Pilgrimage

Anthropologists have shown interest in studies of pilgrimage, which started with Van Gennep’s (1908 (1960)) Rites de Passage and was taken forward by Victor Turner (1969) who dealt with rituals and pilgrimage as a path of transition. As postulated by Turner, an individual in society undergoes three stages of social transition. First is the stage of Separation where the individual is removed from their everyday activities with her/his community, second is Liminality where the individual is placed in a ritualistic and sacred environment and third, Reintegration where the individual is placed back to their routine life. The second stage of Liminality also holds a position of Communitas which is shared with others going through the same process at that point of time. Turner used this same outline to discuss pilgrimage. In pilgrimage too, he deduced that people move from a systematised, normal regime and enters into a liminal and sanctified environment of a pilgrimage centre. Anthropologists studying tourism, have been able to find likeness in the description of Turner’s pilgrimage with many tourism experiences. Anthropologists have linked it to Turner’s idea of Communitas where people in such situations experience, “spontaneity, personal wholeness, and social togetherness” (Nash and Smith 1991). An example of this is the involvement people feel during the popular festival, Fiesta de San Fermín, which is held in Pampola, Spain or while visiting the Walt Disney World.

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