I really have to thank “Our Girl” for enlightening me with interesting topics. Before the other day I had never heard of “The way of St James”…I considered myself well traveled and a bit of a history buff, but I had never even heard of it…and people have been doing the el Camino de Santiago for over a thousand years. I started looking further into the strange topic of pilgrimage. In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim. Apparently, St. James Way is one of three pilgrimages on which all sins could be forgiven; the others are the Via Francigena to Rome and the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Hmmmm, all Sins? Not all pilgrimages were peaceful, during the middle Ages, the crusades to the holy land are also considered to be mass armed pilgrimages.
Pilgrimages are not limited to Christianity; it seems all major religions have their own special journeys. 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. I always wonder if a corn-fed white boy from Illinois would be welcome at the Hajj…Nah.
According to the Wiki, The second caliph, Umar, is believed by many Sunni Muslims to have expelled non-Muslims from the Hejaz (Western part of Arabia). Non-Muslims were not to visit nor to live in the holy land. There is much evidence against this claim, at least so far as it relates to the early centuries of the Islamic empire, but it is well documented that by the 18th and 19th centuries, there were small colonies of merchants in various port and trading cities as well as communities of Yemeni Jews. The prohibition was not so much imposed by the authorities as enforced by rioting crowds and was most strictly enforced with regard to the Hejaz, and the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
America has numerous tourist destinations, many of which can be considered mandatory secular pilgrimages. Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Boston Marathon, High School field trips to the Smithsonian Museums of Washington DC. But the one destination that stuck out in my mind as The American Pilgrimage…was Graceland. Graceland is the name of the large white-columned estate that once belonged to Elvis Presley, located at 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Graceland receives approximately 600,000 pilgrims a year, and CKX, Inc the company that recently bought the estate has big plans on turning Graceland into a huge tourist destination on par with Disney World.
I think my personal pilgrimage would be to see Yakoff Smirnoff (Яков Смирноф) play in Branson, MO
Pilgrimages are not limited to Christianity; it seems all major religions have their own special journeys. 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. I always wonder if a corn-fed white boy from Illinois would be welcome at the Hajj…Nah.
According to the Wiki, The second caliph, Umar, is believed by many Sunni Muslims to have expelled non-Muslims from the Hejaz (Western part of Arabia). Non-Muslims were not to visit nor to live in the holy land. There is much evidence against this claim, at least so far as it relates to the early centuries of the Islamic empire, but it is well documented that by the 18th and 19th centuries, there were small colonies of merchants in various port and trading cities as well as communities of Yemeni Jews. The prohibition was not so much imposed by the authorities as enforced by rioting crowds and was most strictly enforced with regard to the Hejaz, and the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
America has numerous tourist destinations, many of which can be considered mandatory secular pilgrimages. Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Boston Marathon, High School field trips to the Smithsonian Museums of Washington DC. But the one destination that stuck out in my mind as The American Pilgrimage…was Graceland. Graceland is the name of the large white-columned estate that once belonged to Elvis Presley, located at 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Graceland receives approximately 600,000 pilgrims a year, and CKX, Inc the company that recently bought the estate has big plans on turning Graceland into a huge tourist destination on par with Disney World.
I think my personal pilgrimage would be to see Yakoff Smirnoff (Яков Смирноф) play in Branson, MO
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