Crossing Surfaces in Search of the Holy: Landscape and Liminality in Contemporary Christian Pilgrimage

Abstract

This paper examines the role of surfaces in pilgrimage practices and experiences in two denominational and cultural contexts and landscape settings for Christian pilgrimage: a week of Ecumenical pilgrimage walks in the Isle of Man and Orthodox pilgrimage to the monasteries of Meteora in Greece. Surfaces are examined as dynamic textured platforms for journeying and stages for the performance of ritual; as part of visual aesthetic and multisensory embodied experiences; as hermeneutical texts; as perceived liminal thresholds through which the divine might be experienced; and as tangible material fragments encapsulating and facilitating the 'taking home' of the pilgrim experience.Surfaces are found to be significant for pilgrims in a variety of shared ways, but also ways which are inflected by different theological and cultural contexts. Through its analysis of faith adherents and practices, this study offers (i) a spiritually informed perspective on both perceptions and experiences of surfaces, and (ii) understanding of faith-inflected mobilities and 'more-than-representational' meanings and practices.

Celtic pilgrimage, past and present: from historical geography to contemporary embodied practices

“…'Not just leaving the mainland and leaving your technology behind, but there's something almost Medieval about it, in the sense of the bare feet, everything is so basic' (Noel, Male, 36-55 years, RC). In different ways, the pilgrims interviewed expressed a deep appreciation of the pause and recess that Lough Derg offers, not just as a 'time out' but as a very real and meaningful experience of the 'set-apart character of pilgrimage' (Maddrell & Della Dora, 2013). The performance of this retreat is a further link with the Celtic monastic past as the rigours of the routine, the visceral experiences of sacrifice and the rhythms of the island combine to adjust priorities and attitudes.…”

“…The extant medieval carved stone altar pieces and crosses, originally found at keeills and parish churches, have been collected in groups for conservation purposes, so few remain in situ. While the materiality of the keeills is important to pilgrims' sense of place-temporality and spiritual imaginary, especially the sense of continuity of belief and prayer (Maddrell & della Dora, 2013;, the lack of artefacts prompts both introspection and reflection on the wider landscape setting as source of inspiration. As empty ruins, they could be seen as an example par excellence of Eade and Sallnow's (1991) description of shrines as empty voids on which pilgrims project their own aspirations and assumptions.…”

“…Reflecting the growth in the practice of and interest in pilgrimage in recent years (Bradley, 2000;Olsen & Timothy, 2006), there has been marked increase in research into pilgrimage from across the social sciences, which has led to the development of theoretically and empirically rich case studies (e.g. Coleman & Eade, 2004;Dubisch, 1995;Frey, 1998;Maddrell & Della Dora, 2013), as well as recent attention to social diversity and gendered relations in pilgrimage (Gemzöe, 2005;Hermkens et al, 2009;Jansen, 2012). We aim to bring elements of these insights to the examination of the two contemporary Celtic pilgrimages studied here.…”

“…In this paper, we address pilgrimage as a form of sacred mobility (Coleman & Eade, 2004;Maddrell, 2011Maddrell, , 2013Maddrell & della Dora, 2013;Maddrell, Terry, & Gale, 2015) within a regional historical geography of the medieval Celtic church and its continued influence today. Whilst the interdisciplinary field of pilgrimage studies is burgeoning, and the subject is attracting more attention within social and cultural geographies, pilgrimage in Ireland and Britain are relatively under-studied beyond Knock, Canterbury and Walsingham.…”

Why does religion matter for cultural geographers?

“…This is a call for attention to the affectual registers of time and space and 'different assemblages of movement, materialities, sounds and bodies' (ibid.). Recent work in religious studies is marked by a shift towards the study of material religion (Vásquez, 2011) and understanding everyday, 'lived' religion, (Ammerman, 2007;McGuire, 2008;Orsi, 1997) a focus also echoed in cultural geographies which explore material and embodied, everyday practices and performances of faith or religious practice (Dwyer, 2015;Hill, 2011;Maddrell & della Dora, 2013;McGregor, 2012). As contemporary cultural geography prioritizes understanding of 'ordinary affects' (Stewart, 2007), cultural geographies which unite the mundane and the everyday with the extraordinary, the enchanted and the incarnational offer exciting avenues for critical engagement.…”