SHELL PAINTING

Scallop, the universal symbol of the Camino de Santiago

The shell of the Pilgrim, is without a doubt the symbol more universal and representative of the Camino de Santiago, an icon with which on the words when we refer to the Pilgrim routes coming to Santiago. The scallop shell, a family of bivalve mollusc, very common in Galicia, now seems an almost indispensable item for the pilgrim who embarks on his journey, however, despite its popularity, the reason why walkers first adopted it is unknown.

Despite its origins being not so blurred, we do know the use obtained since the beginning of pilgrimages to Holy City: distinguish walkers who had completed their pilgrimage along the way of Santiago. Traditionally was delivered to all the pilgrims who had come to Santiago de Compostela a supporting document and granted them a scallop Shell to place it in the hat or coat. Porting the scallop shell was considered as a form of tribute to the Apostle, as already indicated in the text of the Codex Calixtino.

A way to distinguish the pilgrims who had visited the tomb of the Apostle

In this way, initially scallop allowed to distinguish the pilgrims returning home, not to those who had not yet arrived to Holy City (remember that traditionally the pilgrimage was a trip of return home). Despite its initial use, the popularization of the scallop shell has made the pilgrims to finish her carrying regardless of if they have already visited Santiago de Compostela or not (today there are few pilgrims who embark on their return journey from Santiago walking).

With the passage of the years, the scallop has gone from being a hallmark of the pilgrims to become a symbol of the Camino de Santiago. In fact, the scallop shell is one of the symbols used officially by Xacobeo for signalling of the Camino de Santiago, you'll see hundreds of landmarks throughout all routes recognised as official, printed in yellow and blue background.

The origins of the relationship between the shell and the Pilgrims

Despite not knowing for certain the origin of this pilgrim symbol, we do have news of many theories that revolve around how this object became part of the iconography of the Camino de Santiago.

Some believe that the association of the scallop shell with the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is related to its use by pilgrims to drink water in rivers and streams, due to the ease of always carrying one on top. Others say that their use came from the hand of the settlement of merchants around the cathedral, taking advantage of the rise of pilgrimages in the Middle Ages. These merchants would have popularized the sale of scallop shells among the pilgrims; Something like a souvenir to take with them back home.

On the other hand, according to the popular tradition, the adoption of the Pilgrim's shell could be related to the return of  The disciples of Santiago would have seen the celebration of a wedding in which they were carrying out a particular game between riders

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