pilgrims (arch)

pilgrimage

• a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion

  • any long journey, especially one undertake as a quest or for a votive purpsose as to pay homage

hajj or umrah

Islamic term for pilgrimage

key elements of medieval pilgrimage

• travel along established trade routes

• exertion and risk - many do not survive the journey

• beginnings of mass travel and a tourist industry

  • pilgrimage sites are contested geographies

Xuanzang

a chinese buddhist monk who travels to india in the 7th century to learn the true fundamentals of Buddhisms

• defied the chinese emperors orders to stay within the border

ibn battuta

muslim scholar who travels from his native algeria to india and china

• makes two pilgrimages to mecca in the 14th century

• found himself poor and without means to reach his next desired destination

Margery kempe

a christian english women who travels to jerusalem, Rome, santiago de comostela and germany in the 15th century to visit the main sites of Christianity

• undertook several pilgrimages alone and without the protection of a husband or father

what is the risk of pilgrimage

• fatal disease

• robbers and pirates saw pilgrims as easy targets as they often carried their liquid assets with them as jewelry

• little guarantee that pilgrims would have the means or the health to return to their native lands