Geographies of religion and spirituality: pilgrimage beyond the ‘officially’ sacred

Abstract

The papers in this special issue, Geographies of Religion and Spirituality: Pilgrimage beyond the 'Officially Sacred,' are placed in the context of a comprehensive theoretical overview of the role that the sacred plays in shaping, conducting, controlling, and contesting pilgrimage. As scholarship examining the lived experiences of travelers has demonstrated, pilgrimages need not necessarily be religious in nature, nor be officially sanctioned. Rather, if pilgrimages are perceived as 'hyper-meaningful' by the practitioner, the authors in this special issue argue that a common denominator of all of these journeys is the perception of sacredness-a quality that is opposed to profane, everyday life. Separating the social category of 'religion' from the 'sacred,' these articles employ an interdisciplinary approach to theorize sacredness, its variability, and the ways in which it is officially recognized or condemned. Thus, the authors pay particular attention to the authorizing processes that religious and temporal power centers employ to either promote, co-opt, or stave off, such popular manifestations of devotion, focusing on three ways: through tradition, text or institutionalized norms. Referencing examples from across the globe, and linking them to the varied contributions in this special issue, this introduction complexifies the ways in which pilgrims, central authorities, locals and other stakeholders on the ground appropriate, negotiate, shape, contest, or circumvent the powerful forces of the sacred. Delving 'beyond the officially sacred,' this collective examination of pilgrimages, both well-established and new; religious and secular; authorized and not; the contributions to this special issue, as well as this Introduction, examines the interplay of a transcendent sacred for pilgrims and tourists so as to provide a blueprint for how work in the geography of religion and the fields of pilgrimage and religious tourism may move forward.

Análisis del impacto espiritual del turismo religioso en la experiencia turística: el caso del Camino Ignaciano

“…La peregrinación no es simplemente algo que se establece y se mantiene constante; no es algo estructurado en textos ni manuales, es más bien, como muchos otros rituales, un acto cambiante que se adapta a la experiencia de cada peregrino y que tiene manifestaciones particulares en cada individuo (Di Giovine & Choe, 2019). Cada peregrinaje cuenta con ciertos valores fundamentales que llevan el estandarte del santo o deidad que está representado en sí mismo.…”

“…Este proceso está acompañado de cambios externos visibles y de comportamiento, así como de cambios en la propia percepción, siendo el resultado la adopción de una nueva forma de vida compuesta por nuevos valores y narrativas experimentadas en su viaje espiritual (Liutikas, 2017). Emprender una peregrinación es una experiencia fuera de lo común, que conduce indefectiblemente a la renovación y revitalización espiritual y personal, movida por la reconciliación, la sanación y el redescubrimiento de una nueva vida (Morinis, 1992;Di Giovine & Choe, 2019).…”

"Buscando espiritualmente os Mayas"

“…As demonstrated by seventy years of tourism scholarship, spiritual pilgrimage has been and is always a form of tourism (e.g. Feifer, 1986;Di Giovine & Choe, 2019;Di Giovine & Picard, 2019). The point I underline here is that scholars of spiritualities and new religious movements must engage the extensive interdisciplinary research of tourism on the question of "sacred journey" as a dominant mode of new age spiritual practice.…”

Towards Sustainable Spiritual Tourism at the Egyptian Heritage Sites: Applied To the Red Sea Monasteries

“…Concerning spiritual tourists, they can be defined as persons who travel to different places, areas or regions for spiritual reasons, motivations, or experiences; they have been described as travelers, seekers, pilgrims, devotees and adventurers (Haq, 2011;Børø, 2015). They seek for: Visiting spiritual landscapes, un-crowded, and remote areas; Learning about different cultures, customs, beliefs and religions; Interacting with native people; Changing their daily routine; Participating in spiritual festivals, ceremonies and rituals; Making life simple; Achieving peace of mind and spiritual satisfaction; Solving problems; Understanding illness, misfortune and loss of dear persons; Recognizing their own humanity and spiritual needs (Smith et al, 2010;Norman, 2011;Norman, 2012;Palmer, 2014;Banerjee, 2015;Di Giovine & Choe, 2019;Güzel & Sariyildiz, 2019).…”