Esposende

I still haven't figured out my sleep schedule. I'm not the only one. There is a restlessness that comes with a pilgrimage, where you feel you have to keep moving forward. Sometimes the hardest part of the day is deciding you've gone far enough.

Last night I was exhausted. I fell asleep 15 times while trying to edit my last post. I'd wake up to find I'd pushed the space bar 30 times before jolting back into clarity. I'm sure there are still mistakes, but I'm not aiming for perfection in these epistles.

It was another cloudless, blue sky day. The breeze teeter-tottered with humidity and I definitely prefer the cooling breath of the sky to the skin moisture already at 6:30 in the morning.

I very nearly missed the first open cafe, this after teasing another pilgrim (who I met online from her Instagram posts and is about 5 days ahead of me) after she got lost again and had to backtrack several k's. I told her I was using the Camino Ninja app if I needed to look up my route. She told me she was using the Buen Camino app. I told her that she wasn't using it very well. (She laughed at my snarky response.)

It was at my second cafe of the day that I met Sarah from Hungary. We had a delightful first conversation. Three Brazilian pellegrinas listened in to conversation from the next table over and interacted with me once Sarah was back on the trail. Before leaving, two young American friends from the States talked with me.

The only two men who came into the cafe just wanted to quickly use the bathroom, down a shot of espresso, get a stamp, and get back on the trail. I learned nothing about them.

***

Most pilgrims wear a shell on their backpack as a way of indicating they are on their way to Santiago de Compostela and are not a European hippie. There are lots of Camino legends regarding the scallop shell. When I ordered shells for our first Camino three years ago they came with the Cross of Saint James printed in red on the rounded side.
At first I didn't think anything of the design, but as we walked I learned more of the significance and history of it. It isn't really a cross, it is a more of a flowery looking religious sword.

It has been used by a couple of religious/military orders, the first being Spain’s Order of Santiago, whose main purpose was to protect the pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. There was a similar group with the same purpose in Portugal called the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword.

(That last title might cause you to ask a question, "Why did Saint James have a sword?".)

I'm all for the civil guard making sure the pilgrims are safe as they walk to Santiago, however, the other purpose of these orders was to drive out the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula (meaning to kill the Muslims in Portugal and Spain).

You might read that we honor Saint James by wearing a sword because he was beheaded by one in Jerusalem, kind of like the way some Christians identify with Jesus by wearing a cross. I think there are better ways to honor and show our devotion.

But the more significant origin of this sword is from the legend that St James showed up over 800 years after his death on a white horse with great sword in hand as an answer to prayer from the Spanish King to win a great battle against the Muslims. After the victory St. James was given a new title - Santiago Matamoros - meaning St. James the Moor Slayer.
While the legitimacy of this battle is actually in question, and the legend of the St. James intervention not showing up in stories until a couple hundred of years later, still there is plenty of Santiago Matamoros iconography throughout the Camino, especially in the churches and cathedrals.

I'm uncomfortable wearing a Muslim-killing sword on my Camino shell. Last year I bought a plain white one without the symbol, but it was more difficult to find.

You might think, "Chad, you are getting too politically correct over there in Portugal and Spain. I think the sun may have gotten to your head."

Maybe. I also don't put gun stickers on the back of my car.

Symbolism matters to me.
Identity matters to me.
Images matter to me.

The mix of religion and violence and church's involvements in wars matters to me.

Selling Bibles or indulgences for political power or the amassing of silver and gold matters to me.

"Am I buggin' you? I don't mean to bug ya. Okay, Edge, play the blues."

I'm not on a crusade (see what I just did there?) to get people to stop wearing or using the St. James Cross/Sword, but if they notice that I'm not, I'll explain why.

***

What about today's walk?

There were a couple times today where there were options in the path (even though they aren't marked well). I found myself heading away from the coast and toward a town that I wasn't expecting. Sure enough I was heading down the coastal (town) route and not the litoral (ocean) route. I found a dirt road and headed west. I walked through vegetable farms and waved at onion farmers out in their fields. They all waved back. I knew if I was off course they would have pointed which direction to go. It was marvelous and a highlight of the walk.

There were other unique arrows today including one that filled up the whole road. I certainly didn't miss that one!

I arrived in town almost three hours before I could check in at my albergue. They let me drop off my bag and then I headed out to find lunch. I've decided that a calzone is just a pizza that has been folded in half. That is all the wisdom I have for today.

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