This experience of disillusion led me to investigate further how and why the Camino of today is so different from that of the past, or what I imagined to have existed in the past. I begin my historical analysis in the 1940s, from which time the transformation of the pilgrimage has been quite dramatic. Specifically, the Camino has changed in three distinct manners: (1) the leadership of the Camino has changed hands from the Catholic Church to secular organizations, (2) pilgrims themselves have become more secular, and (3) the touristic aspect of the trail has grown tremendously. In each of these cases, the Camino has been a reflection of Spain's evolving politics, society and economy, respectively.
Copyright © 2003 University of California Department of Spanish and Portuguese. This chapter first appeared in Tinta.
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Kissling, Elizabeth M. "The Camino De Santiago in Twentieth Century Spain." In Tinta, 60-68. Santa Barbara: University of California, 2003.