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Name: Iva
"Anthropology"
Pilgrimage /Christian, Muslim
A Study of the Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
And the Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca
Submitted by:
Prepared for:
SSC 231 Cultural Conflict and Human Solidarity
University College Utrecht
May 2001
Introduction
A French folklorist and ethnographer, Arnold Van Gennep (1908-1960) gave us the first clues about how ancient and tribal societies conceptualized and symbolized the transitions men have to make between states a statuses . ... Various researchers have studied the study focus of this paper, the pilgrimage, yet Van Gennep led us to recognizing the significance in such cultural, religious behavior. The two religious pilgrimages to be discussed in this paper are both the Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. ... Moreover, the pilgrimage ultimately serves as a channel for ‘communitas’ and brings people to an end goal after a journey, which highly represents life. ...
To begin with, we should grasp an underlying image and idea of the pilgrimage. Firstly, there is an undoubtedly initiatory quality in the pilgrimage. ... Therefore, the pilgrimage has attributes of liminality in passage rites: release from mundane structure; homogenization of status; simplicity of dress or behavior; communitas; ordeal and reflection on religious and cultural values. Because pilgrimage is not necessarily mandatory (can be argued for Muslims), it is best described as quasi-liminal, rather than liminal in Van Gennep’s full sense. The pilgrimage is indeed an amazing phenomenon, which brings people together at a common goal, which is believed to be the essence or starting point of life and the ‘door’ to the afterlife. ... However, one who has not walked the pilgrimage may never see the insight that the pilgrims themselves see. ... In both Christianity and Islam, the pilgrimage entails both physical and financial sacrifice. In John Bunyan’s classic protestant allegory, The Pilgrim’s Process’ the story is told of a Christian who left home with a burden and a book. ... The pilgrimage to the Holy Land is meant to serve as following Christ in every way possible, through both morals and geography in order to free the self of original sin. ... These stories came to be associated with the pilgrimage in God’s call for his people to follow him to the Holy Land. The Muslim journey will be dealt with following the Christian journey, however, in both Islam and Christianity there is a ‘pull’ that came to be associated with the sacred places. ...
With a zeal and courage unbelievable in a woman she forgot her sex and her physical weakness, and longed to make there, amongst those thousands of monks, a dwelling for herself…And she might have done so, if she had not been summoned away by a still greater longing for the holy places…
(letter 108,14,3)
The main motive for pilgrims, both Christian and Muslim is a desire to see and touch the places where Christ or Mohammed were present in body. ... The Bordeaux pilgrimage in Christianity traveled about 20 miles a day, making his return trip a total of one year while only spending three months of that year in the Holy Land. Muslim pilgrims do the same, often by camel or foot, with entire families making the journey, requiring financial funds, courage and very hard physical work. The West African Muslims are often in permanent pilgrimage. They devote their entire lives to the pilgrimage and often the opportunity never arises for them to complete their journey. ... Pilgrims traveled in groups, primarily for the reasons of safe travel, however over time this group travel became a vital factor in the pilgrimage. ... There is an equality created on the pilgrimage, where class or social status is erased. ... ”
For Christians, the journey itself became an act of worship as reported by Gregory of Nyssa: “Our carriage was, in fact, as good as a church or monastery to us, for all of us were singing psalms and fasting during the whole journey” In order to guard against bodily temptations, the Christian pilgrims stayed in monastic accommodations on route. There were official rest houses provided for Christian pilgrims.
We shall now take a closer look at the journey and sacrifice of the Muslim pilgrims, although some vital information has been mentioned above. ... However, in Muslim religion it is a sacred space reserved purely for the umma (people of Islam). Unlike Christianity, the Islam faith actually requires its followers to go on the pilgrimage, provided that health and funds permit them to do so. The Koran states that “Pilgrimage to the House is a duty laid upon the people which they owe to Allah, those of them that can afford the journey thither” (3:98). ... The hajj is the actual pilgrimage, which literally means ‘the effort’. ... ”
Reaching the Sacred Space: Symbols and Rituals
We have established the importance of the journey, and we now must take a closer look at the central goal and aim of the journey; the time spent in Jerusalem in the Christian Holy Land or in Saudi Arabia, where Mecca is found. ... First let us take a look at the Christian pilgrimage in the Holy Land and subsequently we will examine the hajj.
Approximate Word count = 4211
Approximate Pages = 16.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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