Oddly enough, the name St. James scallop is not correct. The species Pecten
jacobeus occurs in the Mediterranean, whilst Pecten maximuslives in the
Atlantic.

Gijs

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> Van: Thomas E. Eichhorst <[log in to unmask]>
> Aan: [log in to unmask]
> Onderwerp: Re: Curiosity
> Datum: maandag 8 november 1999 20:32
>
> > Here's a curiosity from The Baltimore Sun, October 26, 1999. A picture
> > shows a pilgrim in front of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in
> > Galicia, Spain, dressed in traditional costume, a cloak and a pilgrim's
> hat
> > adorned with a large scallop shell. Would anyone like to hazard a guess
as
> > to the significance of the scallop shell to a religious pilgrim? Is
there
> a
> > religious iconography of sea shells?
>
>
> Kathleen,
>
> There are a number of shells involved with religion, with the most well
> know, probably being the sacred chank of India and the scallop you
> mentioned; the St. James Scallop or Pecten maximus jacobaeus.  The
Apostle
> James was beheaded by Herod.  His followers took the remains to Spain for
> burial.  Off the coast of Portugal they ran into a bridal party.  The
> bridegroom and his horse ended up in the ocean and were saved by (the
now)
> St. James.  Upon emergence from the water, both bridegroom and horse were
> covered with scallops.  The scallop was thus linked to St. James.  His
> remains were buried, and lost, and found, and lost, etc on the coast near
> the Ria de Arosa.  Eventually a shrine was built nearby called Compostela
> and in the 12th century when pilgrims were unable to journey to the Holy
> Land, the shrine of St. James grew in popularity (I'm leaving out a whole
> lot of stuff here that happened over centuries).  The scallop was used as
> sort of a token (like a snow globe) that the pilgrim had indeed made the
> pilgrimage.  Thus the scallop went from symbolizing St. James to
symbolizing
> pilgrims.  It is still a popular site and stories abound about the
different
> laws and such to control the booming scallop trade in the area.  I know
> Abbott's book ("Kingdom of the Seashell") has the story and it is also in
> the book by Mary Saul ("Shells: An Illustrated Guide to a Timeless and
> Fascinating World").
>
> There are lots of other religious tie-ins to seashells.
>
> Tom