Echoes from past |
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The last picture of this
picture series is from a tiny church of San Juan in Furelos, about 50 km
from Santiago. Furelos is a small town far away from main roads, most
of the people who will see this statue are pilgrims passing by. The church quide
told me that the statue is made by a local artist only very recently. Although
I don't consider myself as a very religious person, this statue and its
message "He is reaching out His hand for you to take it", touched me deeply. No doubt the growing popularity of the Camino will change the way even more it has already chaged in past 20-30 years. There will be old buildings restored, new one's built, more statues and other works of artists erected. More and more refugios of all kinds will be established to cope with the flood of pilgrims. In the Following the Milky Way. Second edition, with a New Introduction American author Elyn Aviva says that she does not agree with the old-timers who, like her, did the Camino in early 80s when there were very few people around, and who are now complaining about the "McDonaldization of the Road". "I can sympathize with the old-timers' nostalgia...But I think they misunderstand the nature of the pilgrimage...The pilgrimage is a living process...In many ways, following the Camino in 2000 is more like making the medieval pilgrimage than it was in 1982 when the Camino was nearly abandoned". [Back to
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