A pilgrimage is a journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ) is a traveler (literally, one who has come from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system.
Background
Pilgrimages frequently involve a journey or search of moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith, although sometimes it can be a metaphorical journey into someone's own beliefs.
Many religions attach spiritual importance to particular places: the place of birth or death of founders or saints, or to the place of their "calling" or spiritual awakening, or of their connection (visual or verbal) with the divine, to locations where miracles were performed or witnessed, or locations where a deity is said to live or be "housed", or any site that is seen to have special spiritual powers. Such sites may be commemorated with shrines or temples that devotees are encouraged to visit for their own spiritual benefit: to be healed or have questions answered or to achieve some other spiritual benefit.
A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim. As a common human experience, pilgrimage has been proposed as a Jungian archetype by Wallace Clift and Jean Dalby Clift. Some research has shown that people who engage in pilgrimage walks enjoy biological, psychological, social, and spiritual therapeutic benefits.
People embark upon pilgrimages for a wide variety of personal reasons rather than any single motive. Ian Reader notes that these reasons are both spiritual and pragmatic. For example, while some pilgrims may seek spiritual transformation or enlightenment, others may be motivated by the desire for some sort of benefit in their own lives or on behalf of deceased kin. Such desires and motivations may include those to do with welfare, healing, prosperity, or purification.
The Holy Land acts as a focal point for the pilgrimages of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to a Stockholm University study in 2011, these pilgrims visit the Holy Land to touch and see physical manifestations of their faith, confirm their beliefs in the holy context with collective excitation, and connect personally to the Holy Land.
History
Although the origins of the word 'pilgrimage' are associated with Christianity, the practise of pilgrimage predates it. Pilgrims and the making of pilgrimages are common in many religions, including the faiths of ancient Egypt, Persia in the Mithraic period, India, China, and Japan. The Greek and Roman customs of consulting the gods at local oracles, such as those at Dodona or Delphi, both in Greece, are widely known. In Greece, pilgrimages could either be personal or state-sponsored. The Eleusinian mysteries included a pilgrimage. The procession to Eleusis began at the Athenian cemetery Kerameikos and from there the participants walked to Eleusis, along the Sacred Way ().
In the early period of Hebrew history, pilgrims traveled to Shiloh, Dan, Bethel, and eventually Jerusalem (see also Three Pilgrimage Festivals, a practice followed by other Abrahamic religions). These festivals, including Passover, Tabernacles, and Shavuot, often involved journeys that reflected a physical and spiritual movement, similar to the concept of "tirtha yātrā" in Hinduism, where "tirtha" means "ford" or "crossing", and "yatra" signifies a journey or procession. While many pilgrims travel toward a specific location, a physical destination is not always a necessity. One group of pilgrims in early Celtic Christianity were the Peregrinari Pro Christ, (Pilgrims for Christ), or "white martyrs", who left their homes to wander in the world. This form of pilgrimage, akin to the concept of "hajj" in Islam, which means "procession", was an ascetic religious practice, as the pilgrim left the security of home and the clan for an unknown destination, trusting completely in Divine Providence. These travels often resulted in the founding of new abbeys and the spread of Christianity among the pagan population in Britain and in continental Europe.
In the Middle Ages, Christian pilgrimage became a relevant economic sector, initially through facilities at popular pilgrimage destinations, but later also through organised group trips for pilgrims throughout the Mediterranean region.
The ceremonial center Chavín de Huántar served as a gathering place for people of the pre-Inca culture Chavín to come together, to attend and participate in rituals, consult an oracle, worship or enter a cult, and collect ideas.
Pilgrimage experienced a new change with the improvement of infrastructure from the 19th century onwards.Civelli, Ignaz (2021). [The pilgrim in the coupé. Pilgrimages by train from 1850 to 1939 - an Alltagsgeschichte]. Hamburg, .
Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'u'lláh decreed pilgrimage to two places in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas: the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad, Iraq, and the House of the Báb in Shiraz, Iran. Later, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá designated the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahji, Israel as a site of pilgrimage. The designated sites for pilgrimage are currently not accessible to the majority of Bahá'ís, as they are in Iraq and Iran respectively, and thus when Bahá'ís currently refer to pilgrimage, it refers to a nine-day pilgrimage which consists of visiting the holy places at the Bahá'í World Centre in northwest Israel in Haifa, Acre, and Bahjí.
Buddhism
Places of pilgrimage in the Buddhist world include those associated with the life of the historical Buddha: his supposed birthplace and childhood home (Lumbini and Kapilavastu in Nepal) and place of enlightenment (Bodh Gaya in northern India), other places he is believed to have visited and the place of his death (or Parinirvana), Kushinagar, India. Others include the many temples and monasteries with relics of the Buddha or Buddhist saints such as the Temple of the Tooth in Sri Lanka and the numerous sites associated with teachers and patriarchs of the various traditions.
In India and Nepal, there are four places of pilgrimage which are tied to the life of Gautama Buddha: Lumbini: Buddha's birthplace (in Nepal) Bodh Gaya: place of Enlightenment (in the current Mahabodhi Temple, Bihar, India) Sarnath: (formally Isipathana, Uttar pradesh, India) where he delivered his first sermon (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta), and the Buddha taught about the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path Kusinara: (now Kusinagar, India) where he attained mahaparinirvana (died)
Other pilgrimage places in India and Nepal connected Gautama Buddha's life are: Savatthi, Pataliputta, Nalanda, Gaya, Vesali, Sankasia, Kapilavastu, Kosambi, Rajagaha.
Other famous places for Buddhist pilgrimage include: India: Sanchi, Ellora Caves, Ajanta Caves, also see Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India Thailand: Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho, Wat Doi Suthep, Phra Pathom Chedi, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya Tibet: Lhasa (traditional home of the Dalai Lama), Mount Kailash, Lake Nam-tso Cambodia: Wat Botum, Wat Ounalom, Wat Botum, Silver Pagoda, Angkor Wat Sri Lanka: Temple of the Tooth, Polonnaruwa (Kandy), Anuradhapura Laos: Pha That Luang, Luang Prabang Malaysia: Kek Lok Si, KL Buddhist Maha Vihara Myanmar: Shwedagon Pagoda, Mahamuni Buddha Temple, Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, Bagan, Sagaing Hill, Mandalay Hill, Nepal: Maya Devi Temple, Boudhanath, Swayambhunath Indonesia: Borobudur, Mendut, Sewu Taiwan: Fo Guang Shan, Dharma Drum Mountain, Chung Tai Shan, Tzu Chi Hong Kong: Po Lin Monastery China: Yung-kang, Lung-men caves. The Four Sacred Mountains Japan: Shikoku Pilgrimage, 88 temple pilgrimage on the island of Shikoku Japan 100 Kannon Pilgrimage, pilgrimage composed of the Saigoku, Bandō and Chichibu pilgrimages Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, pilgrimage in the Kansai region Bandō Sanjūsankasho, pilgrimage in the Kantō region Chichibu 34 Kannon Sanctuary, pilgrimage in Saitama Prefecture Chūgoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage, pilgrimage in the Chūgoku region Kumano Kodō Mount Kōya Bhutan: Paro Taktsang Monastery, Jampa Lhakhang, Kyichu Lhakhang, Singye Dzong, etc
Christianity
In the spiritual literature of Christianity, the concept of pilgrim and pilgrimage may refer to the experience of life in the world (considered as a period of exile) or to the inner path of the spiritual aspirant from a state of wretchedness to a state of beatitude.
Christian pilgrimage was first made to sites connected with the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Aside from the early example of Origen in the third century, surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land date from the 4th century, when pilgrimage was encouraged by church fathers including Saint Jerome, and established by Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great.