Pilgrimage: Diversity, Past and Present of Sacred Routes

Dear Colleagues,

Pilgrimage, as a long journey for devoted travellers, is an ancient phenomenon that still exists in the present day, with its singularities as well as its diverse expressions in various societies. The immanent and transcendent character of pilgrimage makes it a privileged subject of research in order to understand human spirituality and religiosity in a cross-cultural time–space frame. The study of pilgrimages allows social scientists to go beyond possible simplistic approaches and look for existing patterns in this specific kind of travel.

Those who undergo pilgrimages have the most diverse motivations, including penances or indulgences, requests or gratitude for more mundane or more existential graces and individual or collective motives (e.g., hajj). The journey is the essence of the pilgrimage. Carried out in a more solitary way or in a group, as a sporadic or periodic journey, by walking or using a means of transport, the journey summons the pilgrim to another time and to a space that is the path itself towards the sacred place. Such places can have different forms, including caves, fountains, mountains, locations that are difficult to access or where a founding hero, saints, or martyrs of a religion passed, lived or have been buried, places where relics (clothes, objects, ashes, bones) or their tombs may be found, or places where apparitions occurred. Sometimes, arrival at these sacred places requires propitiatory rituals (payment of debts, conflict resolution or purification bath), rituals in place (such as circulation of the religious building, walking on one's knees, touching, hugging or kissing an image) and departure often includes bringing small souvenirs, such as containers of water, earth or small icons that are an expression of the portability of the power of the sacred place.

Perhaps the scope and permanence of the pilgrimage result from the dialogue between the immanence of each step and the introspective transcendence of its repetition, between the individualism of the personal path and the “communitas” of sharing that same path (TURNER & TURNER, 1978), or between individual ideals of each pilgrim and “collective ideals of culture” (MORINIS, 1992) of each place of pilgrimage. Considering the undeniable continuous “spiritual magnetism” (PRESTON, 1992) of places of pilgrimage, the increasing complexity of the “discourse arena” (EADE and SALLNOW, 1991) of these places should be taken into account, as well as the fluid border between pilgrims and tourists, secular pilgrimage or virtual pilgrimage, as new trends that challenge the traditional concept of pilgrimage, travelling your feet to a sacred place.

This Special Issue of Religions invites researchers from all the social sciences domains to explore, analyze and discuss ongoing investigations on the subject of pilgrimages in the most diverse social contexts across time and space. Exploring methodologies, themes, and discourses in the study of pilgrimage, it aims to advance scientific research focused on empirical and theoretical understandings of the phenomenon.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, or to the Assistant Editor Sandee Pan (sandee.pan@mdpi.com) of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Pedro Pereira
Dr. Marina Pignatelli
Guest Editors

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• pilgrimage
• transits to sacred places
• culture
• religiosity
• syncretism
• gender
• power relations
• economy