpack because I still haven't gotten to Santiago. Last Christmas I hung it on my Christmas tree.

The other was purchased as a soap dish and is currently being used as a soap dish. It will go back in the backpack when I head off again this fall. Then probably go back to being a soap dish.

I had always intended to frame my Compostela and hang it in my dining room. But now I don't know. I have to get it first.

My credentials are safely inside their waterproof covers and locked up -- in a place of pride -- with my other important documents and papers.

 

[hel&scott]

Threw my first shell off the headland at Finisterre, tattooed the next one on my foot, it's been on a quiet a few caminos now and is showing a bit of wear.

 

[bmcbride]

I did not take a shell on my first Camino; I brought one back from Finisterre instead. It is framed, together with my two Compostelas (in 2014 a second compostela - Sancti Francisci Conventus Compostelae - was given as well) and my credential. Last year, for walking the Primitivo, I hung a shell on my backpack but it did not have the same meaning for me as bringing one back. It is "somewhere" in the house. I leave in a little less than 2 weeks, and I will try to find it and bring it to give to a first-time pilgrim who will be walking with us on the Portugués. We will be walking from Santiago to Finisterre / Muxia as well this time, and I will again bring a shell back.

 

[Stivandrer]

My smallish shell never leaves its place on the rucksack,
The Compostella stays in the tube; I know I walked the full distance, that suffices.....

 

[gittiharre]

I kept my first shell, which was from a beach in New Zealand and painted old gold by my husband and hangs in our bedroom. The compostella is still in it's tube, would love to make a camino wall in my house one day when I can no longer walk, with European map of walks done. ( unfortunately I can't find a map of European pilgrim routes as a poster. Now I use a new shell for every walk and give it to a family member or friend at the end who needs some "uplifting". One I put on my birthfather's grave.

 

[Gareth Griffith]

I stuck my shell on the wall of my office, I can see it when stuck at my desk. The big shell with the red cross on it I made myself and the smaller one I picked up en route.
The compestella and my credential I had framed and stuck on the wall. I am sorry to say that three or four of the stamps have already faded to illegibility, but the ones I can read, I find bring back happy memories of what went on there!

 

[wcsjms]

Hi, just looking for ideas/inspiration for having our compostellas and shells framed - anyone care to share pictures?

thanks

We each had two shells, hence two Caminos each (2016 : 2017) ... we gave them to specific people in hopes they would trek the Caminos to enrich their lives.

 

[Northern Laurie]

I gave my shell to someone whom I love and who was talking about the Camino the same way I did 10years before I finally did it-like something he wants to do, that can see himself doing , but which seems out of grasp.

I hope he takes the shell with him when he finally goes!

 

[alexwalker]

My last Compostela was dedicated to a family friend. Your walk can be dedicated to someone who cannot walk. It is called "In vicario pro" (Instead of). You can get more info when you arrive at the Pilgrims office; just ask). This person, a beautiful young man (I am talking mind here), married to my niece, was murdered and parted horrendously in Oslo, Norway by an insane Swedish person, His family (mother, sisters) were poor people in Equador, Indian natives, poor, but deeply Christians. His urne has now a place/shrine in the Amazon jungle, and as I am told, my Compostela is now framed there besides his urne, since he has "walked" the Camino, and received forgiveness for his sins, in the body of/through me. The family believes in this and is very happy, as I am told. And so am I, of course.

 

[windswept]

I live on Dartmoor, England, many miles from the sea. Down the road from my house is a wood. For sixteen years before I walked my first Camino, ( I have walked three others since plus other routes), I would take my dogs for a daily walk through the wood. The wood always has been and continues to be pristine with no human detritus of any forrm to be found in it.,,ever.

Three days before I set off on the Frances in 2011 I was walking through the wood and in the middle of the path was a scallop shell. Nothing else, just the shell. I have no idea where it came from. I took the shell home and drilled a hole in it. It did not need cleaning and has been on my rucksac ever since.

To this day I have no explanation how the shell got there at the time I was about to set off. To this day I find it very spooky as do those to whom I give after dinner
talks, There has been nothing else found in this wood from that day to this.

I consider myself to be pragmatic and rational and I’m sure there is a logical explanation...but I have no idea what it is. Videos of some of treks can be found here

 

[alexwalker]

I live on Dartmoor, England, many miles from the sea. Down the road from my house is a wood. For sixteen years before I walked my first Camino, ( I have walked three others since plus other routes), I would take my dogs for a daily walk through the wood. The wood always has been and continues to be pristine with no human detritus of any forrm to be found in it.,,ever.

Three days before I set off on the Frances in 2011 I was walking through the wood and in the middle of the path was a scallop shell. Nothing else, just the shell. I have no idea where it came from. I took the shell home and drilled a hole in it. It did not need cleaning and has been on my rucksac ever since.

To this day I have no explanation how the shell got there at the time I was about to set off. To this day I find it very spooky as do those to whom I give after dinner
talks, There has been nothing else found in this wood from that day to this.

I consider myself to be pragmatic and rational and I’m sure there is a logical explanation...but I have no idea what it is. Videos of some of treks can be found here

Things happen on the Camino. Just accept it, It is like, when you want a break, and long for a place to sit down, and there it is. Has happened many times for me. Always a (strange) blessing.

 

[november_moon]

Add me to the list of people who never did anything with the compostela or credential. I look at my credential sometimes, but the only time the compostela has been out of the tube since I got home was when I showed it to my mom...

My shell sits on my desk,

 

[SusanSmyth]

Here is mine:

 

[Anamiri]

My compostellas are in their tubes too, only opened one once to show people when I was doing a ‘talk’.
My one shell is always on my rucksack

So is my shell, as long as its still there, I know there is another Camino in the planning

 

[domigee]

So is my shell, as long as its still there, I know there is another Camino in the planning

I like your thinking!

 

[Kurt5280]

My Scallop Shell is lost somewhere on the Pilgrim Trail in the hills before Astorga...unless another Pilgrim found and kept it for good luck.

 

[thomryng]

Simple.

 

[kdespot]

A bit of a confession here. I've sometimes used one as an ashtray.

You're kidding, right?

 

[Stephen]

No. When I stopped smoking I threw all my ashtrays in the bin. When I started again one of my shells, I've 6 now, served as a temporary replacement.

 

[kdespot]

No. When I stopped smoking I threw all my ashtrays in the bin. When I started again one of my shells, I've 6 now, served as a temporary replacement.

Oh, my! Our dear Santiago is turning in his grave. I can hear the shells rattling now.

 

[AlexanderAZ]

I think mine is in a tube in the garage somewhere, not real sure honestly. It’s the memories I carry with me (and the plans to go again with my fiancée for our honeymoon next year) that matter to me.

 

[november_moon]

No. When I stopped smoking I threw all my ashtrays in the bin. When I started again one of my shells, I've 6 now, served as a temporary replacement.

This cracked me up. Thanks for sharing your unorthadox use for your shell.

 

[lthrnck55]

My shell, with cross of St. James, hangs directly over my front door. I see it every time I leave the house and it reminds me of my Camino and of Frodo recalling sage advice from Bilbo in the LOTR. "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to."