Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
As you know we are on a Pilgrimage to Santiago De Compostela, together with the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, one of my favorite authors. Paulo Coelho has written a lot of wonderful novels in which you can find how his spirituality has evolved. The Pilgrimage is a beautiful story and while we are on our way to Santiago De Compostela we are reading this wonderful novel.
We are almost on our way, but before we really start to walk the road to Santiago, I love to tell you a little bit more about the history of this Pilgrimage, as is written in The Pilgrimage.
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Buñuel’s The Milky Way |
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Scallop Shell (symbol of the pilgrims on the road to Santiago |
Thanks to the French priest, Aymeric Picaud, who walked to Compostela in 1123, the route followed by the pilgrims today is exactly the same as the medieval path taken by Charlemagne, Saint Francis of Assisi, Isabella of Castile, and, most recently, by Pope John XXIII.
Picaud wrote five books about his experience. They were presented as the work of Pope Calixtus II – a devotee of San Tiago – and they were later known as the Codex Calixtinus. In Book Five of the codex, Picaud identified the natural features, fountains, hospitals, shelters, and cities found along the road. A special society – ‘Les Amis de Saint-Jacques’ – was formed with the charge of maintaining all of the natural markings on the route and helping to guide the pilgrims, using Picaud’s annotations.
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Cathedral Of St. James, the goal of the Road to Santiago |
Buñuel's "Milky Way" painting above shows the Road to Santiago De Compostela, this is probably the ancient route as is mentioned in the Codex Calixtinus by Picaud.
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haiga by Chèvrefeuille |
a whispered
prayer -
pilgrims on their way to Santiago
walking the Path of God
reaching out to their deepest thoughts
seeking the Light
pilgrims on their way to Santiago
walking the Path of God
reaching out to their deepest thoughts
seeking the Light
seeking the
Light
while chanting psalms or mantras
pilgrims on their way
enjoying Mother Earth's beauty -
a whispered prayer
while chanting psalms or mantras
pilgrims on their way
enjoying Mother Earth's beauty -
a whispered prayer
©
Chèvrefeuille
I hope you did like this episode, my excuses for being late with publishing, but I am on the nightshift, and I hope it will inspire you to create haiku, tanka or an other Japanese poetry form.
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 8th at noon (CET). I will publish our next episode in which we will really start our pilgrimage to Santiago, later on.
Share your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on this episode with us all here at our Haiku Kai.
1. | Kim M. Russell | 5. | Nicole Pottier | 9. | Elsie Hagley | |
2. | f o r e s t b a t h e r | 6. | Ese | 10. | Dolores | |
3. | Virginia Popescu | 7. | Hélène Vaillant | 11. | Isabel Caves | |
4. | gillena | 8. | B i r g i t t a | 12. | Janice (Ontheland) |
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Well THAT was a whole new and fascinating piece of info for more. Nice mirror tanka there.
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