Sauntering
Photo Chuck Hoffman © Genesis+Art
Village of Bodega Bay
Sonoma County, California
Recently, we were on a pilgrimage to visit friends in Santa Rosa, California. While exploring the beauty of the coast we were reminded of the words from John Muir:
Sauntering
I don't like either the word hike or the thing.
People ought to saunter in the mountains — not 'hike.'
Do you know the origin of that word saunter?
It's a beautiful word.
Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply,
“A la sainte terre.”
To the Holy Land.' And so, they became known as
sainte-terre-ers, or saunterers.
Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to
saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them.
See more conversation in EARTH and SPIRIT.
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