n.
- A journey to a sacred place or shrine.
- A long journey or search, especially one of exalted purpose or moral significance.
To go on a pilgrimage.
Dictionary:
pil·grim·age (pĭl'grə-mĭj)
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| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: pilgrimage |
For more information on pilgrimage, visit Britannica.com.
| Thesaurus: pilgrimage |
| Antonyms: pilgrimage |
| Encyclopedia of Judaism: Pilgrimage |
The Bible specified that all (adult) males were required to make the pilgrimage three times a year and stated further that "they shall not appear before the Lord empty. Every man shall give as he is able" (Deut. 16:16-17). This was understood by the sages to refer to the ḥagigah sacrifice (pilgrimage offering) that was an obligatory part of the visit to Jerusalem. The Second Tithe, which could only be eaten in Jerusalem (or, alternately, could be sold and the proceeds used in Jerusalem to buy food to be consumed there), enabled those coming to the pilgrimage festivals to have adequate food supplies during their stay in the city.
An indication of how many people heeded the call in Second Temple times can be seen in the account by Josephus (War VI, 9) of the Passover celebration in the year 66 CE, when, according to his account, no fewer than 256,500 lambs were sacrificed--- and each lamb was consumed by a number of people.
The pilgrimage itself required much advance preparation, both for those coming to Jerusalem and for the inhabitants of the city. Jewish law requires that in Erets Israel the phrase "give dew and rain" be recited in the Amidah from the seventh day of Ḥeshvan, 15 days after the prayer for Rain is recited on Shemini Atseret, at the end of Sukkot, out of consideration for those who came from far-off places, lest the rains begin right away and these pilgrims be forced to travel on muddy roads. This shows that some had to travel for as much as 15 days each way in order to take part in the pilgrimage. In fact, various sources indicate that Jews may have come from even farther, for there are references to people arriving in Jerusalem from as far away as Rome.
After the Temple was destroyed, pilgrimages to Erets Israel continued, but their character was entirely different. Now they were sorrowful voyages, made in order to weep at the destruction. Thus, the term "the Wailing Wall" was given by non-Jews to the Western Wall when they saw how the Jews who came there wept. Proper conduct during such visits to the Holy Places was stipulated in Jewish law. One who saw either Jerusalem in its destruction or the site of the Temple which had been razed had to rend his clothes, as must a person in Mourning.
Throughout the centuries, Jews made their way to Erets Israel. In the 17th century, the rabbis of the mystical school in Safed "identified" many graves in Galilee as those of ancient sages and in the wake of this, Jewish pilgrims the world over came to prostrate themselves on these graves, praying there and lighting candles. Visiting the Holy Land often involved great difficulties and dangers. The reception of the pilgrims inside the country itself varied in different eras. Frequently the Jews were required to pay large sums of money to approach various sites. Various, often arbitrary, restrictions also applied. Even as late as 1948, Jews wishing to visit the Cave of
In Israel today, there are various pilgrimages to different holy sites. Thus, on Lag Ba-Omer as many as 100,000 people visit the tomb of R. Simeon Bar Yoḥai in Meron; on 14 Iyyar (Pesaḥ Sheni) the tomb of R. Meir Ba'Al Na-Nes in Tiberias is visited. In recent years the grave of Israel Abu-Ḥatsira ("Baba Sali") in Netivot has become the site of a pilgrimage by Jews of North African origin on the anniversary of his death (3 Shevat).
In modern times, many Jews come from all over the world to spend pilgrim festivals in Jerusalem and with Israeli Jews to visit the Western Wall.
| English Folklore: pilgrimage |
Medieval England had many pilgrimage centres, including those of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury, the Virgin Mary at Walsingham (Norfolk), the Holy Rood at Bromholm (Norfolk), the Holy Blood at Hailes Abbey (Gloucestershire), and Glastonbury. People went on pilgrimage as a penance for sin, or to fulfil a vow, or seeking a cure for sickness. The usual procedure was to spend several days praying near the saint's tomb or the altar where the holy relic was kept, and if possible to touch it; at Canterbury, pilgrims drank water which allegedly contained a trace of Becket's blood. Flasks of water and pouches of dust scraped from the shrine were taken home for future use.
It was normal to make offerings at shrines. A common custom was to bend a silver coin when vowing to make a pilgrimage, and give it on arrival. Another was to measure the height of a sick person (or the length of an injured limb) with thread, and then use this as the wick of a candle to be burned at the shrine. Those who had experienced a miraculous recovery or escape might leave miniature wax, silver, or gilded images of bodies, heads, limbs, eyes, teeth, hearts, animals, boats, anchors, or carts, each representing an injury healed or an accident averted. Votive offerings hung in hundreds round the shrines; periodically wax ones would be melted down into candles and silver ones into coins, but plenty always remained.
Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.
| Buddhism Dictionary: pilgrimage |
Undertaking religious pilgrimage is a seen as a meritorious practice since it focuses the mind on places associated with the Buddha, saintly people, or holy objects. Those undertaking a pilgrimage are believed to accumulate good karma as a result. Pilgrimages are undertaken for many reasons, including to gain merit (puṇya), to ask for a boon, or as the result of a vow. The Buddha himself provides authority for the practice of pilgrimage in the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta of the Pāli Canon where he recommends as suitable sites to visit the places of his birth, enlightenment (bodhi), first sermon, and death. He further instructs that his remains should be placed in a stūpa, and states that anyone who pays reverence to a stūpa with a devout heart will reap benefit and happiness for a long time. Sites containing relics of the Buddha, or places associated with his life, are therefore the most important centres of pilgrimage. Included among these are the Buddha's tooth relic at Kandy and his footprints at Mt. Siripāda (both in Sri Lanka). Places where a cutting from the Bodhi Tree is believed to flourish, as in Bodhgayā, are also revered. In China the ‘Five Peaks’ are popular pilgrimage centres, and in Japan the main centres of pilgrimage are Saikōku, where there are 33 temples dedicated to Kannon, and the island of Shikōku, where there are 88 temples associated with the life of Kūkai (774-835).
| Word Tutor: pilgrimage |
Commonsense and good nature will do a lot to make the pilgrimage of life not too difficult.
— William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
| Wikipedia: Pilgrimage |
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In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of many major religions participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.
Buddhism offers four sites of pilgrimage: the Buddha's birthplace at Lumbini, the site where he attained Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, where he first preached at Sarnath, and where he achieved Parinirvana at Kusinagara.
The Holy Land acts as a focal point for the pilgrimages of the Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith.
In the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the visitation of certain ancient cult-centers was repressed in the 7th century BCE, when worship was restricted to the LORD at the temple in Jerusalem. In Syria, the shrine of Astarte at the headwater spring of the river Adonis survived until it was destroyed by order of Emperor Constantine[citation needed] in the 4th century.
In mainland Greece, a stream of individuals made their way to Delphi or the oracle of Zeus at Dodona, and once every four years, at the period of the Olympic games, the temple of Zeus at Olympia formed the goal of swarms of pilgrims from every part of the Hellenic world. When Alexander the Great reached Egypt, he put his whole vast enterprise on hold, while he made his way with a small band deep into the Libyan desert, to consult the oracle of Ammun. During the imperium of his Ptolemaic heirs, the shrine of Isis at Philae received many votive inscriptions from Greeks on behalf of their kindred far away at home.
Although a pilgrimage is normally viewed in the context of religion, the personality cults cultivated by communist leaders ironically gave birth to pilgrimages of their own. Prior to the demise of the USSR in 1991, a visit to Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow can be said to have had all the characteristics exhibiting a pilgrimage—for Communists. This type of pilgrimage to a personality cult is still evident today on people who pay visits of homage to Mao Zedong, Kim Il Sung, and Ho Chi Minh.
Many ancient religions had holy sites, temples and groves, where pilgrimages were made.
Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, decreed pilgrimage to two places in his book of laws, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas: the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad, Iraq, and the House of the Báb in Shiraz, Iran. He, later, prescribed specific rites for each of these pilgrimages in two other religious texts. Later, `Abdu'l-Bahá designated the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahji, Israel as a site of pilgrimage, for which there are no rites.[1]
Since Bahá'ís do not have access to the original two places designated as sites for pilgrimage, Bahá'í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Acre, and Bahjí at the Bahá'í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá'ís can apply to join an organized nine-day pilgrimage where they are taken to visit the various holy sites, or attend a shorter three-day pilgrimage.[1]
Gautama Buddha spoke of the four sites most worthy of pilgrimage for his followers to visit:[2]
Other pilgrimage places in India and Nepal connected to the life of Gautama Buddha are: Savatthi, Pataliputta, Nalanda, Gaya, Vesali, Sankasia, Kapilavastu, Kosambi, Rajagaha, Varanasi.
Other famous places for Buddhist pilgrimage in various countries include:
Christian pilgrimage was first made to sites connected with the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land date from the 4th century, when pilgrimage was encouraged by church fathers like Saint Jerome. Pilgrimages also began to be made to Rome and other sites associated with the Apostles, Saints and Christian martyrs, as well as to places where there have been apparitions of the Virgin Mary.
Hindus are required to undertake pilgrimages during their lifetime. Most Hindus who can afford to go on such journeys travel to numerous sites, some of them described in the following list.
The last four sites in the list together comprise the Chardham, or four holy pilgrimage destinations. It is believed that travelling to these places leads to moksha, the release from samsara (cycle of rebirths). The holy places of pilgrimage for the Shaktism sect of Hinduism are the Shakti peethas (Temples of Shakti).
The pilgrimage to Mecca – the Hajj – is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. It should be attempted at least once in the lifetime of all able-bodied Muslims who can afford to do so. It is the most important of all Muslim Pilgrimages, and is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world.[3]
The third religiously sanctioned pilgrimage for Muslims is to the Al Quds mount in Jerusalem which hosts Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.
Another important place for Muslims are the city of Medina, the second holiest place in Islam, in Saudi Arabia, where Muhammad rests, in Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Mosque of the Prophet).
The Ihram is meant to show equality of all pilgrims in the eyes of God: that there is no difference between a prince and a pauper. Ihram is also symbolic for holy virtue and pardon from all past sins. A place designated for changing into Ihram is called a miqat.
While wearing the Ihram(white robes)in mecca, a pilgrim may not shave, clip their nails, wear perfume, swear or quarrel, hunt, kill any creature, uproot or damage plants, cover the head for men or the face and hands for women, marry, wear shoes over the ankles, perform any dishonest acts or carry weapons. if they do their pilgrimage is uncompleted.
See related article Three pilgrim festivals.
Within Judaism, the Temple in Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish religion, until its destruction in 70 CE, and all adult men who were able were required to visit and offer sacrifices known as the korbanot, particularly during Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot.
Following the destruction of the Second Temple and the onset of the diaspora, the centrality of pilgrimage to Jerusalem in Judaism was discontinued. In its place came prayers and rituals hoping for a return to Zion and the accompanying restoration of regular pilgrimages (see Jerusalem, Jews and Judaism).
Until recent centuries, pilgrimage has been a fairly difficult and arduous adventure. But now, Jews from many countries make periodic pilgrimages to the holy sites of their religion.
The western retaining wall of the original temple, known as the Wailing Wall, or Western Wall remains in the Old City of Jerusalem and this has been the most sacred site for religious Jews. Pilgrimage to this area was off-limits from 1948 to 1967, when East Jerusalem was controlled by Jordan.
Some Reform and Conservative Jews who no longer consider themselves exiles, still enjoy visiting Israel even if it is not an official "pilgrimage."
The Sikh religion does not place great importance on pilgrimage. Guru Nanak Dev was asked "Should I go and bathe at pilgrimage places?" and replied:
'God's name is the real pilgrimage place which consists of contemplation of the word of God, and the cultivation of inner knowledge.'
Eventually, however, Amritsar and Harmandir Saheb (the Golden Temple) became the centre of the Sikh faith, and if a Sikh goes on pilgrimage it is usually to this place.[4]
The Zoroastrians take pilgrimage trips in India to the 8 Atash Behrams in India and 1 in Yazd.
In modern usage, the terms pilgrim and pilgrimage have developed in sense to include sites of secular importance. For example, fans of Elvis Presley may choose to visit his home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee. Similarly one may refer to a cultural center such as Venice as a "tourist Mecca".
The Père Lachaise Cemetery, where the defenders of the Paris Commune made their last stand and many of them were afterwards summarily executed, is the focus of annual pilgrimages by parties and organizations of the French Left.
In a number of Communist countries, secular pilgrimages were established as an "antidote" to religious pilgrimages, the most famous of which are:
The mausoleum of Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini in Predappio, Italy serves as a pilgrmage site for Italian Neo-Fascists. In post-WWII Germany, considerable efforts were made to prevent Hitler's bunker in Berlin from becoming a similar place of pilgrimage for Neo Nazis.
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| Misspellings: pilgrimage |
Common misspelling(s) of pilgrimage
| Translations: Pilgrimage |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - pilgrimsrejse
v. intr. - valfarte
Nederlands (Dutch)
pelgrimstocht, bedevaart, levensreis, een bedevaart doen
Français (French)
n. - (Relig, fig) pèlerinage
v. intr. - faire un pèlerinage
Deutsch (German)
n. - Pilgerfahrt, Wallfahrt
v. - eine Pilgerfahrt unternehmen
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ταξίδι για) προσκύνημα
v. - πηγαίνω προσκυνητής
Italiano (Italian)
pellegrinaggio, andare in pellegrinaggio
Português (Portuguese)
n. - peregrinação (f), romaria (f)
v. - peregrinar, viajar, sofrer
Русский (Russian)
паломничество, паломничать
Español (Spanish)
n. - peregrinación
v. intr. - ir en peregrinación, peregrinar
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - vallfärd, pilgrimsfärd
v. - vallfärda
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
朝圣之旅, 朝拜, 朝圣
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 朝聖之旅
v. intr. - 朝拜, 朝聖
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 순례 여행, 긴 여행, 인생 행로, 정신적 편력
v. intr. - 순례의 길을 떠나다
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 巡礼の旅, 行脚
v. - 巡礼に出る
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) الحج : الذهاب لمكه, رحله, سفرة (فعل) يحج, يسافر
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - עלייה לרגל, נסיעה למקום מוכר, החיים כמסע
v. intr. - עלה לרגל או נסע למקום מוכר
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| pilgrimage sites of Europe | |
| pilgrimage sites of Great Britain and Ireland | |
| pilgrimage sites of North America |
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