Lure of the Camino:
George Greenia believes there are multiple transcendent moments on the Camino de Santiago.
Photo by Stephen Salpukas
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Among pilgrims, there is a saying: “Once you’ve been on your first pilgrimage, you’re always between pilgrimages.”
During the past decade, George Greenia, professor of modern languages and literatures at the College of William and Mary, has traveled more than 4,000 miles on bicycle and on foot along the medieval pilgrimage trail known as the Camino de Santiago. He has journeyed with his partner, Thomas Wood. He has experienced the route with students, who have combined the 500-mile walk from the French-Spanish border to Santiago, Spain, with summer research involving economics (who pays for the pilgrimage), linguistics (how people communicate across/among languages) and physiology (how physical conditioning evolves in route). His research efforts focusing on the Camino have earned him The Cross of Isabel the Catholic, Spain’s highest cultural achievement recognition for non-citizens.
And he is going back. Always.
The lure of the Camino, for Greenia, began 15 years ago as he recognized the upturn in the number of people drawn to the experience—from approximately 15,000 per year two decades ago to more than 250,000 per year today. His first interest was research: “I saw it as a growth area in research in my field; a topic in medieval studies that has a carryover into modern research. People are trying to live the Camino as a modern experience. That’s something worth investigating,” Greenia explained.
Eleven years ago, he immersed himself in the experience. He rode a bicycle 1,200 miles from Paris to Santiago. He planned for everything: the route, the stops. “It was a type-A personality experience,” he admitted. Subsequent trips have become more “providentialist,” he said. “Now we just travel. We let the weather overtake us, along with good meals and good friends. Now we allow the pilgrimage to become its own self-creating experience. It has become both academic and experiential for me.”
During the past several years, students have lined up to join Greenia on the trek. Those selected to participate have their physical endurance tested. The William & Mary students average 16-to-18 miles per day at an average altitude of 3,000 feet. “It becomes a body-centered experience: That runner’s high, that being filled with endorphins, lasts a whole month,” Greenia said.
The pilgrimage also tests the emotional endurance of the students. Many experience a prolonged solitude for the first time in their lives as they travel without iPods or cell phones. As they gradually relinquish the need to impose an American stamp on their experiences, they are rewarded, according to Greenia.
“One of the most transcendent features for people from the United States … is that there are times when we become the conspicuous objects of charity,” Greenia said. “We’re used to going on service trips to Appalachia, to New Orleans, to Honduras, to the Dominican Republic, and we are the givers of charity. But when you are on pilgrimage, … people invite you into their homes. They give you food and drink. They offer you shelter, shade, rest. Sometimes they take care of your blisters. … For Americans, that inverts categories in a radical way, and that can be transformative.”
As he plans for his next trip, Greenia is certain that it will, once again, involve students. They keep every experience “fresh,” he said. He enjoys the opportunity to get to know them as peers and friends—as fellow pilgrims.
“We return to our roles here on campus. I’m teacher again; they’re students again,” Greenia said. “But we’ve acquired friendships with students on the Camino that have turned into life friendships. That is valuable. That’s the best of an undergraduate education; that you share something so profound that it carries us both past graduation.”
Home » News & Events » More Stories » 2009
Greenia's pilgrimage: The lure of the Camino
| September 2, 2009Among pilgrims, there is a saying: “Once you’ve been on your first pilgrimage, you’re always between pilgrimages.”
During the past decade, George Greenia, professor of modern languages and literatures at the College of William and Mary, has traveled more than 4,000 miles on bicycle and on foot along the medieval pilgrimage trail known as the Camino de Santiago. He has journeyed with his partner, Thomas Wood. He has experienced the route with students, who have combined the 500-mile walk from the French-Spanish border to Santiago, Spain, with summer research involving economics (who pays for the pilgrimage), linguistics (how people communicate across/among languages) and physiology (how physical conditioning evolves in route). His research efforts focusing on the Camino have earned him The Cross of Isabel the Catholic, Spain’s highest cultural achievement recognition for non-citizens.
And he is going back. Always.
The lure of the Camino, for Greenia, began 15 years ago as he recognized the upturn in the number of people drawn to the experience—from approximately 15,000 per year two decades ago to more than 250,000 per year today. His first interest was research: “I saw it as a growth area in research in my field; a topic in medieval studies that has a carryover into modern research. People are trying to live the Camino as a modern experience. That’s something worth investigating,” Greenia explained.
Eleven years ago, he immersed himself in the experience. He rode a bicycle 1,200 miles from Paris to Santiago. He planned for everything: the route, the stops. “It was a type-A personality experience,” he admitted. Subsequent trips have become more “providentialist,” he said. “Now we just travel. We let the weather overtake us, along with good meals and good friends. Now we allow the pilgrimage to become its own self-creating experience. It has become both academic and experiential for me.”
During the past several years, students have lined up to join Greenia on the trek. Those selected to participate have their physical endurance tested. The William & Mary students average 16-to-18 miles per day at an average altitude of 3,000 feet. “It becomes a body-centered experience: That runner’s high, that being filled with endorphins, lasts a whole month,” Greenia said.
The pilgrimage also tests the emotional endurance of the students. Many experience a prolonged solitude for the first time in their lives as they travel without iPods or cell phones. As they gradually relinquish the need to impose an American stamp on their experiences, they are rewarded, according to Greenia.
“One of the most transcendent features for people from the United States … is that there are times when we become the conspicuous objects of charity,” Greenia said. “We’re used to going on service trips to Appalachia, to New Orleans, to Honduras, to the Dominican Republic, and we are the givers of charity. But when you are on pilgrimage, … people invite you into their homes. They give you food and drink. They offer you shelter, shade, rest. Sometimes they take care of your blisters. … For Americans, that inverts categories in a radical way, and that can be transformative.”
As he plans for his next trip, Greenia is certain that it will, once again, involve students. They keep every experience “fresh,” he said. He enjoys the opportunity to get to know them as peers and friends—as fellow pilgrims.
“We return to our roles here on campus. I’m teacher again; they’re students again,” Greenia said. “But we’ve acquired friendships with students on the Camino that have turned into life friendships. That is valuable. That’s the best of an undergraduate education; that you share something so profound that it carries us both past graduation.”
