By Nick Hainsworth
You may have been on a trip or a vacation before. Think about why you went to that specific place. Was it a beautiful destination to relax? A place with lots of outdoor recreation? Was there a cultural or historical or archaeological site you went to see? Did you go to visit friends or family?
For most of human history, people did not travel very far. Regular people generally lived out their lives in something like a 20-mile radius. Travelling too far meant the uncertainty of food or fresh water, relying solely on the generosity of those you came across. Usually, only the very wealthy had the privilege to travel, and even they did not travel the thousands of miles that we do today to go on trips. One exception to this general rule may have been religious pilgrimage. While the rich and the privileged were still more likely to make the trek, a religious pilgrimage has been a strong pull for humans throughout history.[1]
A pilgrimage is a unique confluence of religion, culture, and physical space. Space can become sacred because of what it is (like a mountain or a tree) or because of what people believe occurred there (like the site of Jesus’ resurrection or the enlightenment of the Buddha). Lake Titicaca, for example, is a lake that is sacred to the Indigenous peoples of the Andes mountains. As a large freshwater lake, it is sacred for what it represents: a source of life. It is also sacred for what Andean people believed happened there. Viracocha, the Andean creator god, is said to have emerged from this lake before creating humanity.[2] The difference between a sacred space and a pilgrimage site is the intense cultural importance that would draw a high number of people from far away to visit that space, usually at their own personal sacrifice.
The Hajj is a perfect example of a religious pilgrimage. It is a pilgrimage that all physically and financially able Muslims are obligated to take in their lifetime. The Hajj takes place in the holy city of Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad, in the middle of the Arabian desert. This pilgrimage is an example of commemorating sacred space because of what happened there. The most sacred space in Islam is the Ka’ba, a rectangular structure said to be built by Abraham with his son Ishmael. Part of the Hajj ritual includes the reenactment of Ishmael’s mother Hagar running back and forth across the desert looking for water until an angel miraculously causes a spring to appear. These actions imbue sacred meaning into the desert landscape and the freshwater source that sustains Mecca.[3]
Maybe the next vacation you take won’t be to a pilgrimage site, but take a minute to think about the space that you’re in. Think about the landscape or the structures people built there, and try to imagine why this place might be important to the people living there.
[1] See Travel in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson
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