The Role of COVID-19 in Pilgrimage to Saints’ Shrines and Sacred Sites (original) (raw)
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Journal of Religion and Health
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple aspects of physical and social health, including spiritual and religious dimensions, has been discussed not only by numerous theologians, scientists, and politicians, but also by millions of believers of all faiths worldwide. The pandemic seems to have exerted a significant impact on religious practices. Massive gatherings of devoted and faithful people have been strongly discouraged and even openly banned. Prominent religious festivals and pilgrimages that have been conflated by the media with other "mega-spreader events" are incessantly canceled to mitigate the pandemic and alleviate the burden of COVID-19 on the healthcare system. The impact of the pandemic on Catholic or Muslim religious tourism has been extensively described in peer-reviewed and gray literature. However, observant members of the Orthodox Christianity faith have also experienced the constrictive prohibitions for gathering at and worshiping in shrines, churches, and monasteries. Among the manifestations of devotion that the pandemic has interfered with are the attendance to public worship spaces for the celebration of rites and ceremonies, like the celebration of Orthodox Easter. Expressions of reverent devotion including the kissing of crosses and icons as well as the sacrament of Holy Communion may have also been considered a motive of concern as these holy objects and the spoon used might act as fomites in the dissemination of the virus. Visitation of holy places has been also hampered by the pandemic. The most important centers of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christianity are Mount Athos and Jerusalem, as well as the Shrine of Panagia Evangelistria in the Island of Tinos, Greece. Authorities have halted almost completely the arrival of visitors to these sites. This paper aims at elaborating on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on social manifestations of religiosity and therefore taking a toll on the spiritual health of believers who have deeply rooted religious convictions and are strongly attached to Church tradition. This analysis closes with the provision of specific suggestions for the care, support, and healing of the impacted or splintered spiritual health of the believers who cannot participate in expressions of devotion, such as pilgrimages and religious tourism because of personal and public health concern, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Journal of Religion and Health, 2021
This study presents the results of the examination of the influence of the SARS-Cov-2 coronavirus pandemic on religious tourism and pilgrimages to selected Catholic pilgrimage sites in Europe during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March-September 2020). Field research conducted in shrines and on several pilgrimage routes involved interviews with shrine custodians and staff as well as pilgrims. Data regarding tourism and pilgrimage movement were also gathered. Research results have shown that the tourism and pilgrimage movement to the analysed shrines decreased by 90-95% during the first six months of the pandemic. The shrines in Santiago de Compostela and Lourdes were closed for a few weeks during the first wave of coronavirus spread. The influence of the pandemic on the age structure of pilgrims is noticeable, with a distinct decrease in the number of pilgrims aged 60 +. Also, the reasons for pilgrimages to shrines have changed. The overriding principle followed by shrine custodians and organisers of pilgrimages was to ensure the safety of pilgrims on their way to shrines and, most importantly, in the shrine areas. The largest Catholic shrines in Europe encouraged pilgrims to deepen their bonds with the shrine through participation in online services and prayers and to pursue spiritual and virtual pilgrimages. The study also shows a model of the development of pilgrimages and religious tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 on religious tourism and pilgrimage
International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 2020
COVID-19 is devastating the religious tourism industry in terms of economic, social, food, employment and faith related impacts Pilgrimages are being stopped, and mass gatherings are halted We are in middle of a very difficult time for the religious tourism industry and this has become a major concern for governments around the world The leading nations such as USA, UK, Italy, Spain, Japan, Russia, Germany and China are struggling to control the COVID-19 pandemic We are facing the biggest test of the tourism industry in over half a century, one which has exceeded the downturn of the 9/11 terrorism attacks In the last 6-9 months, COVID-19 has had major ramifications for the religious tourism industry and impacted on other related industries like hotels, transport, travel agents and tour organisers, tour guides and all tourism service industries The calamity of the COVID-19 pandemic is a new biological war that is being experienced by the whole world and the tourism industry is one of...
The Impact of Coronavirus on Religious Tourism: Is this the End of Pilgrimage
The present paper, attends to the theme of COVID-19 and its negative effects on the tourism and pilgrimage industries. To be honest, although conclusive findings on this topic are premature in view of the velocity of facts, no less true seems to be that COVID-19 reaffirms a tendency originally stipulated just after 9/11 and declaration of the War On Terror by Bush’s administration. COVID-19 not only has shocked the world cancelling international flights, closing borders and airspaces, making irreparable damages to tourism and hospitality but it has operated on a much deeper level, developing a culture of fear, where ‘other’ is feared and neglected. This point, which was envisaged by the founding parents of sociology, today can be empirically tested with daily facts. At a closer look, hospitality and pilgrimage are inevitably entwined. Hence the thesis this paper holds is that COVID-19 accelerates a moral crisis in Western civilisation that leads the sacred-law of hospitality (at least as the Greeks imagined it) to its death.
Pilgrimages in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Romania
Folklore. Electronic Journal of Folklore, 2022
In 2020, religious celebrations in Bucharest were greatly affected by the restrictions meant to control the COVID-19 pandemic. While Easter, the highlight of the Christian ritual year, was celebrated in empty churches during spring lockdown, participation in religious activities was later progressively permitted. During autumn, pilgrimages were allowed, but only in compliance with restrictive regulations. This article focuses on the restrictions imposed by public authorities, the solutions found by Church representatives, and the faithful’s reaction to the new situation. The beginning of the Orthodox liturgical year (September 1st) is marked in Bucharest by a series of pilgrimages, occasioned by feasts for several saints whose relics are venerated in local churches. Some, centuries old, attract thousands of people. The celebrations last several days, during which people wait patiently, for hours, in lines, to touch the holy relics. In 2020, government measures were taken to limit participation to local residents, without previous consultation with Church authorities. This caused great discontent. However, both the Church representatives and the faithful finally adapted to the restrictions. People’s IDs were checked, while physical distance and mask use were reinforced. The time spent awaiting in line was reduced by an increased pace of the crowd enforced by police, and the flow of people was directed. Reliquaries were constantly disinfected and the time of exposure was adapted to obey the night lock-down. Despite this, the number of faithful in attendance was not substantially less than in previous years. With few exceptions, most people showed resolution and acceptance of the new rules.
Impact of COVID-19 on Global Religious Tourism and Pilgrimages
Counting the Cost of COVID-19 on the Global Tourism Industry
The past three decades have witnessed an increase in zoonotic infections leading to severe effects on global public health. These emerge and re-emerge when animal infections breach species barriers to infect human beings. At the same time, the world has witnessed an increase in the popularity and commodification of religious tourism and pilgrimages. During religious festivals, there is always the risk of infectious diseases being spread, which may result in these festivals being postponed and/or cancelled. This chapter examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on religious tourism and pilgrimages around the world, especially the Hajj and the Umrah, both hosted in Saudi Arabia. Document analyses supplemented with fine-grain analysis were the preferred methods for collecting and analysing data. The research observed that, globally, iconic religious events had to be cancelled, postponed or significantly scaled down, resulting in reduced tourist arrivals. It also emerged that decisions that were made to cancel, postpone or significantly scale down such festivals or pilgrimages may have saved the world from aggravated circumstances causing a spike in COVID-19 numbers. The chapter recommends that aggressive marketing for religious and pilgrimage tourism be embarked on once COVID-19 has been contained and people are comfortable travelling again. Where possible, some events could be rescheduled, although this will not be possible with religious holidays like Easter and Ramadan. The chapter also acknowledges the interventions made by several governments to mitigate the impacts COVID-19, which could be repeated in future if still effective for similar pandemics.
2020
This article explores the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 on the worship services and events of Christian communities Focusing on the UK in terms of practice, the research includes early pandemic examples from a range of Christian traditions and denominations, as well as relevant cases from other countries The Christian church organisations considered range from the extensive world-wide reaches of the Roman Catholic Church, to international Protestant denominations such as the Anglican Communion, and to independent non-denominational groupings and local churches This paper considers the ways in which churches are coming to terms with the impacts of this pervasive virus on the global community, and on their own congregations At a time when all religious events were postponed or cancelled, many churches moved online for the delivery of daily and weekly worship services Yet, some other events needfully persisted;this has especially been the case for funerals, as the number of ...
Religious Tradition Resilence during the Covid-19 Outbreak
Al-Qalam
At the beginning of 2020, the whole world was hit by the Covid 19 pandemic which originally came from Wuhan, China. Indonesia as one of the most populous countries was also affected by the outbreak. The impact of covid has spread to all corners of Indonesia, from cities to villages. The impact of this pandemic has resulted in many problems in life sectors, such as health, education, economy, religion, and traditions. Based on the WHO data, during the period of 2020-2021 there were 14.9 million people who died from the Covid 19. This article aims to reveal the practices of religious traditions in Balingasal Village, Kebumen. The data in this study were obtained through literature studies, documents, observations and interviews with religious and community leaders in the village. The study found two important findings, First, people believe that during the outbreak, religious traditions can be maintained without implementing strict Covid-19 safety protocols. Some of them did not wear ...
Coronavirus and its effect on Pilgrimage in Iran
Cogent Social Sciences
The spread of Coronavirus disease in Iran, as an Islamic country, has brought about a large number of problematic issues. Some conflicts have emerged regarding the confrontation between adherence to hygienic measures and the performance of religious ceremonies, especially visit of Imam Reza shrine as the most important religious site in Iran. It seems that these conflicts have not been solved yet and are still at play. This survey study employs a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach to investigate pilgrims' justifications for making a pilgrimage to visit the shrine of Imam Reza during the spread of Coronavirus by means of content analysis. To this end, during the survey phase, 936 questionnaires were completed by the respondents and, in the qualitative phase, 46 pilgrims visiting the shrine of Imam Reza were interviewed in order to study the reasons for their presence in the shrine under such unique circumstances and analyze their justifications regarding their pilgrimage method in the shrine. The findings of the survey revealed that some pilgrims deemed the shrine to be so sacred that, basically, they would consider it free of any kind of disease. In contrast, the other pilgrims, while attesting that the virus can exist in the shrine, believed that it is possible to engage in pilgrimage as long as the required hygienic measures are observed. The findings of the qualitative phase revealed that pilgrims' justifications (rationalities for pilgrimage) can be categorized into four classes: tradition-devotion, repudiation-mitigation, obligationimitation, and rational methods. What differentiates these four methods is the ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The impact of covid 19 pandemic to worship
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2020
Spread of Covid-19 outbreaks so fast thus it is pandemic a major part of the world. The covid-19 outbreaks resulting in changes to the practice of worship and use of certain tools during the implementation of worship. Therefore, question what Covid-19 is affecting the law requires deep discussion and caution from various perspectives. This study aims to explore the perspectives of scholars and arguments used as well as highlighting the fundamental principles of Islam that should consider when assessing the permissible changes of the law due to the covid-19 outbreak. The method of this study is descriptive qualitative. The books of classical and contemporary scholars are the primary references to this study. Besides that, the journal articles, and national and international fatwa councils as the secondary references of this study. This study found, Temporary suspension of Friday prayers, Congregational Prayers the use of hand sanitizer for the purpose of epidemic control and medical accepted as a legal variable when it meets the prescribed conditions by the authority. Ethical guidelines need for infected persons to be a distance at home to prevent others from being infected. The principles of maqasid al-sharia for human well-being (sustainability), descent and reject the harm as well as preventing harm is take precedence from securing the benefits, it is among the principles of guidance in assessing the change in the Islamic law because of the covid-19 outbreak from an Islamic perspective. This study proposes an in-depth study conducted to discuss and explore other changes in the Islamic law related to the covid-19 outbreak