The Galician Cross

As I walked the Camino I saw an unusual red cross on many of the scallop shells tied to people's rucksacks. I eventually asked about it in a small religious hostel from a man who had these crosses embroidered on his tunic and was told it was the Galician cross, symbolic of Galicia and of course St James, the saint of that region.

Like many christian crosses it is a red cross on a white background - the blood and purity of Christ - but the cross was developed into a sword: Galcia was the only kingdom of the Iberian peninsula not conquered by the Muslim armies and the Galician kings believed St James was granting them protection and from this belief the Christian red cross evolved into the symbol we see today.