SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN??
Or, Bugger little children, let them stay at home.
Knight protecting a family of pilgrims:
Credit: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki
On Santiagobis this week there was some heated (actually, petulant) discussion about taking children on the camino. A family with 6 weeks to spare are planning to take their two children, a 14 month old boy and a six year old girl with them on the Camino Norte. All they wanted was some advice on carts or carriages for the youngsters.
Some of the responses have been less than charitable! One guy started off with a rather sarkie ‘Good Luck’ message and another posted a sniffy warning about crying children disturbing other pilgrim’s meal times and disturbing their sleep in the albergues.
The parent advised the group that they are planning to spend as much time in camp sites as possible. When a member posted a link to a map with campsites and a free brochure on alternative accommodation, the same geek who posted the first reply got all huffy with this response:” Folks, is this a tourism group for Spain or info. about the pilgrimage? I think there is a ifference (sic). Seems getting to be the latte,r thus the issues that are discussed lately.”
OMG!! What a spiff!
This prompted an outraged reply that included Biblical quotes and a slap on the wrist for unkind pilgrims:
I'm really shocked at the attitudes some pilgrims have displayed on this subject -talk about being 'holier than thou'! Poor Dale and family must be feeling really rejected and excluded - not nice! Think about what Jesus said to the disciples when they tried to shoo the children away! (Luke 18:15, Mark 10:13, Matt 19:13)So encountering a young family on the Camino should add a spititual dimension, if anything! I would expect any pilgrim to respond kindly and helpfully if anyone was struggling with a crying baby - or at least, if they're not that way inclined, to put up with it politely, and regard it as any other mildly annoying experience - like pouring rain, people who snore or - shock horror - having to eat food they don't particularly like!
And who on earth (or elsewhere) decreed that it isn't a pilgrimage if you have children with you? What age do you have to be for it to count? What if you have learning disabilities? Or are from another faith or culture? That's ridiculous!
And why is it wrong to offer advice about where to find information about campsites to someone intending to use them, but not to give advice about silk sleeping bags, or train times, or food (again)?
Come on everyone - we all have different plans and motives and prejudices - surely the Camino is about travelling together kindly and unjudgementally and discovering new insights along the Way?
Dale - I apologize on behalf of my fellow santiagobis! I would love to meetup with you and your family whichever route you take!
An erstwhile ex-journo responded to the geek this way:
"I think it´s kinda wandering into the "What´s the difference between a pilgrim and a tourist" territory. Which is always good for a few rounds of invective. Or tinto. Just had a French family this morning with us at Mass. Their two children were ages 8 and 10, well-behaved but looking very worn-out from all the bad weather and walking. (And a noisy, drunken group of fellow pilgrims had kept them awake well into the night last night.)
The 10-year-old said he IS tired, but he still felt the Camino is much more fun than being at school!"
And then the geek responds - but offline, the coward!!
"Forget it. The Way is not a stroll in the Park. The alburgues are not places for screaming kids and diaper changing. There are so many things to do with small children. Why do the Way? I have done the way 2x. I have volunteered in the albergue in León. We had a couple from
Paris using a push cart with 2 very young boys. I was literally driven out of the place by the screaming and out of control behavour of the children. And there were all kinds of concesions that the parents wanted. ¡No! Take the babies to Disneyland or some such. The Way is a Pilgrimage. Not a stunt for parents who want to have been there, done that, got the T-shirt. And yes, I've been with children most of my professional life"
The father replies with admirable restraint:
"Thanks for this. However we realise the pilgrimage is "not a stroll in the Park", if you had read my message you would have seen that we have done the camino three times already from Arles, Porto and Oviedo. Again if you had read my posts you would have seen that we intend not to use the refugios etc but will camp, so there is no fear of anyone having to face our screaming children (I have never heard them scream once!) and or will 'real' pilgrims have to put up with 'diaper changing'. Again if you had read our post you will see that as faithful and committed Catholics we want to take our children on pilgrimage simply to go and worship at the shrine of StJames and
give thanks to God for all the blessings he has given us. It is not therefore a 'stunt' but a giving something back to God for all that he continues to do for us, so if you don't mind we will make our pilgrimage to Compostela and leave our visit to Disneyland for another year. We too have been with children for most of our life my my wife and I are qualified teachers and I have until recently been the RC Chaplain for a Young Offenders Prison for 15-18yr olds."
Does this pacify the geek? No, the arsehole then get's really shitty, racist and chauvanistic at the same time!!
"I stand by what I have said. The Way is not the place for very young children. Do what you will, you're just dragging your kids along as baggage. I did read your post. Why do you think I responded. But you go on and on about what "you" want to do. But what about the baby. Does she want to pray at the Shrine of St James? C'mon woman. You're just one more of these pathetic Americans who want to do what they want to do and how they want to do it. The Way is not a place for babies. 'Nuff said."
The father is a gem of indignant restraint. (Why not just call him a prick and get it over with - jees!) Ah - but all is revealed - he is an Englishman and a gentleman!
Dear Thomas.
First of all our son is no longer a baby but a toddler. Second I am not a 'woman' but a man and third I am not a 'pathetic American' but am from England. I am sure I also do not need to remind you of the place of children in Our Lords heart and ministry. There have been countless number of pilgrims throughtout the world who have gone to thank Him for the blessings of their children and we will be doing the same with or without your support.
You seem to me to be a very rude person, and I will certainly pray for you as we make our pilgrimage that you may have a more generous heart.
So, are the family any the wiser about coping with two children on the camino? Probably not. Has anyone given them any advice? Noooo. Has anyone offered any suggesttions? Not really. Perhaps its time for a guide book on ‘Walking the Camino with Children”. Mmm….. not a bad idea: any wanna-be camino guide book publishers out there?
On the Pilgrimage-to-Santiago website: there were more reports of bad weather, this time pilgrims were snowed in on the hill between O'Cebreiro and Tricastella.
Snow traps cars in Os Ancares and a group of pilgrims in Triacastela 
Foto: Xesús Ponte)The wind and heavy rains, which are in the form of snow higher up, are complicating much movement in the road network in the province of Lugo this Friday, which resulted in four pilgrims being trapped in Triacastela and eighty students could not go to class.
Incidents throughout Galicia
At sea, sources of fishermen's associations of Burela and Celeiro confirmed that the majority of ships of the coastal fleet remained moored at port. The trawlers of coastline dared to go out to fish in the morning, though gradually had to return to shore.
The storm is causing complications in the road network of Lugo. Morning needed the use of chains for driving on the high O Poio, in Pedrafita do Cebreiro, and municipal emergency services had to cut two roads this morning, in the top of Rubiais and in the area between and Rabaceira Veiga da Forca.
As a result of the snow, four pilgrims were trapped at dawn at the height of the statue of the pilgrim located at the top of San Roque, on the road between O Cebreiro and Triacastela. They were later rescued. In addition, several vehicles were trapped because of the snows in the estrada Cereixal O Pino, near the School of Agricultural Training Becerreá; and Cervantes, a truck responsible for the collection of dead animals became trapped by snow in the CP-1402.
Snow left college to eighty children in the province, in the municipalities of Triacastela, Navia of Suarna, Cervantes, Folgoso do Courel and Pedrafita do Cebreiro. The council has been concerned over the latter, where the college of the capital city, with 46 students, remains closed.
Moreover, the Civil Guard reported that during the night there were many complications with the wind on numerous secondary roads in the province, since demolished more than a dozen trees on different roads.
In the port of Burela, two boats with crews were to drift until one succeeded in tow to another. In addition, the fisheries of the fence 'Agarimo Dous' broke loose from their moorings, as a result of strong wind and collided with another ship. In this town mariñana saw one of the largest wind gusts of Galicia, of 126 miles per hour.
In the provincial capital, firefighters also had to act morning to remove a cornice that had been detached from the facade of the building number 8 Unidade de la Rua and threatened to fall on public roads, because of strong wind.
And, two more reports of heavy rains:
We are also having bad weather. The other night we had up to 120 km/h winds and poring rain... today, only "normal" rain and clouds. Just saw the weather report on TVE and I saw rain all over Spain for the weekend. Snow over 1300 meter was reported.
And:
The same bad weather in the Madrid area, too, raining dogs and cats. ¡¡Wonderful!! water is very, very necessary here in Spain after a son dry autumn and soft winter.
And what's been happening on the other forums? The
Caminosantiago forum has been fairly quiet with a hodge-podge of how-to-get-there, what-to-take posts.
On the
Via Francigena site a fellow is making his 2nd attempt at reaching Roma:
As I mentioned some months ago, last year in September I had to stop may way from Marburg, Germany, where I live, to Rome due to problems with my leg. Now I am feeling well again so that I can restart in a couple of days from the point where I had to stop. On 24th of April I will go by train to Ivrea do do the final about 800 kilometres from there. Please cross fingers that I may reach my goal.
Just hope the bad weather they are having in Spain does not spill over into Italy. It won't be fun crossing the marsh lands or the Cisa Pass if the trails are mud and slush.
horseback, bicycle route, restaurants, pilgrims illustrious ...etc.
://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/messages.msnw
Santiagobis has been very quiet. This little gem was posted last week - or is it just another Hemingway urban legend??
Forum Flavor of the Month again this month is pilgrimage-to-santiago forum with a flurry of posts on all matters peregrinations including a couple of long posts on the hormonal high-jinks of a horny jennet called Dalie. 
Posts
