Sacralising the Landscape: Water and the Development of a Pilgrimage Shrine (original) (raw)
Related papers
On Distinction and Devotion. Shifting Boundaries Between Pilgrimage and Tourism
Groniek, 2018
Ever since the anthropological study of pilgrimage developed in earnest from the late 1970s or so, it has been in constant debate with research on tourism. In their classic study of Christian pilgrimage, anthropologists Victor and Edith Turner famously-if ambiguouslyclaimed that "a tourist is half a pilgrim, if a pilgrim is half a tourist." 1 Pilgrimage is also generally assumed to have historically preceded modern tourism. 2 Luigi Tomasi discusses how pilgrimage evolved in Europe as a response to societal transformations that changed not only human travel but also the ways in which the sacred was approached. 3 As travel became a demonstration of "freedom and independence, " pleasure and exploration became crucial parts of the experience, 4 while the development of tourism was fuelled by the emergence of "free time. " 5 Certainly, both sub-fields have taken considerable impetus from increased interest in mobilities and the self-conscious making and marking of place. 6 However, while pilgrimage is often represented as serious, solemn and expressive of pious religious devotion, tourism may be designated as "petty, hedonistic, " 7 "superficial and frivolous. " 8 Yet, such crude binaries tend to pose more questions than they answer: Should we see visitors' attitudes as predetermined, unaffected by their experiences at sites? Whose criteria of "seriousness" and pious devotion should be adopted? And exactly what are pilgrims assumed to be devoted to, in a manner that apparently excludes tourists? We argue for a more nuanced understanding of the tourism-pilgrimage relationship by exploring ways in which these categories are both dynamic Historisch Tijdschrift Groniek, 215-Devotie
Religion, Pilgrimage and Tourism: An Introduction
Religion, Pilgrimage and Tourism (4 volume reprint series with Routledge)
Introduction For as long as human beings have existed they have been interested in travel. Particular homelands and cultural norms have always been constructed with reference to, or contrasted with, the lands and habits of ‘the Other’. Implicit in this statement is the notion that some places are more special (perhaps sacred) than others, and this is the core of the intimate relationship between human beings, place and travel, and religion. The field encompassed by this four-volume reprint series ‘Religion, Pilgrimage, and Tourism’ is thus vast. At the least controversial end of the spectrum are those incidences of travel which are sanctified by the so-called ‘world religions’ (Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam), such as the Hajj, the Camino de Santiago, the Shikoku henro, the Kumbh Mela, and the hope expressed at the annual Passover meal, ‘next year in Jerusalem’. However, the field extends far beyond these ‘official’ journeys, and encompasses the nomadic wanderings of Australian Aboriginal peoples through their ancestral lands, travel to participate in Native American potlatch gatherings, the assembly of Ancient Greeks every four years to honour Zeus Olympios at the Olympic Games, and the modern Druids who perform rituals at Stonehenge at the midsummer solstice. Yet beyond the immediately religious lies journeying that is motivated by individual ‘spiritual’ needs, which may involve traditional sacred routes and sites (for example, Westerners going to Indian ashrams), and radically eclectic, non-traditional pathways (for example, Wagner aficionados who travel to experience productions of the Ring Cycle and fans of Elvis Presley who visit his home, Graceland). In the post-religious milieu of the twenty-first century, almost any journey to almost any site may be religious and/or spiritual, a journey ‘redolent with meaning’ (Digance 2006).
The Invention of Sacred Places and Rituals: A Comparative Study of Pilgrimage
Religions, 2020
During the last twenty years around the world there has been a rapid increase in the number of people visiting long established religious shrines as well as the creation of new sites by those operating outside the boundaries of institutional religion. This increase is intimately associated with the revival of traditional routes, the creation of new ones and the invention of new rituals (religious, spiritual and secular). To examine this process I will focus on the European region and two contrasting destinations in particular-the Catholic shrine of Lourdes, France, and the pre-Christian shrine of Avebury, England-drawing on my personal involvement in travelling to both destinations and being involved in ritual activities along the route and at the two destinations. In the discussion section of the paper I will explore the relevance of these two case studies to the analysis of power, agency and performance and the ways in which they expose (a) the role of institutions and entrepreneurs in creating rituals and sacred places and (b) the relationship between people and the domesticated landscape.
Geographies of religion and spirituality: pilgrimage beyond the ‘officially’ sacred
Tourism Geographies
The papers in this special issue, Geographies of Religion and Spirituality: Pilgrimage beyond the 'Officially Sacred,' are placed in the context of a comprehensive theoretical overview of the role that the sacred plays in shaping, conducting, controlling, and contesting pilgrimage. As scholarship examining the lived experiences of travelers has demonstrated, pilgrimages need not necessarily be religious in nature, nor be officially sanctioned. Rather, if pilgrimages are perceived as 'hyper-meaningful' by the practitioner, the authors in this special issue argue that a common denominator of all of these journeys is the perception of sacredness-a quality that is opposed to profane, everyday life. Separating the social category of 'religion' from the 'sacred,' these articles employ an interdisciplinary approach to theorize sacredness, its variability, and the ways in which it is officially recognized or condemned. Thus, the authors pay particular attention to the authorizing processes that religious and temporal power centers employ to either promote, co-opt, or stave off, such popular manifestations of devotion, focusing on three ways: through tradition, text or institutionalized norms. Referencing examples from across the globe, and linking them to the varied contributions in this special issue, this introduction complexifies the ways in which pilgrims, central authorities, locals and other stakeholders on the ground appropriate, negotiate, shape, contest, or circumvent the powerful forces of the sacred. Delving 'beyond the officially sacred,' this collective examination of pilgrimages, both well-established and new; religious and secular; authorized and not; the contributions to this special issue, as well as this Introduction, examines the interplay of a transcendent sacred for pilgrims and tourists so as to provide a blueprint for how work in the geography of religion and the fields of pilgrimage and religious tourism may move forward.
Oxford Handbooks Online
An understanding of medieval pilgrimage can be informed by the application of archaeological approaches to the physical evidence. This chapter outlines the evidence of pilgrimage within the historic landscape, demonstrates the existence of an infrastructure for the support of pilgrims, and applies a functional approach to interpreting the sometimes fugitive remains of shrines. Consideration is also given to the impressive material culture of pilgrimage souvenirs, and the evidence that this provides of pilgrims’ travels at home and abroad. Extraordinary insights can also be gained into the life experiences and personal faith of medieval individuals from the excavation of pilgrim burials.
Pilgrimage is often seen as a physical journey to a sacred destination fixed by custom, destination-centred and broadly penitential in tone. The work of anthropologists in the last century broadened definitions to consider pilgrimage, across a range of faiths, in terms of a journey of transition and formation of identity. More recent historical scholarship has critiqued the longer development of our idea of pilgrimage, as well as its theological structures and markers. This diachronic approach to pilgrimage has also considered its origins with respect to early Christian conceptions of the life of the Christian in society and found resonances for patterns of lay pilgrimage in early monastic ideas. Such historical-theological dimension of research into pilgrimage provides a useful platform from which we can interrogate the idea of 'faith tourism' or 'pilgrimage tourism'. Many people of faith visit particular churches and holy sites to invoke their historic dimensions as well as to see what is presently on such sites. Visitors seek to re-enact historical narratives in the performance of certain pilgrimages and liturgies associated with them. Historical studies of theology thus may identify narratives that drive choices of action in pilgrimage. An historical reflection on pilgrimage may also be productive in widening definitions of pilgrimage for future development and may offer ideas for development of resources for the traveller.
New Pathways in Pilgrimage Studies
Despite the different types of pilgrimage (internal, moral, and place pilgrimage), they all involve movement and an engagement with the sacred. Anthropological research has focused mainly on place pilgrimage and this entry begins by outlining the social and economic processes which have encouraged the growth of this form of pilgrimage since the 1960s. It then proceeds to discuss both religious and nonreligious place pilgrimage around the world and illustrates these pilgrimages through particular examples. Key changes in the anthropological study of pilgrimage since the 1970s are considered next and the entry concludes by outlining two promising avenues which researchers are exploring: (1) alternatives to the dominant constructivist approach; and (2) attempts to break down the boundaries between Anglophone and non‐Anglophone pilgrimage research.