Pilgrims’ Steps
A Search for Spain’s Santiago and an Examination of his Way
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The recent popularity of the Way to Compostela and its figurehead, St. James the Greater, invites further investigation of the origins of this ritual pilgrimage as well as the history of the route and its landscape. An in-depth examination of the biography of the man who has inspired such devotion requires us to widen our investigative scope beyond the customary hagiographies and lectionaries. An interpretation of St. James’ life must reflect on the historical and cosmological precursors to his pilgrimage pathway and place him in the sacro-historical continuum of which he is clearly a part. Dozens of centuries’ use of the sacred route that parallels the star field of the Milky Way, flows back into Spain’s pre-Christian past. Ancient peoples linked their cosmologies to the sanctity of Iberia’s northern terrain and its night skies. The myths and legends surrounding James give insight into the depth of the ancient mythological pool from which the St. James narrative draws. His legendary accounts continue the ancient appropriation of the topography of the pathway and Galicia’s star fields, connecting Man to the sacred.
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About the Book
The Way embodies the fulfillment of a pilgrimage route tied to sacred terrain shared by prehistoric man, ancient Bronze Age peoples, early Christians, pilgrims of the Middle Ages, and today’s faithful.
To do pilgrimage to Compostela is to be part of all of this. The Way’s valleys and hills, tree enshrouded paths and streams continue to connect humanity with the celestial divide and return us to ourselves as we find place in the fulfillment here on Earth.
Santiago’s sacred route takes humanity to a threshold veiled by a mosaic of lore and myth. It invites us to a more intimate solidarity with our past, and with ourselves. The waters of his mountain streams and verdant hillocks dispel the disquiet of our world, whispering to us that we are finally home.
About the Author
Robert Hodum attended Stony Brook University in New York and University of Bolivariana and the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Columbia. He completed his graduate work at Stony Brook University, specializing in Latin American history and Ibero-American culture and civilization. The author walked St. James’ pilgrimage route in 2007. He is the author of Conversations on La Playa: A Gringo’s Tales of Medellin. Hodum lives in Port Jefferson, New York.