Ultreia

The word ‘Ultreia’ has the meaning of ‘onward’, or ‘keep going’, and is used as an encouragement to pilgrims on the way to the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostella in north-west Spain. This was part of a Europe-wide movement of devotion and travel to shrines of importance (see ‘In Gottes Namen fahren wir’*). Ultreia has given its name to a pilgrim hymn. In Pedro Echevarria Bravo’s Cancionero de los Peregrinos de Santiago (1967), chapter 1 is entitled ‘El Canto de “Ultreia”’, with a text from the 12th century Codex Calixtinus. There are various texts, but the word ‘ultreia’ is a feature of the primitive refrain, playing on the sound ‘eia’ (a cry of joy): Herrn Sanctiagu Got...