New Martin Sheen Movie about the Camino de Santiago

Chapel at Roncesvalles, a first stop on the Camino de Santiago in Spain, EOP 1998.

This morning I received a notice on another group site, one I am quoting because I think it is of interest. I had heard rumors for some time that the actor Martin Sheen and one of his sons were making a movie about the Camino. Apparently that movie is now ready to be distributed. It is one of several movies about the Camino and the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela made since 2005. A quite good one, le pelerinage was produced in France several years ago. I have heard rumors about a new Austrian movie in German "I'll take you to the end of the world" directed by Christian Kabish, but I was unable to find its title in German or a web link this morning. I may post a more complete set of comments on these and other pilgrimage-themed movies when I have seen the Sheen movie and perhaps the one in German.

Review of the Martin Sheen Movie:

"The Way, Emilio Estevez's fourth feature as writer-director, begins at the Camino de Santiago's start, in St.Jean-Pied-de-Port below the often-snowbound Route de Napoleon over the Pyrenees. Starring Martin Sheen, Estevez's father, it takes in Galicia's improbable looking Santiago de Compostela, a huge piece of medieval real estate topped by a jaw-dropping cathedral. Sheen plays Tom, an American widower who;s in St. Jean too reclaim the body of his estranged son, who died, lost on the Route de Napoleon. Tom cremates the remains, puts them in his son's backpack and starts off to complete the young man's journey.

Added 25-09-09: A couple of links to posts on the Sheen movie as well as other films in production on the Camino:

http://www.elcaminosantiago.com/PDF/Variety_Filming_In_Galicia_2009.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/lh2bue

Pilgrimage and the H1N1 (Swine Flu) Virus

Saint Roch, among other things patron saint of epidemics. Note that he is dressed in the garb of a pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela!

Yesterday I received a note from a news group on the Camino de Santiago about the dangers of the H1N1 virus (my wife is a physician with a specialty in public health, and she forbids my use of the term "swine flu" in favor of the more technically correct H1N1!) for pilgrims this autumn and winter. Fear of the virus is not an idle one, for Spain has one of the highest rates of infection and death among Northern Hemisphere countries. In the Southern Hemisphere where the winter flu season is just ending, Brasil, a major source of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela, has the largest number of deaths attributable to H1N1 of any country where reliable records are kept. Fortunately pilgrimage to Santiago is mostly a summer phenomenon with the largest numbers during the warmer months, peaking on July 25 St. James Day. In consequence even if over the winter flu season the pilgrimage suffers from the potential pandemic, only a fairly small number of people will likely be struck with the illness. A daily general report on the situation and forecasts for Europe with data for much of the world is provided by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The Hajj is perhaps the largest gathering of pilgrims from many parts of the world into a single place over a short time period. The 2009 pilgrimage is expected to be from 25-30 November, well into the Northern Hemisphere flu season. While most government officials in Saudi Arabia are dismissing the dangers of a pandemic, health authorities in the various other countries sending pilgrims to Mecca have expressed great concern about the dangers of the H1N1 virus. Egypt has even considered a ban on its nationals making the trip to Medina and Mecca. In Saudi Arabia religious officials have warned about the disease, and at least one cleric has issued a fatwa against people carrying the disease making the Hajj.

Elsewhere I have not found many reports of linkages between pilgrimages other than the Hajj and the virus. India, a country with numerous pilgrimages involving large numbers of people, is greatly concerned with the spread of the disease, but I was unable to locate any materials in a western European language on its linkage to pilgrimages other than the Hajj. China is taking particularly aggressive measures to control the spread of the virus, limiting pilgrimages of its Muslim citizens to Mecca and imposing quarantine on visitors to China suspected of carrying the virus. Meanwhile Iran claims that half of all its cases of H1N1 are pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia.

The concern about the spread of H1N1 is important, for the virus could create a demographic disaster given its tendency to strike young adults, especially pregnant women. Pilgrimages have been important in the spread of disease for at least as long as epidemiologists are able to trace records. The ease of travel and the dispersed origins of pilgrims to major sites like Mecca or Santiago mean an epidemic can quickly spread from a local site to much of the world. I will write more about this later if conditions suggest updates.

Religious Pilgrimage and Tourism Sites in the United States

Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia from altar end, photo EOP Spring 2004.

Working on materials for the ALRI course on pilgrimage, I have been examining some theses and dissertations relevant to the topic. There are many, and I shall comment on some of them in due course. After a scan reading I am not greatly impressed by the quality of a 2008 Ph.D. dissertation at Loyola University of Chicago, Sarah Bill Schott, Religious Tourism in America (perhaps my impression will become more favorable after a more careful reading). Concerned with tourist visits to a half dozen sites associated with various religious sects, mostly sites in the Middle West, the dissertation seems to be primarily a description of the places the tourists visit. Of greater interest to me, the dissertation concludes with an appendix listing sites of religious tourism in the United States. The author notes that the list is not exhaustive, and among the omissions are most of the numerous Protestant sites in southern states like Virginia and Georgia, but the list still runs to seven single-spaced pages. This is one of the first forays I have made into an inventory of religious sites attracting tourists (and pilgrims) in the United States. It forces a realization that religious sites attracting tourists, at least some of them attracting pilgrims, are quite as numerous here as they are in most of the remainder of the world.

For example, within an hour drive of Fairfax City there are at least a dozen Episcopal and previously Episcopal churches of historic and therefore touristic interest, some of them, like Christ Church in Alexandria, on the itineraries of many tourists. I am uncertain whether any of the churches are pilgrimage destinations, but some of them along with other religious sites nearby could certainly fall into that category based on their antiquity and their associations with significant events.