Meaning of the scallop shell

As you may have noticed, our logo features a stylized scallop shell, which over the centuries has become the symbol of pilgrimage.

A pilgrimage is a journey of purpose. Where once it had a religious purpose, it is now more of a journey in search of meaning that leads to some form of personal transformation and it seemed a wholly appropriate symbol for Hope Walking!

The shell’s origin as a symbol of pilgrimage lies in the Camino Santiago, one of the world’s most famous pilgrimages

The Cathedral at Santiago de Compostella ast sunset. Photo by: Avelino Calvar Martinez on Burst

For around a thousand years, pilgrims had followed the Camino Santiago to its destination, Santiago De Compostella, in Galicia, Spain, believed to be the burial site of St James (one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and the first to be martyred).

St James (Santiago in Spanish) is said to have rescued a knight’s horse that had fallen into water and when the horse emerged it was covered in scallop shells. Since then the scallop shell has been associated with the saint, who is also the patron saint of pilgrims, of Spain and also of fishermen.

It is said that cathedral clergy would give pilgrims a scallop shell on their arrival to certify their completion of the pilgrimage. Legend also says that pilgrims carried a scallop shell to use as a bowl for food and water.

The names James and Jacob are closely related, both deriving from the same Latin root. Not surprising then that the French call the scallop shell Coquille St Jacques and in German the scallop is a Jakobsmuschel'.

Camino means ‘walk’ ‘way’ or ‘road’ in Spanish and has come to mean any pilgrims route, while modern-day pilgrims often wish each other Buen Camino or ‘Have a good journey’.

On the Camino. Photo by Julia Gerlach on Unsplash