A journey to a holy place is called a pilgrimage. A person who makes such a journey is a pilgrim. Pilgrimages have been a part of all of the world's major religions since ancient times. Many Christian pilgrims travel to Rome or Jerusalem, Muslims visit Mecca, and Hindus go to the banks of the Ganges River.
Purposes of pilgrimages
People go on pilgrimages for many different reasons. Some religions require or encourage their believers to make a pilgrimage as an expression of faith. People may also journey to a shrine because they want a favor from a saint or divine being. Many pilgrims ask for a cure for an illness. Some give thanks for a divine favor that has already been granted. Others hope to be forgiven for a wrong they have done. In some cases a religious leader may order a person to make a pilgrimage as an act of punishment.
Pilgrimage in different religions
Christianity
The first Christian pilgrimages were journeys to Palestine, or the Holy Land, where Jesus Christ lived. Christians made pilgrimages to Jerusalem as early as the 2nd century AD. During the Middle Ages Muslims controlled Palestine, which made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem difficult and often impossible. Christians started the Crusades in 1096 partly to free the Holy Land from Muslim control so that Christian pilgrims could again travel to Jerusalem.
Many sites outside of the Holy Land also attracted pilgrims during the Middle Ages. The main ones were Rome and Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Rome had the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul. Santiago de Compostela had a shrine that was said to hold the bones of Saint James, who was martyred (murdered because of his religion) in Jerusalem. Another well-known pilgrimage site from this time is the tomb of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury, England. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his famous work The Canterbury Tales about a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury.
A number of other places have attracted Christian pilgrims since the end of the Middle Ages. The cathedral in Turin, Italy, has a shroud (burial garment) that some people believe bears an image of the body of Jesus. Lourdes, France, has an underground spring that is believed to have miraculous healing powers. A young girl saw visions of the Virgin Mary at the site in 1858. Fátima, Portugal, became a pilgrimage center after three children had a vision of the Virgin Mary there in 1917.
Judaism
The Jews of ancient Israel had three festivals every year during which men were expected to go to Jerusalem. The first was Pesach, or Passover, a spring festival celebrating the freeing of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. The second was Shavuot, or the Feast of Weeks, originally a wheat harvest festival that took place seven weeks after Passover. The third was Succoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles, an autumn harvest festival. Judaism no longer requires these pilgrimages, but many Jews throughout the world still travel to Israel to see the holy sites.
Islam
Every Muslim who can manage the journey is required to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. This pilgrimage is called the hajj. In Mecca the pilgrim must walk seven times around the sacred shrine called the Kabah and touch or kiss the black stone built into one of its walls. Muslims believe that this stone was given to Adam when he was forced out of the Garden of Eden. The pilgrim must also visit other shrines and perform other ceremonies in and around Mecca.
Hinduism
India has many sacred places for Hindu pilgrims to visit. Hindus believe that certain places are holy because of a historical event, a connection with a legendary person, or the appearance of a god. Many Hindu places of pilgrimage lie along India's rivers, especially the Ganges. For pilgrims, bathing in a holy river symbolizes the washing away of sin. An annual bathing festival for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims takes place on the Ganges near Allahabad.
Buddhism
The pilgrimage centers of Buddhism are tied to the life of the Buddha. The most important pilgrimage site for Buddhists is Bodh Gaya, in northeastern India, where the Buddha experienced enlightenment. Most Buddhist countries now have their own shrines at which pilgrims gather.