Is A Pilgrimage Always Religious?

For centuries and in every corner of the world, people have gathered together in some of the largest human assemblages when embarking on a journey towards a holy site. Although the form of journeying has varied according to the culture, pilgrimage and pilgrims are aspects of human life that go back to the very foundations of its existence. This essay will begin by looking at how studies on pilgrimage fits in to anthropological thought on a wider scale. In continuation, this essay will look at the definition of pilgrimage as a journey to a religious site undeniably linked to its religious foundations. With this in mind, the essay will look at how whether a pilgrimage is seen as religious depends according to how the pilgrims feel about the pilgrimage and their motives for embarking on the journey. The pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and the pilgrimage or hajj to Mecca will be the main focus of this discourse, in particular looking at the extent that pilgrims nowadays have differing motivations for the pilgrimage. Furthermore, this essay will then look at a completely different definition of pilgrimage, seeing it in the secular entity, as "a journey to a place of particular interest or significance" , with no connection at all to religion. According to Alan Morinis (1992:1), pilgrimage holds unlimited possibilities for anthropological analysis, as they draw on symbols, behaviour, social forces and are an important aspect of the world's complex religions. However he argues that anthropological interest in pilgrimage has not been "very deep, nor has it been comprehensive" (1992:7). It seems curious that there has been a neglect in the study of pilgrimages given that there has never been an absence of documentation since there have always been "attendance records, biographical histories and pilgrim guides" (Preston, 1992:31) and "has manifested in one form or another in virtually all the worlds religions" (ibid). According to Preston, the reasons that anthropologists have somewhat avoided looking at pilgrimage by itself is due to it being a transitory phenomena. The nature of pilgrimage being an unbounded phenomenon that transcends geographical groups of people is a feature that has made it difficult to study. However anthropological interest in pilgrimage is on the increase, especially since the definition of pilgrimage has reached a whole new level of thought and complexities. The definition of a pilgrimage as "a religious devotee who journeys to a shrine or sacred place" will be used when looking at the foundation of the pilgrimage to Mecca and to Santiago de Compostela where the religious roots are indisputable. The Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca is located on the Western coast and capital of the Hejaz province of Saudi Arabia and the Christian pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, is located in the North Western corner of Spain, in the region of Galicia. The most common route to reach Santiago de Compostela is known as the Camino Frances , which traditional starts in the French village in the Pyrenees known as St Jean Pied Port and then continues across the north of Spain. According to Roseman (2004:75-76) Christian narratives recount that James, (brother of Jesus) had travelled to the Iberian Peninsula to preach, only to be executed upon his return to Jerusalem. Escorted by other apostles, James's relics landed on the Atlantic coast of Galicia where many miracles occurred to humans and animals who came into contact with the sacred body. It was then in the early ninth century that relics said to be those of James and two of his disciples were discovered on a hilltop near what is now the city of Santiago de Compostela, the pilgrimage to visit James tomb beginning soon after. According to Islamic legend, Abraham, went to Mecca with his wife Hagar and their son, Ishmael. Abraham left Mecca, leaving his wife and child behind with no water or food. Despairing from their hunger and thirst, an angel came and struck the ground creating the Zamzam well, which continues to flow in Mecca today. When returning, Abraham seeing Hagar had died was ordered by God to turn his wife's house into a temple where people could pray. Abraham then followed Gods instructions to create the Ka'baa, a black shaped cube that Muslims from all over globe face during prayer. After this, the city of Mecca further reached its religious significance as the birth and life of the prophet Muhammad who during his life, declared the pilgrimage to Mecca, as the fifth of the fundamental Muslim practices . A pilgrimage is not a pilgrimage without its pilgrims to embark on the journey; therefore it is important to look at this from the view point of the pilgrims and their motivations for travel. On a wider scale, other writers have shown that just how modernist travelers find a need to break from their daily routines and to fulfill individual need for 'renewal' (Dean MacCannell, 1976), for pilgrims too, the sacred journey they embark upon is an opportunity "to break from the routines and familiar context of an ordinary, settled social life" (Morinis, 1992: 19). Although individual motivation is important when looking at motives for pilgrims, this is inextricably linked to larger social dimensions. For example, Morinis describes (1992: 14-15) how a pilgrimage can range in structure from a highly formal to the highly informal, an example from the highly formal pole being the pilgrimage to hajj "which is performed annually according to a highly specified formula, in fulfillment of a religious obligation". It is a religious obligation in Islam as the Qur'an requires all Muslims who are physically and mentally capable of doing so, to make their way to Mecca once in their life time. Moreover, the fact that only Muslims can go on the pilgrimage and enter the holy city is arguably another fundamental reason why the pilgrimage has been able to retain its religious core. According to the virtual tourist website , only Muslims are allowed to enter Mecca to stop the scared sites from "becoming tourist resorts that would hinder and disrespect those that have spent their entire life times saving to perform their religious rites". One could further argue that despite religion being the main motivation, hajj pilgrims have nevertheless also undertaken the journey with additional motivations in mind. An example of this was seen in the 14th century in that the hajj was also an opportunity for scholarly North Africans to meet other intellectuals or rather is was a rihla, "a grand study tour of the great mosques...an opportunity to acquire books and diplomas, deepen one's knowledge of theology and law, and commune with refined and civilized men" Dunn (1986, 30). However, in an overall context, although not always religious, the pilgrimage continues to have religion as the prime factor for travelling to Mecca. Even in a modern world where pilgrims can fly to Mecca, no longer embarking on a long, dangerous journey to get there, "the essential rites (have) remained unchanged" (Wolfe: 1997:524). Michael Wolfe describes how the pilgrimage to Mecca in the 1990s, pilgrims turned the tawaf in precisely the same way it had been performed it in 1050, "at such times, (they) resembled modern vessels into which timeless emotions were being poured" (ibid). The motivations for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela nowadays are very different to the modern pilgrim in Mecca. Unlike with the hajj, there have been no written rules that require Christians to carry out the pilgrimage once in their life nor have there been restrictions on which faiths or people can embark on the journey to Santiago. According to Nancy Frey (2004:91), there are "large numbers of Protestants, as well as agnostics, an occasional Buddhist". Each of these people have different reasons for walking 780km, often religion not being the main motivation for this, and therefore arguably taking away the pilgrimages' religious character. This has been complicated further by what we consider modern day tourists, who are finding the walk across the North of Spain more and more appealing, and seeing it as just that, a walk or a trek, not as a pilgrimage. The different intentions for going on the pilgrimage to Santiago can be summarised as follows: cultural reasons, physical challenges and spiritual reasons, the latter one being the most problematic to distinguish (Frey, 2004: 91). According to Frey (2004:91) modern day pilgrims to Santiago often want to visit the famous cathedral, the northern Spanish towns and villages, the beautiful landscape along the way and out of curiosity to understand the Camino's popularity. Many photographers and artists also find inspiration from the Camino. Physical reasons are for those using the pilgrimage as a way to test their hiking capacities. Those pilgrims with 'spiritual' intentions describe their reasons for wanting to do the pilgrimage in order to have a break from daily life, to 'find themselves' and experience a period of reflection. Other spiritual reasons include wanting to use the Camino as a way of dealing with a broken relationship, marriage or the loss of a relative (ibid). This 'spiritual' reason for travelling showing another level of complexity when wanting to define what is 'religious'. This is also seen in the sense that the pilgrims' office in Santiago grants a pilgrim the Compostela (an official-looking certificate that confirms the completion of the journey) by using a very broad definition of 'religious' motivation (Frey 2004:91-91). One has already seen the extent that the pilgrimage to Mecca has, is and will always continue to be religious in its nature as long as Islam requires it but apart from the lack of restrictions for anyone to travel to Santiago, there are other factors that have caused the pilgrimage to show it has not always been religious. An example is external factors and their portrayal of both the pilgrimage and of Santiago's Cathedral and city that have changed the perception of the pilgrimage throughout time. One of these being foreign websites, where given the hospitality of the villages along the north of Spain who provide cheap accommodation to pilgrims and offer set three course meals, a concern is that the Camino de Santiago, is being portrayed in a touristy way by the means of 'cheap tourism'. According to Frey (2004:93) "One concern among many pilgrims and those heavily involved in the pilgrimage's infrastructure is that the pilgrimage already has or will turn into a form of 'cheap tourism', populated by cheap, greedy holiday makers who 'do' the Camino as an inexpensive way to travel, in France and Switzerland, the Camino is expressly advertised this way." One could further argue that this Christian pilgrimage became less religious with the very people and outside forces that were trying to popularize it, and particularly because of the way that they did it. This is seen when during Francisco Franco's dictatorship and National Catholicism, Santiago de Compostela was promoted in the 1940's as a 'national monument'. There was also a lot of focus placed on Santiago de Compostela as a 'cultural' city rather than an emphasis on the religious foundations of the pilgrimage. The pinnacle of this came about in 1995 when "the council of ministers of the European Santiago de Compostela would be one of the nine locations to share the honour of being named a 'European city of Culture' in 2000" (Roseman, 2004:70). Moreover, according to Roseman (2004: 74) since 1981, the city had been the symbolic capital of the 'Comuindad Autonoma of Galicia', where nationalist Galician's have always proudly strived to show the difference in their regional history and society to that from the rest of Spain. These external European influences but also reflected within the Galician citizens themselves has led to the promotion of the pilgrimage to Santiago as being depicted 'as a spiritual search for European, rather than Christian, identity and comradeship" (ibid: 78). In contrast, if one now looks at the definition of pilgrimage as a secular journey to a secular place with non-religious motives at heart, then unlike with the complications of the differing motives of pilgrims in the above points, in this case, the pilgrimage is never religious. If, as Morinis argues, a pilgrimage is seen in its alternative definition of pilgrimage as a "journey undertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody a valued ideal" (Morinis, 1992:2) then there are various non-religious journeys and places which have been seen as pilgrimages. These include the Ku Klux Klansmen on parade, children going on their rounds to collect treats at Halloween, visits to Lenin's Tomb, Mao's mausoleum, the Washington Monument and trips to Disneyland Paris. All of these can be considered pilgrimages if one views them as "contemporary symbols for national ideals" (ibid: 5). Jennifer Porter describes (2004:160) the extent that Star Trek gathering represents contemporary pilgrimage, arguing that by "contextualizing Star Trek convention attendance within the anthropology of pilgrimage, new insights into both pilgrimage and popular culture emerge". In conclusion, this essay has shown that there are many levels of complexities when looking at whether a pilgrimage is always religious, particularly when attempting to define what is meant by 'pilgrimage' and what is meant by 'religious'. Taking first the definition of pilgrimage in its meaning linked to religion, this essay has looked at the motivating factors of pilgrims as the key to access the question. With particular focus on the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and the Christian pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, what one found is that due to the Islamic requirement for the hajj and restrictions on who can enter, has meant that the pilgrimage to Mecca has retained much more of its religious aspect. Therefore although at times there have been additional motives other than religion to embark on the journey, these have only been additional, the essay arguing that as religion is the main motivating factor for travel to Mecca, although not always religious, religion nevertheless continues to be the principle underlying factor of this pilgrimage. Santiago de Compostela on the other hand, both from the differing motives of pilgrims travelling, (including social, cultural, physical motives) and of the external portrayals of the pilgrimage has seen a much wider divergence from religious, and therefore showing the extent that for a while now, the pilgrimage in this case has also not always been religious.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

. Dunn, Ross (2005) The adventures of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim traveller of the 14th century, University of California Press, Berkeley

. Frey, N (2004) Stories of the return: pilgrimage and its aftermath, In: Badone E. and Roseman S, Intersecting journeys, the anthropology of pilgrimage and tourism, published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago

. MacCannell, Dean, 1976, The tourist: a new theory of the leisure class, published by Schocken Books, New York

. Porter, Jennifer (2004) In: Badone E. and Roseman S, Intersecting journeys, the anthropology of pilgrimage and tourism, published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago

. Preston, James J. (1992) - Spriritual Magnestism: An Organizing Principle for the Study of Pilgrimage in Morinis, Alan (Ed) Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage published by Greenwood Press, printed in the United States of America

. Roseman, S (2004) Santiago de Compostela in the Year 2000: From Religious Center to European City if Culture, In: Badone E. and Roseman S, Intersecting journeys, the anthropology of pilgrimage and tourism, published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago . Wolfe, Micheal (1997) One thousand roads to Mecca: ten centuries of travellers wirting about the Muslim pilgrimage, published by Grove Press, New York

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