The Annual Gathering of Pilgrims marks the unofficial start to a new pilgrimage year. The theme for the 2025 Gathering of Pilgrims planned for May 15-18 and co-hosted by the Canadian Company of Pilgrims and American Pilgrims on the Camino, celebrates the theme “Bridges of the Camino: Connecting Cultures and Hearts.”

We have drawn on the Gathering’s overarching and supporting themes to form a cohesive set of quarterly topics to guide a year of shared reflections, poetry, and imagery in La Concha. We invite you to think ahead to how your personal experiences, scholarship, creative works, and insights intersect with these themes La Concha will explore in upcoming seasons:

• Unity & Friendship (Spring 2025): Many pilgrims on the road to Santiago experience a special sense of unity and amity. Those walking concurrently may band together as a Camino family. Some find life partners along the way. Others walking beside a family member or friend may experience a deepening relationship or sense of reunion as they connect with their walking companion anew. Even those making a largely solo journey may feel a sense of kinship as they head in the same direction as those sharing the trail that day, walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before them, or contemplate others who might one day take the same path. In this issue, we’ll consider the varied ways we experience Camino companionship—with the global pilgrim community, with a fellow traveler, and even with oneself.
• Cultural Exchange (Summer 2025): As Camino pilgrims, we take part in a centuries-old tradition of journeying to an unknown or foreign place that holds special significance. We have opportunities to experience religious and spiritual traditions; explore the lively and complicated histories of a place; and enjoy the art, music, and cuisine of other  people. We move, eat, and rest amidst people from all corners of the globe, of all ages and abilities, and of all faiths and none. We hear and practice languages besides our mother tongue. We are challenged to leave behind what’s comfortable. And we may find new appreciation for our own customs as we are enlivened by others. In this issue, we’ll explore the interchange of traditions, tales, and tenets we carry on and bring home from Camino that enrich the journey for all.
• Connection & Reflection (Autumn 2025): We may journey as a means of passage or transition, in celebration or mourning, for healing or growth. We may journey in search of a new or expanded connection to self, others, the natural world, a divine being, or a higher purpose. As we step away from the hustle and bustle of daily life, move at a slower pace, and more fully engage our senses, we gain a different awareness and connection to the landscape and life around us and to our own thoughts, understandings, and intuitions. In this issue, we’ll ponder the link between our outer, physical journeys and our inward, introspective pilgrimages.
• Support & Solidarity (Winter 2026): A line from the pilgrim’s blessing adapted from text in the Codex Calixtinus, the oldest known guide for pilgrims on the Way of St. James, requests: “May you remember that a step backward to help another is more important than a hundred steps forward without awareness of those at your side.” How did you step back to help a fellow pilgrim in need? How did a villager, hospitalero, or fellow pilgrim assist you in your time of need? How do you experience a sense of mutual support through your local pilgrim chapter or through an online Camino community or social media group? In this issue, we’ll highlight the ways we, as pilgrims, foster a sense of mutual support, just as bridges uphold those who cross them.

We invite American Pilgrims members to share their pilgrim experiences and insights on these themes over the coming year. Watch your email for our call for submissions and associated deadlines for La Concha. If you would like to submit materials, but are not yet an American Pilgrims member, learn more at americanpilgrims.org/membership.

Submissions to the Summer 2025 Issue Close June 14

Your contributions can take the form of:

• Original personal reflections, essays, or poems that tie to the issue's theme (limit 400 words)
• Original photography
• Original artwork

Access the LA CONCHA SUBMISSION FORM for complete submission guidelines and to submit your creative work. We include as many submissions as possible in each issue. We may defer some items to future issues.

Thoughts and opinions expressed by La Concha contributors are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent the views of American Pilgrims on the Camino.