Trekking shoes, olive green hiking trousers, and a fleece; the man with the rucksack, sleeping bag, and foam roll strapped to his back, could be a trail hiker slogging up just about any mountain trail in the world. But the distinctive, white scallop shell strapped to his backpack gives the game away: this is no ordinary hike. This is the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James, which is marking a special Jubilee year in 2021.
Until the revival of its fortunes in the 1980s, most people living in the English-speaking world had never heard of the Camino de Santiago, nor would they have been especially likely to have known who “Santiago” was. Christians would have recognized the name in English as that of one of the Twelve Apostles, but that’s about it.
