Session III Pilgrimage in Non-Christian Areas 9 April 2009

As noted earlier in the term, pilgrimage is widspread, and most, if not all, major religious traditions include pilgrimage among their rites and practices. There is far too much material to cover, or even to comprfehend, and as I am not well-versed in non-Christian traditions of pilgrimage, this session will look at only a few cases and traditions. We shall find there is a remarkable similarity of practices.

Outline

I. Some General Observations:A. A huge number of pilgrimages and pilgrimage-like activities even in one religion like Buddhism or Hinduism.

B. Varying importance by religion.

1. Central tenet of religion, ex. Islam and Hajj or Pilgrimage to Mecca.

2. Important, but not a central tenet, as in Buddhism.

3. Peripheral to the overall religion, Jainism and Judaism as examples.

4. Unknown importance in pre-Christian Americas and other areas where older religious traditions have vanished or been merged into newer religions.

C. Involves huge numbers of pilgrims, many millions annually.

D. Pilgrimage destinations.

1. Sites in nature, particularly important for some groups.

2. Key cultural places.

a. Mecca.

b. Varanasi (Benares).

II. Pre-Contact Pilgrimages in the Americas

A. Inca and pre-Inca to Lago Titicaca

1. Tiwanaku culture (about 1000 years from earliest dates to conquest by Inca).

B. Aztec and pre-Aztec in Central Mexico

C. Maya in Yucatan and Guatemala

1. Water and pilgrimages

2. Centers of scholarship (Copan)

3. Pilgrimage and trade -- Highland and lowland Maya contact.

III. East Asian pilgrimages with some Japanese examples.

A. Japanese tradtions Shinto, Buddhist, Combined.

B. Some major pilgrimage destinations and circuits (there are many others)

1. Fuji

2. Toikado

3. Kyoto

4. Shikoku

B. Buddhist

IV. Islam

A. Pilgrimage as Central tenet of religion, required of all believers able to make the trek.

1. 5 Pillars of Islam.

2. Pilgrimage goals.

a. Spiritual

b. Solidarity with other Muslims

B. The pilgrimages of Islam

1. Secondary, to Jerusalem, site of M's ascension.

2. Shia.

3. Minor prophets and saints (not Wahabi!).

C. The Hajj

1. Season for pilgrimage.

2. Preparation and attire.

3. Route.

V. Some Concluding Observations

A. Pilgrims are identified by costumes!

B. Most pilgrimages have a season or specific dates.

C. A huge amount of subsidary activity is attached to pilgrimage.

1. Commercial Enterprise.

2. Government.

A Website on Japanese Pilgrimge and a Book on Islam:

A first rate site with lots of information on pilgrimages, and many other subjects relating to religion in Japan is:

Japanese Pilgrimage:

Hammoudi, Abdellah. 2006. A season in Mecca : narrative of a pilgrimage. New York: Hill and Wang. 293 p. ISBN 0809076098.

Now resident in the US and a professor at Princeton, Moroccan scholar Abdellah Hammoudi takes a pilgrimage to Mecca to observe the Hajj as an anthropologist and as an ordinary pilgrim, and to write about it for both Muslims and non-Muslims. Here is his intimate, intense, and detailed account. The book is available at GMU Libraries and at the Fairfax County Public Library.