... as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. - Gandhi
For this project, I interviewed three French people, an American, and an Englishwoman. Perhaps the most interesting part of the project for me was to observe the differences in their attitudes towards the hardships of the Camino. The three French people were much more interested in the social aspects of the pilgrimage, and the two who hiked on the Camino Frances in Spain were not satisfied at all with the Spanish part of their pilgrimage. Everyone told me that the pilgrimage in Spain is completely different from the pilgrimage in France. The three French people, truly, seemed far less willing to adapt themselves to different habits and attitudes. But, paradoxically, they were more interested in the community of the pilgrimage than the other two. The American had chosen to make the pilgrimage at a time when he was less likely to encounter other pilgrims, and the Englishwoman had not wanted companionship, either. And, she seemed farmore affected by the pilgrimage than the French and described more profound personal changes.
These attitudes towards the Camino illustrated, to me, the profound French need to separate religious life from secular life. The Chemin de St Jacques de Compostelle is no longer publicized by the church but rather by organizations like the Society of Friends of the Way of St James, who work voluntarily to increase awareness of and interest in the Chemin. (Although, interestingly enough, judges in Spain have been known to assign the Camino de Santiago in lieu of jailtime for certain petty crimes. Once again, the Spanish take the Camino de Santiago much more seriously.)
The road itself is part of the network of hiking trails that run through France. The various churches and shrines along the way are less holy sites than historical sites. Even the profoundly Catholic Monique needed to claim the religious artifacts on the Chemin as part of the patrimony, her historical heritage as French. It seems important that French interest in the Chemin increased greatly after it became a UNESCO historical site, as if it had become somehow more acceptable to make the pilgrimage as a historical or patrimonial experience rather than a religious quest.
However, despite the obvious differences, it is in some ways difficult to say that the pilgrim of today is vastly different from the pilgrim of the Middle Ages. The difference between a "pilgrim" and a "tourist" is necessarily somewhat obscure. Both leave their homes because they have a need. There are things they want to see, places to which they feel compelled to go. Whether these needs are motivated by God or by some inner personal call seems a semantic distinction. (However, this distinction was more necessary for the French pilgrims than for the others.)
It is also interesting to note that American pilgrims, in particular, talk about the feelings of depression and despondency that often happen when the pilgrim returns home. Pilgrim guidebooks and websites offer suggestions for working through the unhappiness when the pilgrim must return to his normal life. When I mentioned this to Monique, she was surprised that anyone would feel sad to finish the pilgrimage.
When I asked Anne why she thought that people chose to make the pilgrimage, she told me that "Each pilgrim is individually called by the Camino. The Way chooses us, as it has for centuries. We do not make that choice. And it is up to us today, as it was for pilgrims in the Middle Ages, to discover the reason for the call – now, as we walk the Chemin, or later, after we have returned home."
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