This paper explores Anne Carson’s “Kinds of Water: An Essay on the Road to Compostela,” the author’s journal on her pilgrimage to Santiago. Taking water as a metaphor for the Camino, the text ...reflects the creative dimension of the pilgrimage both from an artistic and personal standpoint. Alternative discourses of the female writer and pilgrim occur in a text that is an essay and a meditation on the forms of resilience put into practice by Carson after facing a series of personal losses. The progressive construction of self-knowledge is seen as an emancipatory act that transcended Carson’s mourning period in her experience, which she took as an opportunity to embrace personal transformation. I suggest that my approach can bring useful perspectives not only to further and refine knowledge on Carson in Spain but also for the consideration of resilience as an aspect that contributes to the critical understanding of narratives of individual and social transformation.
The study of the stopovers on the Way of Saint James allows us to understand how, for a man of the Middle Ages, space covers different and complementary statutes. The concept covers, at the same ...time, the concrete and material space of the journey, the political and institutional space of time and its princes, and the symbolic space of ecclesiological places that affirm the power of the Church here below. Within this predefined framework, the history of societies is inscribed with its cities, its churches, its sanctuaries, all linked to the progressive and still nascent construction of a Spanish state where geography is invested with an epic fresco: the fifth Book of Codex is, certainly, a guide for pilgrims. But it also shows them, and above all, a way in which faith is inseparable from a struggle against the infidel in which the peoples of France and Spain are invited to participate under the aegis of the Emperor Charlemagne and in accordance with his chivalrous model. The book proclaims the need for this unity in the Rosary of the carefully chosen stages which make up the path and which are completed by the Apostle’s Sanctuary. The Guide is also a place of experimentation, that of a writing anxious to give to see, whether it is the strange human creatures that inhabit the lands crossed, the miracles of the saints whose exemplary lives are remembered, or the wonders of sacred art.
This paper focuses on the advantages of pilgrimage for modern-day people, trying to find and describe phenomena that are integral to the pilgrim experience. The aim is to investigate this experience ...holistically, without any a priori focus on a specific phenomenon. The qualitatively-oriented research was based on semi-structured interviews conducted with seven Czech pilgrims, after their experience from a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The textual analyses were performed using the grounded theory method. The main finding is that the most significant benefit of pilgrimage is Intense Self-knowledge as a product of six phenomena: Disengagement from Everydayness, Solitude, Company on the Pilgrimage, Spirituality, Pain and Walking in the Camino Environment. Understanding this phenomenon helps us, in return, to understand the need of post-modern individuals for seeking this unique mode of travel, in which they are jolted out of their routine over an extended period of time and are exposed to an environment associated with a Christian tradition which is based on the archetypal need to wander to find sacredness.
Este artículo explora el florecimiento de los obradores de platería en la Compostela del tránsito del siglo XIX al XX a través de la prensa histórica, cuyo vaciado nos ha permitido conocer más de un ...millar de noticias relativas a los artífices y su importancia en la sociedad. Destacan aquellas que se refieren a la hechura de piezas, que nos han permitido identificar obras anónimas y documentar suntuosos encargos para los personajes más distinguidos de la época.
Compostela es conocida como el final del Camino de Santiago, pero era también, en la Edad Moderna, la capital de provincia civil y eclesiástica, sede del tribunal de la Inquisición de Galicia y de ...una Universidad. Su existencia tranquila era alterada por la presencia de forasteros, peregrinos y viajeros. Bajo apariencia de peregrinos llegaban disidentes religiosos en sus países de origen, “herejes” de diferentes confesiones religiosas que buscaban convertirse al catolicismo, y también numerosos refugiados católicos irlandeses, que huían de un poder protestante. Este artículo estudia su acogida por las instituciones eclesiásticas y la vigilancia por parte de la Inquisición.
This paper explores how the significance of the pilgrimage shrine church, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is layered and multifaceted for its local community. This cathedral is more than a ...sacred and pilgrimage landscape. Utilizing "infrasecular" geographies as an analytical lens, this article provides greater insight into the multifaceted and layered significance(s) of the Cathedral for the local community. It focuses more specifically on how the Cathedral can be temporarily transformed by vernacular performances of everyday community life and social interactions to produce banal and, as examined in this article, Galician nationalist (regional) space. Recognizing the continuous processes of making and unmaking of "infrasecular" geographies shifts the focus away from a binary understanding of religious versus secular space to acknowledge the dynamic and overlapping meanings of sacred landscapes within society.
El objetivo de esta investigación es el análisis de las redes y prácticas sociales de los notarios compostelanos en los siglos XIV-XVI a través de su pertenencia a la cofradía de cambiadores de ...Santiago y del ejercicio de su profesión. Mediante una aproximación desde la diplomática a los Libros dos Cambeadores, a los protocolos notariales, a la legislación y a otros casos peninsulares, comprobaremos que la cofradía de cambiadores se convirtió en punto de encuentro de los distintos tipos de notarios, donde crear y asentar los vínculos familiares y profesionales con el resto de la oligarquía urbana. Una realidad marcada por la endogamia del notariado, su política matrimonial, la patrimonialización de los oficios, la diversificación de sus actividades económicas y, finalmente, la movilidad social de estos profesionales. En suma, los notarios compostelanos se convirtieron en intermediarios imprescindibles dentro de la comunidad en el plano administrativo, social, económico y cultural, gracias a su posición socioeconómica elevada y a su trabajo en el ámbito de la cultura escrita.
gl Nesta investigación analízanse as redes e prácticas sociais dos notarios composteláns nos séculos XIV-XVI a través da súa pertenza á confraría de cambiadores de Santiago e do exercicio da súa profesión. Mediante un achegamento dende a diplomática aos Libros dos Cambeadores, aos protocolos notariais, á lexislación e a outras casuísticas peninsulares, comprobaremos que a confraría de cambiadores se converteu nun punto de encontro dos distintos tipos de notarios, onde crear e asentar os vínculos familiares e profesionais co resto da oligarquía urbana. Unha realidade marcada pola endogamia do notariado, a súa política matrimonial, a patrimonialización dos oficios, a diversificación das súas actividades económicas e, finalmente, a mobilidade social destes profesionais. En suma, os notarios composteláns convertéronse en intermediarios imprescindibles dentro da comunidade no plano administrativo, social, económico e cultural, grazas á súa posición socioeconómica elevada e ao seu traballo no eido da cultura escrita.
El cabildo de la catedral de Santiago de Compostela gozaba de competencias jurisdiccionales que entraron en conflicto con las limitaciones que su arzobispo trató de imponer desde el fin de la Edad ...Media. Partiendo de las actas capitulares y los protocolos notariales, analizamos la evolución de los delitos de violencia e indisciplina cometidos por el personal catedralicio juzgados a través de la vía capitular de corrección y punición denominada Beate Jacobe para comprobar los efectos del Concilio de Trento.
Cultural Routes are one of the most important tools for the promotion and the interpretation of cultural heritage. They are itineraries designed around a core theme and they include, inter alia, ...monuments of archaeological or historical interest, architectural monuments, industrial heritage buildings, religious heritage edifices, traditional settlements, spiritual places. In Japan, one of the most important routes, in Kii Mountain Range, is the Kumano Kodo religious-cultural route. The route reflects the merging of the ancient worship of nature – which is believed to be inhabited by Gods or spirits - Shintoism and Buddhism. The route, due to its great importance, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 and was the second to be named after the Santiago de Compostela Route (1987). Both religious-cultural routes have started a close collaborative partnership, in order to enhance visibility and attract visitors, by twining the cities of Santiago de Compostela and Tanabe and awarding a ‘Dual pilgrim status’. ?his article is an attempt to describe and explain the innovative ways of harnessing cultural, religious, and natural heritage in Kumano Kodo and the results to the local community. Both routes are followed not only by pilgrims but also by tourists who want to experience nature, local traditions, and customs. The region in the Kii mountains is promoted as a destination for pilgrims, religious tourists and generally for tourists who wish to walk around in a unique natural environment, to enjoy the hot springs, to engage in sports, to visit neighbouring beaches, to attend festivals, to visit temples and cultural venues etc. All those who travel on the route, are still known as ‘pilgrims’. A question therefore arises whether the use of the term ‘Dual pilgrim’ is accurate, as those who follow the path cannot be faithful to both religions.
The coming of post-secular society has opened up interesting transdisciplinary research and perspectives. Research and academic debates on the post-secular have yet to make inroads into the ...discipline of tourism studies, which is ironic since there is an intrinsic religiosity to tourism. We table that tourism lies at the core of the post-secular turn and should be studied as such. Likewise, academic debate on post-secularism has not accorded tourism its proper due. This study has two objectives. First, to fill the research gap in studies of tourism and post-secularism and, second, to show that post-secular tourism is one of the key spaces where the post-secular is articulated. This article is based on interviews of pilgrims in the Galicia region (Spain) conducted in 2011, 2012 and 2014. Four major attributes of post-secular tourism were identified: (self-)reflexivity, quest for ontological security, heterodoxy and topos-disloyalty. Our findings indicate that the post-secular tourist transcends conventional dichotomies between religious pilgrimage and tourism, journeying as affirmation of denominational faith and pure leisure. Post-secular tourism is about ontogenesis, that is, it is performative rather than injunctive. It is in this sense that one can speak of post-secular tourism as something open, unfolding and in constant becoming.