In many religious traditions there are rituals of pilgrimage in which people may travel to distant places to establish and reinforce ties to the sacred; to obtain physical, emotional, and spiritual healing; and to gain new spiritual knowledge. The religious pilgrimage involves two basic elements: (1) the journey, and (2) the sacred place which is the destination for the journey. Pilgrimages to sacred sites are sometimes held in conjunction with major ceremonies and at other times pilgrimages may be a solitary undertaking.
In his book Ritual: A Very Short Introduction, Barry Stephenson defines a pilgrimage this way:
“…pilgrimage is a prolonged event, involving travel away from local territory, undertaken by many people, to a sacred place, as an act of devotion.”
Barry Stephenson also writes:
“Historically, risk, danger, and exertion have been central features of pilgrimage.”
The pilgrimage can be a life-changing experience as well as a mystical experience. Philip Wilkinson, in his book Religions, writes:
“Making the pilgrimage in the right way stresses the holiness of the enterprise and makes clear how much the pilgrim has in common with the countless others who have gone before.”
Some pilgrimages are very formal and filled with ritual events and symbolism. The pilgrims may dress in a specific way which not only tells others that this person is on a holy quest but also helps the pilgrims feel that they have left their daily lives and entered into a sacred realm.
Sacred Places
Sacred places are defined in many different ways. Some places become sacred because they are associated with major events in the history and/or mythology of a particular religious tradition. Sacred sites are often marked with some sort of human-constructed monument or building. Reflecting ancient animistic viewpoints, some ancient sacred sites are natural features, such as mountains, rivers, lakes, springs, caves, and cenotes. Sacred places are often locations where it is felt that people can more easily communicate with the spirit world—with the gods in those religious traditions which include gods.
The concept of sacred sites is essential to the pilgrimages. Barry Stephenson writes:
“Pilgrimage to sacred sites (place of apparitions, birthplaces, tombs, caves, mountains, relic sites), though sometimes carried out in opposition to theological and ecclesiastical authorities, is a persistent manifestation of all religions throughout history. The classical, prototypical pilgrimage sites include: Jerusalem (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim); Rome (Christian); Mecca (Muslim); Mount Wu-t’ai, China (Buddhist); Benares, India (Hindu); and Mt. Kalish (Tibetan).”
India is filled with sites that are sacred to Hinduism and pilgrimages to these sites can enhance one’s karma and assist in the attainment of liberation from the continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. In his chapter on Hinduism in World Religions, Vasudha Narayanan writes:
“Pilgrimage routes are often organized thematically; devotees might visit the one hundred and eight places where Shakti, or the power of the Goddess, is said to be present; the sixty-eight places where emblems of Shiva are said to have emerged ‘self-born’; the twelve places where he appears as the ‘flame of creative energies’ (jyotir lingus); the eight places where Vishnu spontaneously manifested himself; and so on.”
For Muslims the most sacred place in Islamic tradition is the Kabah (also spelled Kaba, Ka’ba), a shrine located in the city of Mecca. In his chapter on Islam in World Religions, Matthew Gordon writes:
“The Kaba is referred to in the Quran as the ‘House of God.’ The tradition holds that the venerated cubic structure was built by Adam and then rebuilt and purified by Abraham, an act repeated by Muhammad when he destroyed the idols of what Muslims call the Jahiliyya, the pre-Islamic “Age of Corruption.’”
There are many sacred sites which are the destinations for Christian pilgrims. In her chapter on Christianity in World Religions, Rosemary Drage Hale writes:
“Every year, thousands of Christian pilgrims visit places associated with the life of Christ, such as Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and sites in Galilee. There are many other Christian pilgrimage sites outside the Holy Land, most associated with the relics of saints, which are revered for the sacred power which they are believed to possess.”
Relics associated with the the saints are an important part of many of the sacred sites which are destinations for Christian pilgrimages. Rosemary Drage Hale reports:
“The belief in the intercessory powers of saints was a cultural extension of Greco-Roman practices, in which those who had died heroic deaths were thought to exert supernatural power from their graves.”
Rosemary Drage Hale also writes:
“Healings, exorcisms, and a variety of miracles were associated with the reverence of saints’ remains, and as this practice grew, from the fourth century into the Middle Ages, so did the demand for holy relics: bones and other objects associated with the saint.”
Monasteries, churches, and cathedrals which contained saintly relics became the object of pilgrimages.
Some of the pilgrimage sites associated with Christianity include Canterbury Cathedral in England which contains the tomb of Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in 1170; Santiago de Compostela in Spain which contains the supposed remains of St. James the Apostle; Lourdes in France where a young girl had visions of the Virgin Mary and which is reputed to be a place of miraculous healings.
Determining whether or not ancient sites for which there are not written records were the focal point of pilgrimages is difficult. Sites such as Stonehenge in England and the Ring of Brodgar in the Orkney Islands of Scotland are impressive megalithic monuments which were used for ceremonies and for astronomy, but were they pilgrimage sites? The ceremonies at Neolithic sites in Britain often involved feasting and an analysis of the pig bones at these sites has shown that the pigs were not local but had been brought to the sites from other areas. This suggests that these may have been pilgrimage sites.
In North America, one possible prehistoric pilgrimage site is Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. The Chaco Canyon complex, which is more than a thousand years old, is made up of several large, multi-story stone “apartments” or Great Houses. The communities of Chaco Canyon were the center of a nation which spread out to include at least 125 outlying communities and had more than 400 miles of prehistoric roads. With regard to roads, Tamara Stewart, in an article in American Archaeology, reports:
“Rather than serving primarily to connect communities, the roads are now thought to be pilgrimage paths to great houses and sacred geographic places on the landscape as well as symbolic paths marking the cardinal directions, of great importance to native peoples of historic and modern times.”
The Journey
The journey separates the pilgrims from their quotidian world and allows them to enter into a spiritual realm. Pilgrims journey from the familiar into the unfamiliar. In some pilgrimages, the journey itself is an important part of the spiritual, and sometimes mystical, experience.
In many religious traditions, mythology describes journeys to spiritual places as a part of the quest for truth and personal insights. With regard to the mythology of American Indian hunters and gatherers, David Jones and Brian Molyneaux, in their book Mythology of the American Nations, write:
“Their search for spiritual knowledge and understanding was seen in terms of a journey, a quest for vision, that took them away from the protection of their familiar surroundings into a natural world containing the mysterious forces that brought life and death, famine and plenty.”
Some Examples
Briefly described below are some pilgrimages from different religious traditions, both ancient and modern.
Among the best-known pilgrimages, and certainly the one that has the greatest number of participants, is the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj, the fifth Pillar of Islam. In his book The Handy Religion Answer Book, John Renard writes:
“The journey is required of all Muslims with sufficient health and financial resources, assuming also that making the Hajj would not require them to shirk serious family responsibilities at home.”
Most Muslims are not able to make this pilgrimage.
Occurring between the eighth and thirteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Hajj is a ritual which brings together millions of Muslims from around the world. The pilgrimage fosters a sense of community, unity, and equality among Muslims.
In the Hajj, the journey to Mecca is not a ceremonial process. The sacred site is the Kabah (Ka’ba), a cube-shaped shrine in the heart of Mecca. In her book Islam: A Short History, Karen Armstrong reports:
“It was extremely ancient even in Muhammad’s time, and the original meaning of the cult associated with it had been forgotten, but it was still loved by the Arabs, who assembled each year for the hajj pilgrimage from all over the peninsula.”
At Mecca, pilgrims enter the haram where they dress in the plain white wraps (ihram) which reminds the pilgrims of their simple equality. On the first day of the ceremony, the pilgrims circle the Kabah seven times and then go through a series of ceremonies symbolizing events and concepts in Islamic mythology. On the final day, the pilgrims again circle the Kabah seven times.
In India, Hindus make pilgrimages to visit many different kinds of sacred sites. John Renard writes:
“In a land with countless sacred places associated with numerous divine names and forms, pilgrimage (yatra, ‘going out’) remains an essential expression of religious devotion for all who can afford it.”
John Renard also writes:
“Among the most important goals of pilgrimage are the sources and confluences of major rivers. With its many important temples of Shiva and Kali, as well as the bathing and cremation ghats that lines its Ganges banks, Banaras tops the list of pilgrimage cities.”
In his entry on Hinduism in World Religions, Vasudha Narayanan writes:
“Millions of Hindus regularly visit sacred towns, worship in temples, bathe in holy rivers, and climb sacred mountains, in order to pray for happiness in this life and in the next.”
Vasudha Narayanan also reports:
“Many holy sites are near mountains and caves, places where Hindu deities are said to reside in the Purana stories.”
The religious traditions of ancient Greece also included pilgrimages. One of the sacred sites which attracted pilgrims was Mount Lykaion, the mountain where the god Zeus was born. In an article in Archaeology, Jason Urbanus reports:
“Throughout antiquity, the mountain was revered as hallowed ground where the cult of Zeus Lykaios performed solemn rituals in the god’s honor. Pilgrims from all over Greece came to bestow offerings by burning animal bones, pouring libations of wine, or proffering gifts. These rites were even rumored to include human sacrifice.”
Probably the most famous of the Greek pilgrimage sites is Delphi, an oracle site and the principle sanctuary of the god Apollo. The site is on the southern slopes of Mount Parnassus. With regard to the importance of oracles in ancient Greek religion, Richard Greenfield, in his entry on divination in the Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece, writes:
“Oracular prophecy undoubtedly enjoyed the highest cultural esteem in the ancient Greek world. It was conducted at all manner of holy places, some of which transcended state boundaries and were highly institutionalized, although most were very local, catering to small communities and individuals.”
With regard to the oracle at Delphi, H.A. Shapiro, in a chapter in The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, writes:
“Delphi had the Oracle of Apollo, the most respected and influential in Greece, attracting pilgrims from all over the Greek world and even foreign dynasts like Croesus of Lydia.”
In Christianity, one of the early examples of a pilgrimage occurred in 325 CE, when Helena, the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, made a journey to Palestine to visit the places venerated by Christians. She did not start the Christian pilgrimages to the sacred sites of the Levant, but she did make them more popular.
With regard to Christian pilgrimages during the Middle Ages, Richard Winston, in his book Life in the Middle Ages, writes:
“The need to do penance, the veneration of the relics of saints, and the natural desire to see something of the world prompted men to go on pilgrimages.”
In his book In Gods We Trust, Scott Atran writes:
“In the Roman Catholic world, ever since the Middle Ages, pilgrimages have been proofs of penitence: the greater the pain and suffering, the greater the likelihood of forgiveness. In many of the world’s large and small religions, periodic pilgrimages and seasonal ceremonies routinely and profoundly rouse votaries to costly and intense commitments.”
The manufacture of pilgrim souvenirs in England began with the cult of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. In an article in Medieval Archaeology, William Anderson writes:
“Shortly after the archbishop’s murder in December 1170, monks recorded miracles involving his blood and its ability to heal all manner of ailments, and before long the cathedral was attracting devotees seeking to obtain the miraculous ‘water of St. Thomas’.”
A modern example of a Christian pilgrimage can be seen in Magdalena del Kino, Sonora, Mexico. Each year thousands of pilgrims walk to this small town from villages in Sonora and from the Mexico border to celebrate the traditional fiestas de San (Saint) Francisco Javier. Many pilgrims make the journey across the town’s plaza to the church on their knees. The pilgrims include indigenous people from Sonora, Mexican Americans from Arizona, as well as others. The pilgrimage is done to thank the saint for favors granted during the year. The centerpiece of the fiestas is the resting figure of San Francisco and a long line of people wait to touch the statue. There is a belief that sinners and those who don’t have pure hearts cannot lift the saint, and so some of the pilgrims lift the image of San Francisco as they pass by.
In the Jewish tradition, there were also pilgrimages. John Renard writes:
“In biblical times Jewish males were expected to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem for three occasions, the feasts of Passover, Booths, and Weeks. Special ritual requirements attended each of the three pilgrimages”
The focal point of these pilgrimages was the Temple, but after the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, these pilgrimages stopped. While many Jews today make pilgrimages to Jerusalem, these are not the religious ceremonial pilgrimages of the past but are journeys to connect with Jewish heritage.
In South America, pilgrimages to sacred sites was not only a part of Inka culture prior to the Spanish invasion but also formed an important part of the religious ceremonies of the pre-Inka cultures as well. One of the sacred pre-Inka sites was Pachacamac and under Inka rule this continued to be the destination for pilgrimages. In an article in Current World Archaeology, Peter Eeckhout reports:
“The faithful came from all parts of the empire, travelling for hundreds of miles in order to see the famous oracle. Arrival at Pachacamac only marked the beginning of their devotions, as they had to subject themselves to prolonged fasting, praying, and making offerings to the deity. Over time the pilgrims progressed through successive courts, which took them ever closer to the sanctuary. The entire process took over a year.”
Among many American Indian nations on the Northern Plains, places such as Bear Butte, Devil’s Tower, and the Sweetgrass Hills were the destinations where people traditionally sought (and many still seek) mystical experiences through vision quest ceremonies.
Among the Tohono O’odham, an American Indian group living in the Sonoran Desert region of Arizona and Sonora, the Salt Pilgrimage is a ceremonial undertaking to travel to the Gulf of California to obtain salt. The people travel in single file and when they reach the Gulf, they plant prayer sticks in it and cast corn meal upon the waters. On the return trip, no one looks back. Upon returning home, the pilgrims are ceremonially purified and secluded for four days. After the pilgrimage, the pilgrims are qualified to cure a number of illnesses. In order to avoid illness, the pilgrims must make the pilgrimage four times.
Religion 101
Religion 101 is a series of essays on various topics relating to religion in which the concept of religion is not restricted to god-centered religious traditions. More from this series:
Religion 101: Religious Prophets
Religion 101: Ancestor Worship in Africa
Religion 101: Ceremonial Human Sacrifice