Pilgrimage

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A pilgrimage (from "walls", to move in a certain direction, to "drive", to be on the way) or pilgrimage, also a church journey, is the journey of a pilgrimage on foot or with a means of transport, at the destination of which a pilgrimage site is visited. It can be undertaken to fulfill a religious commandment, penance or vow or in the hope of answering a prayer and is also referred to as pilgrimage, pilgrimage, prayer and in Islam as Hajj or Ziyāra.

In a pilgrimage is not the way, but the destination in the foreground, usually a sanctuary. In a procession, on the other hand, the process of stepping is the focus of attention as a “collective gesture of a cult community”, often as a stepping away or walking (cf. Pradakshina).

In earlier centuries, pilgrimage had an ascetic character, because long-distance travel was dangerous. This is usually no longer the case due to modern means of transport and tourist infrastructure. Therefore, the ritual actions gain importance at the goal. Religiously motivated travel in a broader sense is also referred to as religious tourism.

Prehistoric and early Europe
Probably there were already in prehistory supraregional cult centers, both mountains and other landscapes that attracted the attention of the people, as well as the monumental stone settings of the megalithic culture. In this sense, for example, the stone carvings in Valcamonica and on Mont Bégo are interpreted as evidence of prehistoric pilgrimages.
In the Iron Age, supraregional cult centers for different cultures are attested. In Ireland, the Hill of Uisneach was such a Celtic pilgrimage site where the annual feasts were celebrated together. The Germanic Thing sites were considered sacred places where sacrifices for the gods were offered, such as Uppsala in Sweden and Lejre in Denmark.

Old Orient
The tomb of Osiris in Abydos has been an important Egyptian pilgrimage site since the Middle Kingdom. From Hellenistic and Roman times it is attested that the Sarapis Shrine in Memphis and the Isis Shrine on the Nile island of Philae were the destination of numerous pilgrims who often sought an oracle there. Another oracle, that of Ammon, was in the Oasis of Siwa. The temples were visited by large crowds on the occasion of the annual feasts of the deities; Herodotus reports this from the Bastet Sanctuary in Bubastis.

Greek and Roman antiquity
There were also pilgrimages among the ancient Greeks and Romans, who for religious reasons had visited distant temples or holy cities (Greek: Hierapolis), for example the annual procession to the Mysteries of Eleusis on the Hiera Hodos. The most popular pilgrimage site in Asia Minor was Ephesus, where the “Fallen from Heaven” cult image of Artemis was at the center of veneration. This goddess was considered a helper in various emergencies, especially at birth. Also in the Greco-Roman