Scallops in Shells Coquilles St Jacques

For centuries pilgrims have been making their way to the Cathedral of St James at Santiago de Compostela, in the fond hope that such an arduous journey and the contrite embracing of the tomb would absolve them from their sins. (And pretty horrific sins they must have been in medieval times with rape and pillage, pinching neighbours’ crops and cattle rustling.) It was not like present-day Lourdes where pilgrims go for physical cures.

Pilgrims still to this day wear as their talisman