The Shell of the Camino Pilgrim Some interesting observations from the Net about the Scallop Shell - the symbol of the Camino

The Myth

As with many myths, the details change depending on who is telling the story, but here’s the one I’m going to tell you.
James, the brother of Jesus, was killed in Jerusalem for his convictions about his brother. James had spent some time preaching on the Iberian Peninsula, and after his death, his bones were mysteriously transported by a ship with no crew back to the Iberian Peninsula to the Northwestern province of Galicia in Spain.
A wedding was taking place along the shore as James’ ship approached land. The young bridegroom was on horseback, and on seeing the ship approaching, his horse got spooked, and the horse and rider plunged into the sea.
Through miraculous intervention, the horse and rider emerged from the water, covered in seashells, and galloped off into the distance.
To this day, the scallop shell, typically found on the shores in Galicia, remains the symbol of the Camino de Santiago.

The Metaphor

The scallop shell also acts as a metaphor. The grooves in the shell, which come together at a single point, represent the various routes pilgrims traveled, eventually arriving at a single destination, the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela.
The scallop shell is also a metaphor for the pilgrim. As the waves of the ocean washed scallop shells up on the shores of Galicia, God’s hand also guided the pilgrims to Santiago.

The Practicality
The scallop shell served practical purposes for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago as well. The shell was just the right size for gathering water to drink or for eating out of as a makeshift bowl.
Also, because the scallop shell is native to the shores of Galicia, the shell functioned as proof of completion. By having a scallop shell, a pilgrim could almost certainly prove that he or she had finished the pilgrimage and had actually seen the “end of the world”—which at that point in history was the Western coast of Spain.