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In 1929 Alardo Prats y Beltrán published one of the most fascinating reports of Spanish journalism prior to the Second Republic: Tres días con los endemoniados: la España desconocida y tenebrosa. Prats confronted the massive pilgrimages to the sanctuary of the Virgin of La Balma, in the Alt Maestrat region, visited by legions of Valencian, Aragonese, and Catalan " endemoniados " or possessed peasant farmers seeking exorcism. Already an accomplished journalist and in the midst of the Spanish Civil War, Prats visited Aragonese lands to witness the frontline and the collectivizations taking place at the rear. By analyzing his 1929 report and his 1937 Vanguardia y retaguardia de Aragón , I illuminate the insufficiencies of the republican liberal discourse in understanding key aspects of the peasant ethos, and the failure to recognize the effects of land dispossession. In 1929 Alardo Prats y Beltrán published one of the most fascinating reports of Spanish journalism prior to the Second Republic: Tres días con los endemoniados. La España desconocida y tenebrosa. Prats confronted the massive pilgrimages to the sanctuary of the Virgin of La Balma, in the Alt Maestrat region, visited by legions of Valencian, Aragonese, and Catalan "endemoniados" or possessed peasant farmers seeking exorcism. Already as an accomplished journalist and in the midst of the Spanish War, Prats visited Aragonese lands to witness the frontline and the collectivizations taking place at the rear. By analyzing his 1929 report and his 1937 Vanguardia y retaguardia de Aragón, I illuminate the insufficiencies of the republican, liberal discourse in understanding key aspects of the peasant ethos, and the failure to recognize the effects of land dispossession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Pilgrimage tourism, among the earliest forms of tourism with a tradition spanning centuries, stands as a steadfast global attraction. This article delves into the significance, diversity, and historical roots of this tourism type, recognizing the contemporary surge in interest in pilgrimage sites. Offering an overview of globally prominent pilgrimage destinations and highlighting key locations in Slovakia, the article emphasizes the country’s considerable potential for the utilization and development of these sacred sites, despite its compact size. It stresses the need to foster this historically significant tourism sector and the necessity for attention and support from the government sector to maximize its potential. The relevance of pilgrimage became particularly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, with observable visitor participation despite challenging conditions at various pilgrimage sites. The article examines the pilgrimage’s evolution before, during, and after the pandemic, using Levoča and Šaštín in Slovakia as illustrative cases. One of the main objectives of this study was to clarify the development of pilgrimage tourism in Slovakia over the past decades and the factors influencing it. The attendance analysis unmistakably reveals a significant upward trend at these specific locations, emphasizing the need to establish collaborative efforts to support this sector. Such collaboration is crucial for ensuring the sustainability of historically significant sites, fostering local development, and increasing the visibility of less-visited pilgrimage destinations.

Pilgrimage tourism, among the earliest forms of tourism with a tradition spanning centuries, stands as a steadfast global attraction. This article delves into the significance, diversity, and historical roots of this tourism type, recognizing the contemporary surge in interest in pilgrimage sites. Offering an overview of globally prominent pilgrimage destinations and highlighting key locations in Slovakia, the article emphasizes the country's considerable potential for the utilization and development of these sacred sites, despite its compact size. It stresses the need to foster this historically significant tourism sector and the necessity for attention and support from the government sector to maximize its potential. The relevance of pilgrimage became particularly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, with observable visitor participation despite challenging conditions at various pilgrimage sites. The article examines the pilgrimage's evolution before, during, and after the pandemic, using Levoča and Šaštín in Slovakia as illustrative cases. One of the main objectives of this study was to clarify the development of pilgrimage tourism in Slovakia over the past decades and the factors influencing it. The attendance analysis unmistakably reveals a significant upward trend at these specific locations, emphasizing the need to establish collaborative efforts to support this sector. Such collaboration is crucial for ensuring the sustainability of historically significant sites, fostering local development, and increasing the visibility of less-visited pilgrimage destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates pilgrims' justifications for visiting Iran's Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (A.S) and the positive role of such pilgrimages in their religious coping experiences and healing practices. The research confirms that pilgrims strongly associate shrines in Iran with religious coping benefits and spiritual, mental, physical, and ritual healing. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and purposive sampling. Behavioural strategies, religious beliefs, and spiritual concepts are considered. The findings reveal that faith and spirituality play a vital role in how individuals perceive and cope with mental and physical health issues when visiting shrines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a survey conducted among people walking the pilgrimage route to the shrine of St James in Santiago de Compostela. The aim of the research was to investigate how a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago among a married couple or family affects marital or familial relationships, whether walking the trail to Compostela together influences the behaviour of family members towards each other and whether it forms positive attitudes and behaviour. The empirical basis of the study is the results of a survey among respondents who made the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, as well as in-depth interviews conducted with 24 spouses of pilgrims along the Way of St James. The study revealed that doing the pilgrimage as a married couple or family had a positive impact on intra-family relationships. According to the interviewees, going on the pilgrimage together helped to strengthen marital bonds and trust, improve communication and mutual connection, show care and affection and improve contact with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the main traits of reception of Latin (Roman Catholic) Christendom in Kievan Rus’, drawing from the notion of its confessional ≫otherness≪ in relation to the Eastern Orthodox norm. The mentioned reception is studied according to the East Slavic narrative sources written at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth centuries, i.e., directly after the ≫Great Schism≪ (1054) between Constantinople and Rome. The author of this article accentuates the complexity of the Rus’ attitude towards Latin Christians on various levels: 1) upholding the official Orthodoxy, following the Byzantine doctrinal themes as adopted in Church Slavic polemical literature, while, simultaneously, 2) respecting practical considerations of dynastic ties between the East Slavic political elite and ruling families of the neighbouring Latin world, 3) and venerating particular Latin saints. In this respect, special consideration is given to the travel diary on the Holy Land titled Life and Pilgrimage of Daniel, the Hegumen of the Land of Rus’, serving as a prime example of encountering confessional differences. Daniel’s Pilgrimage is placed within the political and cultural context after the First Crusade during the Frankish rule over Palestine; it brings some valuable testimonies about the ≫Latin-Greek≪ relations in the Kingdom of Jerusalem as perceived by an educated ecclesiastical traveller, himself originating from an Eastern Orthodox environment. Daniel’s thematization of his confessional ≫other≪ in the Holy Land reveals a similar ambiguity in the case of Rus’ itself: on a declarative level, the polemical writings of the Kievan metropolitans testify about a negative position on the ≫Latin heresies≪; on the other hand, common veneration of particular saints, such as Olaf of Norway or Magnus of Orkney, and decisions of the East Slavic princes confirm the permanence of intercultural contacts and pragmatic willingness to cooperate with the neighbouring Catholic polities (Sweden, Poland, Hungary) in forming dynastic marriages and military alliances.

In the midst of the Corona virus pandemic, pilgrims cannot perform their pilgrimage. Places with multiple temples remain without pilgrims. Three different temples, such as the Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga Temple, Bhadra Maruti Mandir and Kachner Chintamani Parashwanath Jain Temple, have been studied empirically. Data on tourism and pilgrimages were also collected. During the first six months of the pandemic, religious tourism and temple pilgrimages fell by 85.95 percent. Temples in the Aurangabad area were closed for a few months around the time of the pandemic. The pandemic is affecting pilgrimage, so the number of pilgrims has decreased over the past ten years. There were other changes in the motives for expeditions to selected temples. Temple guardians and pilgrimage organizers ensure the safety of the pilgrims and the temple itself. The temples of Aurangabad have encouraged pilgrims through online prayer services, spiritual pilgrimages and virtual pilgrimages to strengthen their ties with temples, which shows how pilgrimages and religious tourism have developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents selected aspects of Marian pilgrimages in the context of lived Catholicism in Poland. Lived Catholic Mariology is a concept introduced in this paper and discussed in terms of the intimate as well as communal relationships people establish with Mary through and in various rituals (e.g., pilgrimages), sites (e.g., shrines) and objects (e.g., images). Links between materializing Mary through images; affective, sensual and corporeal religious experiences; and community bonding are presented. They are discussed by drawing on approaches that refer to material religion, religion as mediation, concepts of sensational forms, and aesthetic formations. When examining the centrality of Marian images in Polish pilgrimage practices, this paper focuses on earlier developments, especially (1) those connected with the growth of Marian shrines during the Counter Reformation period and (2) the role played by traditional and innovative Marian pilgrimages during the Communist period in Poland (1945–1989). The final part of the paper refers to the recent changes connected with political polarization of Polish society, the process of radicalization through right-wing discourses that embrace Marian imagery and pilgrimages, the decline of Roman Catholicism and Catholic practices among Poles, and emerging alternative currents relating to Mary and pilgrimages in religious and secular contexts. Referring to various historical and current examples, this paper proposes seeing pilgrimages through the lived religion approach with a focus on materiality and mediatory dimension of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with miracles at Marian pilgrimage sites. On the basis of printed pilgrimage books from selected sites — Svatá Hora near Příbram, Stará Boleslav, Hájek near Prague and Tuřany — it shows what types of events were described as miraculous and how people talked about them. It also touches on the role of votive offerings and material objects in miraculous stories.

The religious sector is another sector of tourism, and so this study aimed at establishing whether the pilgrimage destinations would be perceived as a socio-economic enhancer or contributor for the country. African religious pilgrimages can play an integral part of pilgrimage destinations of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The African religious pilgrimages can contribute to tourism development and subsequently to the general local socio-economic development of KZN as there are various significant pilgrimages. The emergence of African religious pilgrimages can create opportunities for people and stakeholders in the tourism sector to understand that it can contribute to tourism development and subsequently to the general local economic development of KZN which has several important pilgrimages. The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of African religious pilgrimages as a local economic development tool. The paper uses both the theory and document analysis to look at this phenomenon. Moreover, the paper uses Local economic development (LED) and Tourism value chains (TVCs) theories in guiding the lensing and framing of the questions and objective for this paper. The study adopted a mixed method research design; and applied a convenience sampling method of a non-probability sampling technique for primary data collection. IBM's SPSS version 27 software and content analysis were used for data analysis. The findings showed that while African religious pilgrimages have the potential to make socio-economy contributions, it is not yet perceived in that manner by local stakeholders (including municipalities) and religious leaders. The findings further suggest that the African religious pilgrimages can be used as a tool for local economic development. The study recommends that stakeholders to enhance the socio-economic potential of religious pilgrimages such that they promote them as tourism and/or socio-economic development stimuli within the study areas and elsewhere in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents selected aspects of Marian pilgrimages in the context of lived Catholicism in Poland. Lived Catholic Mariology is a concept introduced in this paper and discussed in terms of the intimate as well as communal relationships people establish with Mary through and in various rituals (e.g., pilgrimages), sites (e.g., shrines) and objects (e.g., images). Links between materializing Mary through images; affective, sensual and corporeal religious experiences; and community bonding are presented. They are discussed by drawing on approaches that refer to material religion, religion as mediation, concepts of sensational forms, and aesthetic formations. When examining the centrality of Marian images in Polish pilgrimage practices, this paper focuses on earlier developments, especially (1) those connected with the growth of Marian shrines during the Counter Reformation period and (2) the role played by traditional and innovative Marian pilgrimages during the Communist period in Poland (1945–1989). The final part of the paper refers to the recent changes connected with political polarization of Polish society, the process of radicalization through right-wing discourses that embrace Marian imagery and pilgrimages, the decline of Roman Catholicism and Catholic practices among Poles, and emerging alternative currents relating to Mary and pilgrimages in religious and secular contexts. Referring to various historical and current examples, this paper proposes seeing pilgrimages through the lived religion approach with a focus on materiality and mediatory dimension of religion.

To present how the evangelical caravans to the Holy Land are connected to the concepts of philo-Semitism and Christian Zionism, this study analyzes the trans-ecclesiastic evangelical movement called Cell Vision in the Model of the 12 and the meanings attached to their trips to Israel. It is socio-anthropological research with a qualitative and ethnographical approach. As were its achieved, it was possible to verify that the trips to Zion are part of the politico-religious ideology linked to Christian Zionism, which echoes in the use of apparatuses, language, musicography, and other elements of the Jewish universe, representing a philo-Semitism of Brazilian evangelicals linked to this movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Civilisations is the property of Institut de Sociologie - ULB and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present paper presents a guest register from the Putna Monastery Archive, which was written in the first decade of the 20th century. The paper analyzes the pilgrims’ places of origin – countries, regions, cities, villages, monasteries, their trade – professors, doctors, artists, architects, lawyers etc. The most important personalities have also been selected. This analysis presents quite an accurate picture of daily life at Putna Monastery at the beginning of the last century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Śląskie Studia Historyczno-Teologiczne is the property of Ksiegarnia Swietego Jacka and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Studia Mythologica Slavica is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Teología is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores the influence of digital technologies on the functioning of Catholic apparitional movements and the so-called miracular sensitivity, as well as specific forms of religious folklore related to it. I analyze the current methods of creating and disseminating various messages (texts, photos, films) related to Catholic apparition sites and pay particular attention to the phenomenon of miraculous pictures, examining the status that is assigned to them. I put forward two basic theses: (1) digital distribution of information about religious revelations is a factor that dynamizes Marian apparitional movements, but at the same time causes them to collide with various hostile reactions from skeptics, which consequently results in a more self-reflective and diverse stance; (2) digital technologies are changing the status and reception of miraculous pictures, which now are no longer only treated as hierophanies and material representations of a supernatural reality but are increasingly understood as symbolic signs of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of South African Journal of Cultural History is the property of South African Society for Cultural History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article analyzes Israel's early efforts to establish its Independence Day as a worldwide Jewish holiday and to 'export' it to the Jewish Diaspora during Israel's first decade. The first part will discuss the implementation of the holiday abroad and the blurring of boundaries between local Jewish institutions and the Israeli delegation; the second part will utilize the reports of the Israeli delegates to demonstrate the importance of Jewish celebrations abroad and the dilemmas encountered by diplomats there; and the third part will analyze the attempt to encourage Jewish tourism during the holiday as a form of pilgrimage. My main argument is that this case study demonstrates a multi-dimensional relationship between Israel and the Diaspora/Exile, rather than one based solely on negation. Moreover, by positioning the Diaspora Jews as part of the collective, the Israeli narrative has been charged with a new meaning that constituted Israel's raison d'etre., INTRODUCTION THE 22ND MEETING OF THE KNESSET, WHICH TOOK PLACE ON PASS-over Eve 1949, was meant to be brief. (1) At the end of a lethargic agenda, members were called [...]

We began just after daybreak. One by one, the brigades filed out of the parking lot, each singing a different hymn. Turning away from the water, the lengthening line of [...]

This study deals with miracles at Marian pilgrimage sites. On the basis of printed pilgrimage books from selected sites — Svatá Hora near Příbram, Stará Boleslav, Hájek near Prague and Tuřany — it shows what types of events were described as miraculous and how people talked about them. It also touches on the role of votive offerings and material objects in miraculous stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies in Law on Religion / Studia z Prawa Wyznaniowego is the property of John Paul II Catholic University of Lubin / Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawla II and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple aspects of physical and social health, including spiritual and religious dimensions, has been discussed not only by numerous theologians, scientists, and politicians, but also by millions of believers of all faiths worldwide. The pandemic seems to have exerted a significant impact on religious practices. Massive gatherings of devoted and faithful people have been strongly discouraged and even openly banned. Prominent religious festivals and pilgrimages that have been conflated by the media with other "mega-spreader events" are incessantly canceled to mitigate the pandemic and alleviate the burden of COVID-19 on the healthcare system. The impact of the pandemic on Catholic or Muslim religious tourism has been extensively described in peer-reviewed and gray literature. However, observant members of the Orthodox Christianity faith have also experienced the constrictive prohibitions for gathering at and worshiping in shrines, churches, and monasteries. Among the manifestations of devotion that the pandemic has interfered with are the attendance to public worship spaces for the celebration of rites and ceremonies, like the celebration of Orthodox Easter. Expressions of reverent devotion including the kissing of crosses and icons as well as the sacrament of Holy Communion may have also been considered a motive of concern as these holy objects and the spoon used might act as fomites in the dissemination of the virus. Visitation of holy places has been also hampered by the pandemic. The most important centers of pilgrimage for Orthodox Christianity are Mount Athos and Jerusalem, as well as the Shrine of Panagia Evangelistria in the Island of Tinos, Greece. Authorities have halted almost completely the arrival of visitors to these sites. This paper aims at elaborating on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on social manifestations of religiosity and therefore taking a toll on the spiritual health of believers who have deeply rooted religious convictions and are strongly attached to Church tradition. This analysis closes with the provision of specific suggestions for the care, support, and healing of the impacted or splintered spiritual health of the believers who cannot participate in expressions of devotion, such as pilgrimages and religious tourism because of personal and public health concern, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Galician Journal of Economics / Revista Galega de Economía is the property of Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Servicio de Publicaciones and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study presents changes in religious tourism in Poland at the beginning of the 21st century. These include the development of a network of pilgrimage centers, the renaissance of medieval pilgrim routes, the unflagging popularity of pilgrimages on foot as well as new forms using bicycles, canoes, skis, scooters, rollerblades and trailskates; along with riding, Nordic walking, running and so on. Related to pilgrimages, there is a growing interest in so-called ‘holidays’ in monasteries, hermitages and retreat homes, as well as a steady increase in weekend religious tourism. Religious tourists and pilgrims are attracted to shrines by mysteries, church fairs and religious festivals, in addition to regular religious services and ceremonies.

Résumé: Cet article tente de montrer, à travers l'examen d'un corpus varié de sources, notamment de textes de consultations juridiques et de témoignages de la littérature bio-hagiographique, la variété des positions développées par les juristes du Maghreb médiéval, concernant la visite pieuse ou ziyāra. La croyance dans l'intercession des saints dans leurs tombes, lieux sacralisés et porteurs de baraka , pour lesquels on peut prendre monture, est largement partagée au Maghreb médiéval et focalise aussi bien le commun des fidèles que les ulémas les plus rassis. L'interdit de l'invocation par la médiation du saint, attribué à Mālik, est loin d'être suivi. D'éminents juristes, connus pour traquer les « innovations blâmables » (bidaʿ), reconnaissent la licéité de la ziyāra voire du pèlerinage aux tombeaux des saints et la médiation de ces morts illustres et de leur sépulture, nonobstant certains rituels objet de réprobation. L'article permet de tester la grande capacité d'adaptation de la norme aux réalités sociales et au vécu religieux des hommes, et nous renvoie de cette même norme l'image, non pas d'un corps figé de doctrines intangibles, mais d'une variété d'attitudes, de positions et de « regards savants ». Il montre, une fois de plus, l'impasse à laquelle nous conduisent les approches durcissant par trop l'opposition entre orthodoxie ou encore orthopraxie -qui serait l'apanage d'un islam donné comme savant-, et hétérodoxie que l'on a souvent assimilée à l'islam populaire, alors même que leurs limites sont poreuses, mouvantes et en constante redéfinition. This article attempts to show, through the examination of a varied corpus of sources, notably texts of legal consultations and testimonies from bio-hagiographic literature, the variety of positions developed by medieval Maghreb jurists, concerning the pious visit or ziyāra. The belief in the intercession of the saints in their tombs, sacred places and bearers of baraka , for which one can saddle up his horse, is widely shared in the medieval Maghreb and focuses the attention of both the ordinary faithful and the stern ʿulamāʾ. The prohibition of invocation through the mediation of the saint, attributed to Mālik, is far from being followed by everyone. Eminent jurists, known for tracking down 'blameworthy innovations' (bidaʿ), recognize the lawfulness of ziyāra and even pilgrimage to the tombs of saints and the mediation of these illustrious dead. This article aims to demonstrate the great capacity of adaptation of the legal norm to social realities and to religious experiences; the norm appears not as a fixed body of intangible doctrines, but as a variety of attitudes and scholarly positions. It shows, once again, the deadlock to which approaches that harden the opposition between orthodoxy or orthopraxy – which would be the prerogative of an Islam given as learned – and heterodoxy, which has often been assimilated to popular Islam, lead us, even though their frontiers are porous, moving and in constant redefinition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study analyzes the role of three apparitions of Archangel Michael during the 5th-10th centuries AD, a large period of time known as the Dark Ages. This line of revelations gradually led to a widespread cult dedicated to the Prince of angels in Western Europe after 500 AD. Thus, St. Michael's cult set in motion a great number of pilgrims from one famous michaelic church to another. This fact gradually led in time to the ethnogenesis of some European nations but also to a flourishing culture created within the Medieval West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]