The Camino de Santiago and the Reasons to Begin the Journey
Faith, belonging, time for yourself, togetherness or the joy of overcoming a challenge: the many reasons pilgrims set out on the Camino de Santiago.
The Camino de Santiago is more in the spotlight than ever, and every year it welcomes more pilgrims, or walkers, as they are also called today.
The reasons for setting out are many and varied, and along the way you notice the sheer range of religions, cultures, beliefs, nationalities, ages and levels of fitness. It makes you wonder what draws them all.
And it is precisely this diversity that gives the walk, from the starting point to the final destination, such an exhilarating energy.
The Camino opens its arms to everyone, and the shared feeling is one of community and belonging.
Walking the Camino began as a religious pilgrimage, a homage to the apostle who gave his name to the city of Santiago de Compostela. It remained so for many centuries, until it naturally began to attract new followers, drawing thousands of people year after year.
Looking beyond the religious motive, what also captures our imagination is the desire for quality time: with ourselves, with the person sharing the adventure, or with those we meet along the way.
The Camino gives you that “time”. After all, there are several hours of walking each day, with moments to think about life (or not), and to have genuine, unassuming conversations with people you have never met, free from any “obligation” or “concern” to make business connections or find a friend for life. Some of these friendships will last, others will be fleeting, but whenever you remember the Camino, you will remember these moments.
Another motivation is “togetherness”: a chance to grow even closer to the person walking with you. There is nothing more rewarding than sharing this great adventure with someone you chose to have by your side, and who accepted such an unusual invitation.
Then there is “overcoming”, an excellent motivator: achieving something that once seemed out of reach but which, with the right planning, becomes possible, filling our memory with all the challenges and joys of the journey.
And as a bonus to your original motivation, you will discover new places, witness breathtaking nature and charming villages and, on top of all that, enjoy the local food and the people, who usually welcome pilgrims warmly.
And so, living each moment and wholeheartedly wishing “Buen Camino” to everyone who crosses your path, you will reach each day's destination. That alone is an excellent reason to begin, or to keep walking, the Camino.
Whether for religious reasons, belonging, curiosity or simply to walk through the beautiful regions that every route of the Camino offers, it will certainly be wonderful time spent with yourself and with those around you.
What everyone shares is the happiness of living this moment and arriving at the Praza do Obradoiro, and then embracing the people who walked the Camino with you, whether in person or simply in thought.
It is the high point of the adventure!
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