Family Pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Spain: Typology and Impact

This article presents an analysis of contemporary forms of family pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and prospect for its development after the pandemic of 2021-2022. Based on information about family pilgrimages in Spain, we examine its therapeutic benefits, its challenges and difficulties, and its place within competing forms of pilgrimage. The ‘family modality’ extends to pilgrimage within any intentional family, such as one’s academic and professional companions, recovering addicts traveling for mutual support, like-minded religious confraternities sharing a communal experience of the journey, and pilgrims trekking on behalf of family members left behind as a manifestation of voluntary surrogate pilgrimage.