BSTC1003 INTRODUCTION TO RELIGIOUS STUDIES

LECTURE NOTES 9

PILGRIMAGE
G.A. Somaratne
Centre of Buddhist Studies
The University of Hong Kong
2019
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Pilgrimage and pilgrim

• A pilgrimage is a religious
journey.

• One who goes on a

pilgrimage is called a pilgrim.

• The pilgrims travel to places

that are considered holy in
their religion.

• Anyone can be a pilgrim,

whether rich or poor, male or
female, old or young.
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A form of worship
• Pilgrimage is a very popular form of
worship.

• Every year, millions of pilgrims from

many different religions make special
journeys.

• In recent times, pilgrimage has

occasioned some of the largest
gatherings of human beings ever.

• Kumbha Mela in Allahabad, India,

takes place every 12 years and it
brings together around 15 million
pilgrims.
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Journey both outwards and inwards

• Pilgrimage involves:
• (a) leaving home to go on a journey to a
distant and holy place,

• (b) returning home, often after having

undergone a powerful experience.

• “Pilgrimage, the journey to a distant

sacred goal…is a journey both outwards,
to new, strange, dangerous places,

• and inwards, to spiritual improvement,

whether through increased self-
knowledge or through the braving of
physical dangers” (Richard Barber, Pilgrimages,
Woodbridge: Boydell Press,1991, p.1)
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Three elements of pilgrimage

• Place
• Movement
• Motivation
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Place
• Pilgrimage depends on

• (1) “the association created

within a particular religious
tradition of certain events and/or
sacred figures with a particular
field of space, and

• (2) the notion that the material

world can make manifest the
invisible spiritual world at such
places” (Jill Dubisch, In a Different Place:
Pilgrimage, Gender, and Politics at a Greek
Island Shrine, Princeton University Press,
1995, p. 38).
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Centrality of a site
• At the center of pilgrimage is a site. It
could be a shrine, a part of the
landscape, such as a river confluence
or a mountain perhaps even a whole
town.

• Many great pilgrimage sites of

Jainism are distant from the centers
of population, almost always on the
tops of hills or mountains, and often in
surroundings of natural beauty
conducive to devotion and meditation

• Such a site draws to it not only

pilgrims but also historical,
theological, and mythical associations
and resonances.
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“making” of a place as special

• The “making” of a place as
special can occur, especially
with major shrines, through the
site’s connections with the
origins and the founders of a
faith.

• Sacred figures provide a

bridge between this world and
the next;

• similarly, the pilgrim can come

closer to the divine through re-
inhabiting the places
associated with them.
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A contested space
• Places that are marked as having
particular power are often subject to
physical as well as ideological
competition among adherents of
different religions or even of the same
religion.

• The Indian town of Ayodhya is

considered the birthplace of the
Hindu God Rama but is also sacred
to Muslims.

• Jerusalem is the paradigmatic

example of a contested space both
among and within religions.
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Traversing boundaries
• Pilgrimage is not only about
the time spent at the site
itself.

• Actually, more than at the

site, the pilgrims often spend
more time journeying to and
from a given site.

• Their travel is part of the

religious experience itself.

• Pilgrimage often involves as

such the traversing of
boundaries—of cultures,
territories, even religions
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movement
• There are three ways in
which this element of
pilgrimage can be
conceptualized and realized.

• There is pilgrimage to and

from a site as well as the
ideologies of permanent
movement.

• Movement in pilgrimage is
linked not only to a place but
also to novel forms of
experiencing time: the
reliving of the past through
following old pathways.
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Circumambulation
• Movement at a site must also
be taken into account.

• A common feature of
pilgrimage across the world
religions is circumambulation.

• Once the destination has

been reached, linear
movement toward a given
point is replaced by moving
around a given object or
place, often in a prescribed
ways, for instance, clockwise.
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Motivation
• The actual motivations for going
on pilgrimages are myriad.

• Pilgrimage may be prompted by

a search for self-consciously
ascetic other-worldliness or by a
strictly down-to-earth plea for a
better job.

• It may exhibit piety on the part of

the pilgrim or be a punishment
for a moral infraction.

• The search for physical healing

is also a common factor.
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Inspiring and uplifting

• Pilgrimage to sacred places is part of the
tradition of practically every religion in the
world.

• The hardships of the journey discipline the

body, the company of fellow pilgrims
strengthens religious faith.

• It is inspiring and uplifting to be able to

pray and worship at a site made holy by
tradition or consecration or the worship of
generations of the faithful.

• It is also inspiriting and uplifting to be able

to stand at the place where great religious
leaders and saints once stood, all these
are inspiring and uplifting.
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Why do people go on pilgrimages?

• to worship their holy
beings

• to be closer to their
religion

• to show their faith

• to give thanks to their

holy beings

• to fulfill their vows

• to seek forgiveness

• to drive away their evils

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• to bathe in holy • to ask favours

rivers and wash
away their sins • to have one’s
wishes realized
• to earn religious
merit or good • to have success
karma when they start
something new
• to get blessings
• to succeed in
• to know more business
about their
religion and • to pray for their
holy places children to pass
their exams
• to pray for dead
relatives
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• to pray for good • to see festivals and

crops, rain or good other events
weather
• to take part in
• to pray for an early ceremonies
end to a war or
wars • to be happy, to
calm their hearts
• to pray for good
health • to be outside

• to cure their • to have a feeling of

diseases belonging to a
large religious
• to change their group
lives

• to have a fresh
start
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Three Stages of Pilgrimage

• (a) The start of the
journey

• (b) The journey itself

– journey and
meeting with the
sacred

• (c) The homecoming

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The start of the journey

• Pilgrims must prepare
themselves for their
journey.

• They must show that they

are really thinking about
their religious duties while
they are traveling.

• They often wear special

clothes so that on their
journey other people will
recognize them as pilgrims
and will treat them with
kindness and respect.
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Hindus
• Hindus have a holy bath at home and
say special prayers with their family
priest before they begin a pilgrimage.

• For the entire journey they try to think

pure thoughts and not to get angry.

• Their clothes are often white or

saffron, a deep yellow color.

• These are colors that Hindus wear to

show that they are not interested in
the everyday things going on around
them and that they are only interested
in thinking about their gods
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Roman Catholics
• The Roman
Catholics confess
their sins to their
priest before they
set out on a
pilgrimage.

• This helps them to

travel with only
goodness in their
hearts.
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Muslims
• Muslims going on the
Hajj have special type
of dress called ihram,
which they put on
before they reach
Mecca.

• Before they put on

ihram the pilgrims take
purifying bath and
announce their
intention of performing
the Hajj.
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During the journey

• The pilgrim becomes aware of
his or her

temporary freedom from social

ties

a strong sense of fellowship/

belonging to other pilgrims

a value of simple lifestyle –

dress and behaviour

a painful but happy experience

rethinking of the meaning of

one’s religion
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spiritual magnetism
 A religious place contains a spiritual magnet
(a thing that attracts the pilgrims) that
induce awe and devotion:
 a sacred image, a painted picture, a
clothed doll, or a colossal statue;
 miracles of healing;

 place where holy beings have appeared to

humans – they experience connection with
the original event;
 location of life events, the birth place, the
tomb of a holy person;
 nature, land itself – rivers, mountains,
caves, islands, strange features of
landscape.
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The way home

• Many pilgrims like to
take something back
to their homes to
remind them of their
pilgrimage.

• This is often some

earth or water that
they have collected
from the holy site and
which they keep for
the rest of their lives.
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Change of status
• A pilgrim returning home is someone
special.

• Hindu pilgrims receive a warm welcome

from their family and friends.

• They often have a feast, and everybody

eats sweets brought back from the holy
site. Bottles containing water from the
Ganges may be placed in home shrines.

• Christian pilgrims are sometimes asked to

tell the people in their local churches
about their experiences.

• Muslims who have returned from the Hajj

are given the title Hajji. This way even
strangers will know that they have been
to Mecca.
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A generalized account of one woman’s pilgrimage:

• Once, in a place apart, there appeared a
very holy person; miracles occurred at that
place and drew multitudes of pilgrims.

• Later, a shrine was built by devotees.

• Now, in the present, those who are afflicted

make a promise to the holy person in their
hearts: “If you help me, I will make the
journey to your shrine and perform
devotions there.”

• The journey will be arduous and

inconvenient, but the goal beckons, the
source out there that heals both body and
soul, and worldly considerations fall away.
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• The pilgrim sets out lightheartedly.

• As she travels, she joins with many

others who are bound in the same
direction, and bonds of friendship
develop between them.

• During her journey the pilgrim calls

at sacred way stations, each of
which strengthens her faith further.

• When she nears her goal, and can

make out the shrine from afar, she
weeps for joy.
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• When she enters the sacred

domain she is conscious of
actually seeing with her own
eyes the place of those holy
events, while her feet touch
the very ground the holy one
trod.

• At last she is in the presence

of the sacred—and is in awe.

• She touches the shrine with

her hand, then remains there
a long time in bliss and
prayer.
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• Afterward, she gives offerings and

makes the rounds of the lesser
shrines that cluster about the main
one.

• Before leaving she eats holy food

and calls at the market for pious
presents to take home.

• Her return journey is cheerful, for

her affliction is lifted.

• When she arrives home, her family

and neighbors feel and share in the
blessings that have come to her.
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Similarity to rites of passage

• Pilgrimage shares certain similarities to rites of passage.
(Victor Turner)

• In common with ritual novices, pilgrims become initiates

into religious processes that remove them from everyday
life and expose them to powerful symbols and experiences.

• On their return to the mundane world, they will have

changed in some way—possibly in how they viewed by
others but almost certainly in their perceptions of
themselves.

• Both pilgrimages and rites of passage invoke contrasts

between the “structure” of everyday life and the “anti-
structure”—the reversals of everyday assumptions and
statuses—involved in temporarily removing oneself from
mainstream society.
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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7q_LcqbvKI
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gQoOYBRNj8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9tApZIaCN8
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEq_-k5i6Wo