The shell
Nowadays, silver and jet pieces are frequently chosen by pilgrims as souvenirs, because of their condition of traditional craftsmanship, related to the identity of the city of Santiago de Compostela. What most tourists ignore is that they are following in the footsteps of the early pilgrims who, in the Middle Ages, took with them a souvenir of their spiritual journey, usually a shell which, although it began as a real scallop, was soon carved in silver and jet, and manufactured as a handicraft product. The shell became a distinctive element of the pilgrimage to Santiago, just as its counterpart in Jerusalem, the palm, which the —hence the name— “palmers” took away from the Palestinian gardens. Like the palm, the shell was abundant and cheap. As Manuel Rabanal pointed out, in our Galician language, according to linguistic evolution, two distant semantic terms have coincided in form, such as vieira: shell, and vieiro: path.
The association of the shell with the Way of Saint-James is estimated between 1099 and 1106, because we have a legend —dating from 1106— in which this custom is already mentioned. The first documented records are found in the Codex Calixtinus (ca. 1160). In Book 1, regarding the liturgy, we can find a reference to the shell as a souvenir that pilgrims take with them from Compostela. In Book 2, referring to the miracles of Saint James, we read a legend about a knight in Apulia who was cured of a serious disease thanks to the thaumaturgic power of a shell brought from Compostela by a neighbour who was a pilgrim—once again, we have the idea of a souvenir of the Way of Saint-James—. There is also a second miracle associated with the Apostle and the scallop, collected in sources such as Sagrario de Molina (1550) or Castellá Ferrer (1610), which refers to a knight saved from drowning in the town of Bouzas, in the Atlantic Ocean, emerging covered in shells as the boat carrying the body of Saint-James to Galicia passed by. In Book 3 of the Calixtinus, conch shells, another type of shell, are mentioned as good-luck charms for sailors because of the intercession of the Apostle.
The concheiros
The need to provide pilgrims with these shells materialised in a guild of its own in Compostela, that of the concheiros —“shellers”—. Returning to the Calixtinus, in book 5, when describing the city of Santiago, the trade of this type of souvenir is located in the currently named “praza da Inmaculada” —rúa da Acibechería, or “Jet carvers street”—. Therefore, this custom existed from the beginning of the medieval Way of Saint James. Eventually, the shells began to be carved in jet, and the most exquisite ones in silver. Silversmiths and jet carvers assimilated the legendary guild of concheiros and immortalised the scallop shells in sumptuous materials.
Souvenirs with special meaning
Souvenirs are important for the visitor because they freeze an intangible experience in time and bring it back to the present. In Santiago, as the goal of the Way of Saint James, we have a special significance or metaphorical confluence, because the origin of the souvenir is linked to the concept of medieval pilgrimage, as a material proof of the sacred place, and as a reminder of the effort. This is why silver and jet pieces have played a fundamental role in the history of the Way and continue to do so thanks to those pilgrims and visitors who are committed to the authenticity of craftsmanship and tradition of Compostela.
