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Heritagization of the Camino to Finisterre

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Heritage, Pilgrimage and the Camino to Finisterre

Part of the book series: GeoJournal Library ((GEJL,volume 117))

Abstract

This chapter focuses on one of the objectives of the Finisterre route research project: to compare the concept of heritage conveyed in regional and municipal heritage policies with that of other local actors. The ethnographic studies carried out in the villages and towns with pilgrim hostels show that there is a gap between the two concepts. This chapter deals with two aspects of the disparity. Firstly, some politicians construct a sophisticated discourse on heritage regarding the Camino de Santiago, which contrasts with the lack of a term to name ‘heritage’ at a local level. The second aspect is related to the concept of heritage itself. Politicians and heritage managers have a limited concept of heritage, and therefore they dedicate their heritage policies and funding to building restoration and maintenance of the route itself. On the other hand, the local residents’ idea of heritage is broader, and includes cultural practices such as festivals and religious celebrations as well as other elements of heritage that are more difficult to catalogue, such as ‘continuing to work the land,’ ‘the rural landscape,’ or ‘our local water supplies.’ In addition, this chapter analyses various levels of conflict around heritage and the Camino.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The work presented in this chapter is linked to the network TRAMA3, funded by CYTED, Science and Society Area; and the project NEARCH funded by the European Commission CULTURE program, this publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

  2. 2.

    For a detailed historic study of the revival of the Camino and the political uses during Franco’s dictatorship see Pack (2010). This article covers the period from 1879 to 1988. For a study of the uses of heritage during Franco’s dictatorship see Afinoguenova (2010).

  3. 3.

    The term ‘French Camino’ might imply the part of the Camino located in France. Therefore, in order to avoid confusion, I use ‘Camino Francés’ in Spanish to refer to the Spanish part of the main route of the Camino that starts in France.

  4. 4.

    http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/routes, accessed June 18, 2013.

  5. 5.

    The priest of O Cebreiro, Elías Valiña Sampedro, was the person who started to mark the Camino with yellow arrows (Herrero 2008: 132). For a complete history of the Camino waymarks, see Harrison (2013). For a newspaper article on the topic see http://elpais.com/diario/2010/05/15/galicia/1273918702_850215.html, accessed June 18, 2013.

  6. 6.

    For updates on the delimitations of the caminos see http://cultura.xunta.es/es/caminos-santiago.

  7. 7.

    Regulation 227/2011, December 2 2011; Regulation 144/2012, June 29 2012; Regulation 247/2012, November 22, 2012 and Regulation 144/2012, June 29 2012 (http://cultura.xunta.es/es/delimitacion-Camino-frances accessed May 12, 2014).

  8. 8.

    Regulation 110/2014, September 4 2014.

  9. 9.

    Regulation 154/2013, September 5, 2013.

  10. 10.

    http://ec.europa.eu/culture/news/2014/20140314-label_en.htm accessed February 17, 2014.

  11. 11.

    A Xacobeo, jacobeo or holy year is a jubilee year that occurs when July 25th, the day of St. James, falls on a Sunday. For more information on this topic, see Vilar, this volume.

  12. 12.

    LEADER is an acronym in French for a series of European Union programs dedicated to the development of rural areas. It means ‘Links between actions for the development of the rural economy.’

  13. 13.

    www.neria.es/quienes-somos.aspx, accessed July 23, 2014. See also Asociación Neria (2011: 4).

  14. 14.

    http://institucional.xacobeo.es/en accessed February 19, 2014.

  15. 15.

    Due to time and resource constrains, we could not conduct long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Muxía, although we did interview with the mayor in relation to the Camino and carried out three exploratory visits.

  16. 16.

    Data provided by the municipality of Negreira. The national census includes data for 2013: 68 people in Vilaserio (29 men and 39 women) and 220 inhabitants (95 men and 125 women) in the whole parish, http://www.ine.es/nomen2.

  17. 17.

    Interview conducted by Paula Ballesteros-Arias and Cristina Sánchez-Carretero with the mayor of Dumbría on February 7, 2011 (the project code is GR011).

  18. 18.

    See municipal census at the National Institute of Statistics, http://www.ine.es/nomen2. The figures provided by the municipal office vary a little: the number of inhabitants in 2013 is 130 in Olveiroa and 31 in Ponte Olveira (the total parish population is161; this parish has only two villages, Olveiroa and Ponte Olveira) (personal communication with the secretary of the municipal office).

  19. 19.

    The 2013 municipal census gives a figure of 4907 for the whole municipality and 2934 for the town itself (1504 men and 1430 women), http://www.ine.es/nomen2, accessed May 21, 2014.

  20. 20.

    For more details on place names, heritage and namebranding strategies see Jiménez-Esquinas and Sánchez Carretero (forthcoming).

  21. 21.

    Another peculiar element that was mentioned by one person is futbolín (table football), invented by Alejandro Finisterre, pseudonym of Alexandre Campos Ramírez, poet, inventor and publisher from Finisterre, who died in 2007, and who was according to a newsletter from Finisterre ‘probably the most important character in our history’ (KM0 2010: 9).

  22. 22.

    For a complete description of the group discussion and the photographs that were selected by the participants for the activity see Sánchez-Carretero and Ballesteros-Arias (2014). This visual book was prepared as a report for stakeholders as it included heritage policy recommendations made by residents from Vilaserío.

  23. 23.

    Fisterran refers to those who are born in Finisterre.

  24. 24.

    As explained in Chap. 1, we are using pseudonyms for the people who collaborated during fieldwork, except for those who explicitly asked for the opposite.

  25. 25.

    Regarding the expression ‘way of life,’ the person who was talking explained that ‘here, people live the moment, without thinking about the future. In Switzerland, we live in the future or in the past, but skip the present’ (group discussion 2, 20-7-2011).

  26. 26.

    These hygienic and normative customs associated to pilgrims can be called ‘Decathlonization’ of pilgrimage. For a detailed study of the material culture associated to pilgrimage, see Sánchez-Carretero and Ballesteros-Arias (2010) that includes the results of an experiment in which they asked their collaborators to empty their backpacks and explain the stories linked to each object.

  27. 27.

    To be accredited as a ‘casa vacacional’ is less costly than having a hostel. In addition, it requires less safety and facility regulations. It is illegal to rent out a ‘casa vacaional’ as a hostel, to different hosts.

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  1. Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Cristina Sánchez-Carretero

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Correspondence to Cristina Sánchez-Carretero .

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  1. Institute of Heritage Sciences (Incipit) Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Cristina Sánchez-Carretero

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Sánchez-Carretero, C. (2015). Heritagization of the Camino to Finisterre. In: Sánchez-Carretero, C. (eds) Heritage, Pilgrimage and the Camino to Finisterre. GeoJournal Library, vol 117. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20212-9_4

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