The Camino Symbol

The symbol for the Camino de Santiago is, in my mind, one of the most expressive visual signs that I have ever seen.  In fact, it's so good that it actually has multiple meanings.

The symbol is a stylized scallop shell.  The scallop shell is the universally accepted symbol for the Apostol James or Santiago and has been for a thousand years.  Real scallop shells were used in the middle ages as way markers, indicated places friendly to pilgrims and were a souvenir that pilgrims took home after their pilgrimage. Today, tiles just like this one line the caminos in Spain and serve as way markers along with the ever-present and much searched-for yellow arrows.

The rays of the scallop also represent the many caminos in Spain, Portugal, France and all of Europe that eventually converge in Santiago de Compostella.

Can it be a directional pointer?  One can imagine a sort of arrow with the junction of all the rays as the point.  The tile above is then pointing to the right.  The pilgrim community inevitably has this discussion as it moves across Spain.  Yes, it could be a pointer if the people doing the installation of the tiles would agree on the correct orientation.

Lastly, the European Union was born about the same time as the current revival of the Camino.  The politicians in Brussels and Frankfurt saw the Camino as the perfect expression of a new unified and borderless Europe.  A Europe that would be a mirror of the Camino values of patience, tolerance, generosity, kindness and optimism. Current events have put tremendous pressure on those values but the dream remains alive.