The Camino de Santiago is traditionally a religious pilgrimage, but it’s so much more than that. As you walk through Spain, France, Portugal and Italy, you will inevitably experience many different cultural customs, festivals and events. Experiencing as many of these cultural events as possible will help make your Camino experience even more unforgettable. While St. James Day is the most well-known event taking place along the Camino de Santiago, it certainly isn’t the only one. Hopefully our Culture & Events articles will help inspire your trip and help you decide what dates you want to walk. Maybe there’s a festival or two you absolutely don’t want to miss.
Camino Culture: The Galician Hórreo If you are walking the Camino de Santiago, you will start noticing some exciting structures close to most homes in rural areas as you enter Galicia. These rectangular structures are granaries called ‘hórreos’, a widespread construction across rural Galicia. Their function is to store grain and other food crops for
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Santos Inocentes: The Story Behind Spain’s Day of Mischief We all love a bit of mischief, whether it’s pranks or playfully mocking your friends and family. As long as it’s in good fun and on a specific day, fooling someone with your wily charms is a great use of your time. While most of us
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There are many wonderful festivals taking place throughout the year on the Camino de Santiago. One of these is O Magosto, Galicia’s classic autumn festival. This festival welcomes the winter season and is dedicated to one special product: the chestnut. If you are travelling along one of the Camino routes in late October and November,
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Useful Galician for your Camino trip While on the Camino de Santiago, you will encounter and befriend fellow pilgrims of many nationalities and many languages, particularly as you get closer to Santiago de Compostela. You might have learnt a bit of Spanish before but did you know Galicia has its own language? It is called ‘galego’, Galician.
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The Camino Plenary Indulgence You can get the Camino Plenary Indulgence (also known as “The Jubilee”), by walking the Camino’s last 100km or Cycling the Camino’s last 200km to Santiago de Compostela. The doctrine and practice of indulgences in the Church are closely linked to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession). An Indulgence is the complete
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Experience Holy Week in Italy – Unmissable Easter Events in Rome Are you planning to finish your Via Francigena walk in Rome this Easter? Holy Week is one of the most important weeks in the Catholic calendar, so this is a special time to spend a few days in Italy’s capital. If you find yourself in
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Halloween is right around the corner so it’s no surprise that we’re getting into the spooky spirit. Whether you’re a fan of ghosts and ghouls or just a little bit superstitious, you can add some ghostly fun to your walk with these 7 spooky Camino facts! As we know, the Camino de Santiago takes walkers
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With Halloween just around the corner, we must remind you to beware of the Santa Compaña (‘Holy Company’) while on your travels along the Camino de Santiago in Galicia, especially at this time of the year. The Santa Compaña is a procession of dead souls feared by most Galicians. This very unique procession of restless
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In 2019 we conducted a survey at CaminoWays.com that threw up some interesting results regarding the reasons why people walk the Camino. The popularity of the Camino has exploded in recent years, with 277,913 certificates of completion handed out in 2018 and 347, 578 handed out in 2019. While just 53, 905 pilgrims received their certifications of completion
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The game devised by Gina Gisbert, a Valencian who got to Galicia on a pilgrimage more than 11 years ago and settled in one of the towns most traveled by pilgrims, and María Pardo, a young Galician graduate in Art History, allows us to recall all the magic, curiosities, and data of interest of this
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Suppose you are in Santiago de Compostela or walking the Camino de Santiago on 17th May. In that case, you will get to celebrate a particular date in Galicia’s calendar: Galician Literature Day, ‘Día das Letras Galegas’ or simply ‘Día das Letras’. On 17th May, Galicians celebrate their language, their literature, as well as their
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Native oak woodland restoration project with CaminoWays What should be a thriving oak woodland is a now a green desert. Located in the northeast of Portugal, this woodland restoration project aims to develop sustainable land management practices to deal with the ravenous summer wildfires and regenerate native oak woodland. The purpose of this project is
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