Following the Milky Way: A Pilgrimage Across Spain

By Ellen O. Feinberg

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081380146X
• ISBN13: 9780813801469
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, John
• Length: 307 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Defining the term Pilgrimage

This book is an in-depth exploration of the concept of pilgrimage. In order to understand the meaning of pilgrimage herself, the author sets off on one of the Western world's most famed pilgrimage routes, the 500-mile-long Camino de Santiago that stretches from the Pyrenees in France to Santiago de Compostela in Northwestern Spain. As she describes her own path, she also relates to us the history of this particular pilgrimage route. She tells us the stories of others who walked the route in the past as recorded in history or literature, and she also tells us about the people she meets herself along the way. Feinberg notes that while some people along the route may be mere tourists, motivated by the desire to travel beyond their usual surroundings, most take up the route because they have a sincere desire for a transcending spiritual experience, an experience that will transform their souls. The rituals connected to the route and sanctity of the sites along the way strongly affect the participants, so much so that many of those who start out as simple tourists eventually become true pilgrims by the time the final goal is in sight.Feinberg's record is illustrated with maps and tourist quality black-and-white photographs. The story unfolds as a journal, with Feinberg describing daily details of finding food and lodging, dealing with bureaucracy and local yokels and well wishers, and her relationship with her traveling companion. Interspersed with these details are relevant snippets of Spanish history from early times through Franco's reign, or bits of information about Spanish literary figures and religious traditions. Mostly, though, Feinberg's mind seems to be on the pilgrimage itself, as she contemplates her actions, and asks other pilgrims to describe their motivations for her. The true meaning of her pilgrimage didn't become clear to Feinberg until some months after she had completed the walk to Santiago and returned home and had time to think about it some more and discuss it with others, off the trail. I learned much about pilgrimages by reading this book. Before I picked the book up, I had a vague idea that the word pilgrimage had something to do with travel with a religious purpose. I was certainly familiar with the word, and knew that Muslims must take a pilgrimage to Mecca, and that there were Christian and Hindu pilgrimages as well, but I thought these were simple traditional religious requirements to travel and see a little of the world or perform a ritual in a specific location. I had very little appreciation for the level of contemplation that is undertaken by a true pilgrim, or how a true pilgrim's journey is never truly finished.