“The tourist demands and the pilgrim thanks” is one of the most well-known phrases of the Camino, but one of the most misunderstood and it is used to manipulate and abuse the pilgrims.
In this article, we analyze its origin and the consequences of the current misinterpretation.
NOTE: The original article was written in 2023 and was updated in 2024.
The origin of the phrase
Act to with respect and gratitude, was a maximum imperative in the antiquity, where really one depended much of the kindness of the people, as well as during the recovery of the road, during the 80s and 90s, when there lacked the necessary infrastructures and one slept where one could due to the lack of shelters.
to be a pilgrim in those times was very hard and suffered…
However, the times have changed, in many things for better and in some other things for worse.
Now there is much infrastructure on many roads and it is no longer mandatory to sleep outdoors, nor to spend days without showering and being a pilgrim is definitely not so difficult.
Humility, austerity, simplicity, and gratitude are valuable attitudes not only for when one walks the path, but also for life in general.
Seneca said:
“The true happiness does not consist in having everything, but in not desiring anything.”
The loss of respect towards the pilgrim
What is spoken about less is the loss of respect for the pilgrim. And that has a certain sense/logic. Seeing a person making the journey is not so exotic. For a local, it is not the same to see 1 pilgrim a year than 1000 a day.
This is remarkable in the difference of the treatment of the inhabitants of the villages, as we are approaching Santiago, as well as in the traveled and untraveled roads.
The problem lies not in a lack of special treatment because one is a pilgrim, but in inferior or disrespectful treatment because of being one. And the pilgrims accept these mistreatment because of misunderstanding this phrase.
the offenses
This disrespect towards the pilgrim and the pilgrimage comes primarily from 3 reasons:
1. by commercial interests,
2. by disruption of the historic route
3. by the inconsistent attitudes of the Galician Board and the Santiago Chapter
Let’s analyze each one in detail and how to combat them.
Commercial Interests
Always there have been unscrupulous individuals who try to take advantage of the pilgrims; this happened in antiquity, happens now, and is likely to continue…
The attitude, although immoral, has logic…
The pilgrims have to choose without knowledge of the service provider and only consume once.
The best strategy from an economic point of view (even if it is selfish and immoral) is to extract the maximum benefit from that interaction.
This implies charging you more or giving you a lower quality service…
Another type of mistreatment, although it does not constitute fraud, is that they refuse to provide you with service; this is rarer, but it can occur.
These attitudes today are very easy to combat; everyone has their reputation on the internet, both on tourist sites and on travel sites.
It is important to keep a record of our experiences at the sites, both when they were excellent, and when they were bad, so that other pilgrims can benefit from our knowledge.
These actions will not protect us from the fraud nor repair the mistreatment suffered, but we can help to prevent these situations in future pilgrims.
The dilemma lies in the fact that numerous pilgrims resist divulging such incidents or abuses, due to the fear of being labeled as “ungrateful” or “tourists.”
In some cases, these events are reported months after they occurred, while in other cases, they never become reported.
Disruption of the historical route
The disruption of the historic route occurs as a result of large infrastructure projects such as the construction of a dike or a highway. And it is the responsibility of local governments to try to preserve the routes as much as possible.
In many cases, deviations of several kms, can be solved with a tunnel or with a bridge for pilgrims.
And relating to the first point there are cases where the people themselves divert the arrows towards themselves to make the pilgrims’ journey unnecessarily long…
From Spanish to English: Of these, the most famous case is that of Ventosa, in the stage Logroño-Nájera of the French Way; which, by forcing the arrows to deviate, has managed to include itself as part of the route while the original route has been renamed “Direct Way”.
The way to combat this type of mistreatment is with knowledge of the situation and avoiding these localities.
From the Xunta and from Cabildo de Santiago
And to finish the most serious offenses to the essence of the path come from the part of the own church, and of the commercial interests of the Government of Galicia that have the emission of the Compostela as hostage.
This becomes evident in the creation of arbitrary rules that clash with tradition and the spirit of the way.
Let’s look at several examples:
Inferior facilities in the hostels of the Xunta.
The pilgrim, by tradition, is usually austere and able to sustain himself with few means. Therefore, all true pilgrim hostels have a kitchen.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of public shelters in Galicia do not have linens, which forces the pilgrims either to eat badly or to eat in restaurants.
They don’t have blankets, nor heating, nor light switches…
100km for the Compostela.
In antiquity and during the revival of the road in the 80s, there was no minimum amount of kilometers to obtain the Compostela. According to the tradition, the road begins at the door of the pilgrim’s house.
Now, what happens on the stage that the pilgrim lives less than 100km from Santiago? It would be logical that the tradition prevailed but it doesn’t. If a Galician pilgrim wants to obtain the Compostela and lives less than 100km, it is not given to him walking from his house. He has to go to an arbitrary point at 100kms and walk from there.
Two stamps a day rule.
Official Reason is to force people not take buses and walk.
Extraofficial Reason is to force people stop in bars to consume.
After which it is argued that it is not necessary to seal in bars since it can also be sealed in churches.
You cannot stamp at churches.
The reasons are multiple but putting them all together one arrives at that conclusion.
1. Many churches are closed permanently.
2. Those that are open, they open for a short time.
3. Many of those you can find open, they cannot seal you because they do not have a seal… The most common official excuse: it is that the seal was stolen by a “pilgrim” and they have not wanted to replace it…
4. If it is open, and if it has a seal, they seal you with total reluctance.
Then there is a change of attitude of 180 degrees regarding the relationship with the pilgrim…
In antiquity, the attitude of the church towards the pilgrim was one of respect and support. In the present day, it is exactly the opposite, it is of exploitation and seeing the pilgrim as a source of income. One pays to see all the cathedrals along the way. Many parish hostels have been commercialized to the point of losing all essence.
Conclusion
The conclusion is that we not only must respect the traditions of the way, the locals, the hospitable ones, and the other pilgrims, but we must also demand that we be respected as such.
Therefore, to close this article, I propose to modernize that famous saying of “The tourist demands and the pilgrim thanks.”
to:
“When you are treated as a pilgrim, be grateful; when you are treated as a tourist, be demanding.”