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It was actually supposed to be a jubilee year, a financial spring source for the hotel and catering industry.
A celebration of joy for the international pilgrimage community who travel to Santiago de Compostela on the Way of St. James in the north-west corner of Spain.
But a virus doesn't have a party of faith.
The Corona crisis is dampening expectations in the Holy Year of James, which has now started and is always pending when the day of James on July 25th falls on a Sunday.
So far, the Holy Years, as most recently in 2004 and 2010, have been associated with major PR campaigns to boost visitor numbers: via TV spots and advertising campaigns, via imprints on plastic bags from the supermarket and roll-up advertising in football stadiums.
But how does the pilgrimage continue, which was a constant hit and was not thrown off course by overcrowded paths and hostels?
Pope Francis extends the Holy Year
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Behind the Holy Year of James is a papal privilege from the Middle Ages.
Alexander III confirmed by bull.
1179 the holy year as a perpetual event every eleven, six, five and again six years.
But Corona is also shaking this tradition, so that the incumbent Pope Francis felt compelled to act.
Surprisingly, he extended the Holy Year until the end of 2022 - a first in history.
This gives the pilgrims more time; the pressure is to be relieved of them to set off at imponderable times.
Enrique Valentín assesses the current situation as "disastrous".
The chairman of the network of private pilgrims' hostels on the Camino de Santiago also sees “a glimmer of light” from the vaccinations that started at the end of December.
Although he knows of bankrupt hostels, most of them are “optimistic about starting over and winning back the pilgrims we have lost.” But it's not that simple.
Even getting to Spain is a problem
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Like many other countries, Spain remains on the list of risk areas.
The state-wide alarm condition remains unchanged until May 9th.
The obligation to wear masks outdoors also remains unchanged on the Camino de Santiago.
An additional hurdle for pilgrims from abroad is the journey: Anyone arriving by plane must prove a negative, self-financed PCR test under threat of a fine of 6000 euros.
In addition, the Way of St. James is currently blocked by regional closures.
In the autonomous community of Castile and León alone, through which there are almost 300 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago, there is no getting through.
Source: WORLD infographic
However, due to the unfavorable weather, hardly anyone would be on the road at the moment anyway.
The time factor plays into the cards of the Camino de Santiago, because the actual pilgrimage season begins at the beginning of April.
Until then, the restrictions could be relaxed.
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The problem is that many people in the hostels crowd into a small space in shared rooms and dormitories - currently a daunting scenario because of the possible risk of infection.
"The guidelines currently state that the maximum capacity in the hostels is 50 percent," says Valentín.
Guests are only allowed to take off the respirators when they are eating, showering or sleeping.
But it never occurs to Valentín or anyone else to ask for general upper limits for pilgrimages - business is business.
And that's why the gastro lobbyist on the Way of St. James hopes that “maybe by Easter” the number of guests allowed will “get back close to 100 percent”.
Quarantine is “a no-go” for pilgrims
Spanish media, who actually celebrate the beginning of the Holy Years with the ceremonial opening of the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, are just as restrained as organizers of organized pilgrimages, for example Hauser Reisen in Rottweil.
"The first half of the year will be a 'felt 2020' - unfortunately there is not much movement to be expected here," says Managing Director Axel Keller.
He does not expect business to pick up until the second half of the year.
The “Legendary Way of St. James” tour planned for the end of May is offered with a reduced number of seats at a higher price, a combination that could become the standard.
“If the number of people on group trips is reduced, this is inevitably linked to a price increase,” says Keller.
The tour operator considers the mandatory proof of a maximum 72-hour old PCR test for flight arrivals in Spain to be a “major hurdle”.
He hopes that antigen tests will be sufficient in the future: "Of course, this also requires a more reliable test rate."
The pilgrims' destination is the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, where the apostle James is said to be buried
Source: pa / Zoonar / Andres Victorero
Rüdiger Tramsen from the Stuttgart organizer Biblische Reisen also sees problems in the current regulations.
He regards time restrictions such as the 72-hour rule as "very problematic from an organizational point of view".
He assumes, however, that with an increasing need to travel the guests in the St. James year, their willingness to accept restrictions increases - with one exception: Quarantine requirements are "a no-go" for pilgrims and study trips, whether on the entire St. James' Way or in Santiago de Compostela.
Tour operator offers additional corona insurance
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While Biblische Reisen has reduced the catalog offer by around half compared to previous years and only offers two catalog trips in May and October, the number of appointments at Wikinger Reisen in the Westphalian town of Hagen has remained the same.
Press spokeswoman Eva Machill-Linnenberg admits that the dates announced from April are somewhat “optimistic”: “We will of course adjust the data to the development as soon as this is foreseeable.
In doing so, we rely on accommodating rebooking and customer-oriented individual decisions. "
For trips outside Germany, the company is currently assuming the cost of additional corona insurance.
"This supplementary policy applies, for example, to cancellation costs that arise from a positive Covid test in advance."
At Wikinger Reisen it is assumed that the lockdown increases the desire for exercise and thus the demand for hiking trips.
Skepticism or even fear of going on such organized tours also wants to take away the customers' biblical trips.
Managing Director Tramsen says: “Our groups travel with an audio system called 'Quietvox' in order to be able to keep their distances.
The buses are disinfected daily and occupied as thinly as possible, which means: buses that are as large as possible, even for small groups. "
Perplexity in Santiago de Compostela
General or refined hygiene rules are important during the pandemic in order to gain trust, especially as a tour operator.
The archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, Julián Barrio, also wants to encourage the faithful wandering people.
His pastoral letter entitled “The hope of making a pilgrimage to Santiago” should give encouragement in difficult times.
Barrio assumes that pilgrims actually dare to go far: “Many of you who come to Santiago will perhaps wander with tears in your eyes.
But your steps will be firm, knowing that Christ tells us: 'I am the way and the truth and the life' (Jn 14: 6, editor's note).
The apostle James awaits you in this holy year to embrace your pain and be embraced by you. "
View of the high altar of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, which was renovated in the run-up to the holy year
Source: Getty Images / Xurxo Lobato
Will firm steps and tears really help?
With his empty words, however, the archbishop is in the best company of Spanish politicians.
In Galicia, the capital of which is Santiago de Compostela, the country chief Alberto Núñez Feijóo recently announced a "major campaign" with a budget of eight million euros to anchor the news of the Holy Year deeper in the public's awareness and to "support the tourist sector" - without going into details.
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A Galician planning team that wanted to make the Holy James year an event for the masses and that had full-bodied 8000 events and activities - but before the corona pandemic - has fallen completely silent.
Now there is helplessness and lack of ideas, and virtual initiatives are also in short supply.
Hostels on the Way of St. James are optimistic
The Jakobus societies in Germany, which help with words and deeds and the issuing of pilgrim cards, are in a state of suspense between hope, fear and uncertainty.
Heino von Groote, the chairman of the Circle of Friends of St. James Pilgrims in Paderborn, expects that “many pilgrims will gradually make their way” in the Holy Year - despite the restrictions.
A chilling scenario: in the hostels on the Way of St. James, many pilgrims usually sleep in a confined space
Source: pa / blickwinkel / M / M.
Vahlsing
The Circle of Friends plans to reopen the pilgrims' hostel it runs in the Spanish twin city of Pamplona in the spring.
"The volunteers are already ready and look forward to your work," believes von Groote.
However, the risk must be carefully weighed: “No opening at any price.” These must be justifiable in compliance with hygiene rules.
Von Groote is skeptical that, in view of all the imponderables, some hostels are already giving specific dates for their reopenings like at the beginning of April: "We shouldn't want to outdo our optimism."
The holy James year, which originally aims at the inner renewal of the believers, could at the same time be the beginning of a kind of external renewal of the Way of St. James: away from unrestrained mass movement and merciless pilgrimage, towards “I'll be gone” in an elitist form.
You don't have to be a prophet to foresee that records won't fall for the time being.
The slump in the Corona year 2020 with 53,893 pilgrims compared to 2019 with 347,578 arrivals was dramatic.
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“The Way of St. James is alive,” says Octavio González from the Spanish Tourist Office in Frankfurt, countering the adverse circumstances, although he too knows that the future is in the stars.
So it is at least a good thing that the pilgrimage route to the supposed tomb of the apostle James in Santiago de Compostela is also known as the “Star Path”.
Hiking sticks, hats, scallops and calabashes are the hallmarks of the pilgrims and popular souvenirs
Source: pa / Lou Avers
Tips and information
Arrival:
Lufthansa flies directly from Frankfurt am Main or Munich to Bilbao, Eurowings from Düsseldorf from March;
Local buses run to Pamplona, 160 kilometers away, on the Camino de Santiago.
From Santiago de Compostela there are currently only transfer connections back to Germany.
Corona information:
There is a travel warning for Spain until further notice.
Air travelers who come from a risk area (Germany is one of them) must have a negative PCR or TMA test result with them, electronically or in paper form.
According to the Foreign Office, this obligation does not apply to entry by land.
Pilgrim
passes:
"Real", non-motorized pilgrims can apply to the James societies for an pass using the online form that entitles them to use the hostels.
These include the Jakobusfreunde Paderborn (4.99 euros plus shipping, jakobusfreunde-paderborn.com), the German St. Jakobus Society (requested donation of ten euros, deutsche-jakobus-gesellschaft.de) and the Franconian St. Jakobus Society (Flat rate 7.65 euros, jakobus-franken.de).
Organized trips:
Hauser Reisen: eight days of the “Legendary Way of St. James”, planned from May 26th to June 2nd, from 1598 euros (hauser.reisen);
Biblical journeys: twelve days “The Way of St. James - its spirituality and its effects”, from July 15 to 26, from 2385 euros, and October 14 to 25, from 2195 euros (biblische-reisen.de);
Viking Journeys: twelve days “The Southern Way of St. James - from Seville to Santiago”, from about May 9th to 20th and May 23rd to June 3rd, from 1868 euros.
Individual arrangements from six nights from 645 euros (wikinger-reisen.de).
Information:
spain.info;
jakobus-info.de;
Pilgrims Office in Santiago (Spanish / English): oficinadelperegrino.com
Stricter controls on flights from high-risk areas
Now they have come into force, the tightened police controls on flights from high-risk areas.
This includes countries such as the USA, Egypt and Spain.
If you want to enter Germany from these countries, you should pay attention to the following.
Source: WELT / Sandra Saatmann