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Paper short abstract:

I explore these questions: How does the uncertainty that the Camino presents to the pilgrims function as root for various folk beliefs? What elements of traditional folk practices persist for the modern pilgrim? What do particular locations offer pilgrims to assuage the feelings of uncertainty?

Paper long abstract:

The centuries-old Camino de Santiago offers a living laboratory for folklorists to explore the many meanings of walking. In this paper I will explore four key questions: How does the uncertainty presented to the pilgrims as they walk along the Camino Frances function as root for various folk beliefs? Given the changes wrought by the commercialized contemporary reality of the pilgrimage, what elements of traditional folk practices persist? What do two particular sites, Belorado and Astorga, along the Camino de Santiago offer pilgrims to assuage the feelings of uncertainty? What are ways that the pilgrimage creates social groups as walkers invariably come together and create a sense of community with fellow walkers, in a way seeking certainty one way or another while walking. Written as a braided paper that includes my own personal testimonio of having walked the Camino and poetry along with ethnographic findings from the fourth time I walked along a pilgrimage, I theorize using a Sentipensante (Rendon 2015) approach that bridges the various aspects of walking when there is a particular spiritual purpose as opposed to walking for other purposes such as for sport or exercise. This innovative method in folkloristics and ethnology allows for a decentering of the subject and a more holistic and all-encompassing perspective whereby walking, in this case, can be assessed as part of a pilgrim’s search for community and for belonging