What does santiago de compostela mean

There are many questions pilgrims ask themselves when they embark on the Camino de Santiago for the first time. And one of the most common has to do with the Compostela: what is it? What is the meaning behind it? Where can I get one, and what do I do with it?

Today we will try to answer some of these questions so that you can enjoy the Camino with all the information you need. This accreditation was created in the 9th and 10th centuries when the pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint James the Apostle was given official status.

At first, insignias such as the venera or scallop shell were used to certify the pilgrimage. There is no such thing as a Compostelana!

When people refer to the Compostelana, they really mean the Compostela. This incorrect name of unknown origins has become widespread in popular Camino culture. But as good pilgrims we should call things by their proper name and, as we have said, the document that certifies our pilgrimage is called the Compostela.

In order to get a Compostela, a pilgrim must fulfil three basic requirements: they must have taken the Camino for spiritual or religious reasons; they must have completed at least km by foot or on horseback, or km by bicycle, on any of the routes that make up the Camino.

And they must be able to accredit the distance covered. La Credencial del peregrino es el documento necesario para conseguir la Compostela. As we explained in a previous blog , the Credential is the document that accredits our status as pilgrims. Pilgrims must get their Credential stamped in the towns they pass through to show that they have completed the minimum kilometres required. These stamps can be obtained in hostels, Friends of the Camino associations, churches and other places such as town halls, cafes or Correos post offices.

Your Credential can have as many stamps as you like, but to receive the Compostela, Santiago Cathedral requires a minimum of two stamps per day during the last km for pilgrims on foot or horseback, and during the last km in the case of cyclists.

Before they start walking, many pilgrims wonder where they should begin their Camino de Santiago to get the Compostela. We can help you with that! For pilgrims travelling by bike, the minimum distance is set at km. Of course they can! If they are too small, the Santiago Cathedral will give them a special certificate bearing their name. Babies are included on the Compostela of their parents or accompanying adult.

Apart from the Compostela, are there any other Camino de Santiago certificates? There are other certificates apart from the Compostela available to people who have completed the Camino de Santiago. Distance Certificate. It shows the date and point you started, the km covered, the date you arrived in Santiago and the route taken. Pilgrims that have undertaken a pilgrimage in the past can also request one by writing to: certificadodedistancia catedraldesantiago.

Fisterrana and Muxiana. It works in the same way as the Compostela: you need to get two stamps per day as evidence of your journey along each stage. Traslatio Xacobea. Your email address will not be published. They allow navigation through our website and carry out the action requested by the user. For example, allow the reproduction of multimedia content, register your orders in the shopping cart, recognize logins and the selection of language depending on the place of access, etc.

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For experienced trekkers Kim and Malcolm Wells, it became a powerfully spiritual journey, and the common bond of peace and friendship formed among the many pilgrims they met was one of the most rewarding aspects of the experience.

Kim Wells, Malcolm Wells, Mary Victoria Wallis's Among the Pilgrims is the story of her two pilgrimages - one by bicycle in and one on foot in - in northern Spain along the thousand year old route to the shrine of St.

James the Apostle at Santiago de Mary Victoria Wallis, Myths, legends, and miracle stories are an essential part of Mullen's Camino lore. Robert Mullen, To say Santiago de Compostela is popular with walkers is a bit of an understatement. According to official tallies, almost 18, people walked to Santiago in Denise Thiem 'abducted while hiking Camino de Santiago ….

The Camino de Santiago attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, Camino de Santiago : Pilgrims can take a month walking miles …. The Camino is in fact several pilgrim routes in northern Spain that eventually find their way to the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela , where the remains of Misty and mystical, Santiago de Compostela is the antidote to a Spanish summer.

The jewel of Spain's green, rainy northwest remains cool and fresh while James the Greater, the beloved apostle of Jesus Christ, had been discovered in a far site near the finis terrae , the end of the known Earth, in the northwest of Iberian Peninsula. A few years later, this site became a famous pilgrimage town, one of the most important of Christianity. Pilgrims came from all over Europe following the Camino de Santiago to reach the city born around the Holy Tomb, exercising a great influence on the surrounding area.

This is evidenced in the small towns, churches, hospitals, and monasteries that were built near the Camino to attend to the thousands of pilgrims who came to visit the tomb. This influence in the local architecture and art was especially strong and long-lasting in the north-west of Spain, but the fame and the reputation of the sanctuary of Santiago de Compostela went well beyond; Galicia was even known in the Nordic sagas as Jakobsland.

This famous pilgrimage site also became a symbol in the Spanish Christians' struggle against Islam. The Old Town of Santiago de Compostela, together with the outlying Santa Maria de Conxo Monastery, constitutes an extraordinary ensemble of distinguished monuments.

This town is not only a harmonious and very well preserved historical city, but also a place deeply imbued with faith. The phenomenon of pilgrimage is not only a relevant historical fact, but also a continuous movement thanks to the celebration of the Holy Years. All European cultural and artistic currents, from the Middle Ages to the present day, left extraordinary works of art in Santiago de Compostela. Criterion ii : During both the Romanesque and Baroque periods, the sanctuary of Santiago de Compostela exerted a decisive influence on the development of architecture and art, not only in Galicia, but also in the north of the Iberian Peninsula.

Criterion vi : Santiago de Compostela is associated with one of the major themes of medieval history. From the shores of the North and Baltic Seas, thousands of pilgrims carrying the symbol of the scallop and the pilgrim's staff walked, for centuries, to the Galician sanctuary along the paths of Santiago de Compostela, veritable roads of the Faith. The property encompasses ha, with a ha buffer zone. Santiago de Compostela shows a remarkable state of conservation, largely due to conservation policies that have preserved the integrity of monuments and buildings that form the civil and religious architectural ensemble.

The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. Folk etymology for the name "Compostela" is that it comes from the Latin "Campus Stellae" i.

Stars Field , but it is unlikely such a phonetic evolution takes account of normal evolution from Latin to Galician-Portuguese. A more probable etymology relates the word with Latin "compositum", and local Vulgar Latin "Composita Tella", meaning "burial ground" as a euphemism. Compostela is reported to mean field of stars from campo and stella.