Triggered to Thinking

Liz Bucar’s book titled Stealing My Religion: Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation presents three case studies of religious appropriation. Bucar examines how different aspects of religious traditions and customs are appropriated by others and the ramifications of these actions. The three examples given are the hijab, pilgrimage, and yoga. This post examines the concepts and ideas relevant to the religious pilgrimage of Santiago.

In Chapter Two, titled “Playing Pilgrim,” Bucar describes the experience of taking her students on part of the 500-mile pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, where, according to legend, the remains of the Apostle James lie (Bucar, 2022, p. 84). She describes pilgrimage as “a dual experience of moving toward a sacred space and through an unfamiliar land.” Religious pilgrimage is often described as a liminal experience when you cross the threshold from one state of existence to another (Bucar, 2022, p. 88).

Kristine Culp analyzed Victor Turner and Edith Turner, the creators of liminality theories, and their ideas related to pilgrimage. Some aspects of the pilgrimage experience as related to liminality were discussed by Victor and Edith Turner in their 1978 book Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture. This book places pilgrimage as an anti-type to obligatory structure. Generally, individuals choose to go on pilgrimage. Victor and Edith Turner described several liminal phase attributes of pilgrimage in passage rites: release from mundane structure; homogenization of status; simplicity of dress and behavior; communitas, both on the journey, and as a characteristic of the goal (Turner & Turner, 1978, as cited in Culp, 2019, p. 33).

The experience on the Camino can be a liminal experience due to lessons learned from experiencing a religious pilgrimage. Some of Bucar’s students were non-religious, and she notes how this pilgrimage site attracts non-religious pilgrims due to the assumption that there is something to be learned from this pilgrimage (Bucar, 2022, p. 96). Bucar covers examples of non-religious students who wanted the religious experience even if they did not want the religion (Bucar, 2022, p. 103). This can relate to “religious nones” or those who call themselves spiritual but not religious.

I can relate as a member in recovery in Narcotics Anonymous. Working the 12 steps could be an example. When newcomers to Narcotics Anonymous start working the 12 steps, they are in a theoretical liminal state. They are in between just getting clean and working the steps to achieve a result, even if the result is not a new physical location. The member works the 12 steps to obtain freedom from active addiction, and this can involve being in an in-between state. This could also include pilgrimages to special events like conventions where speakers and events related to Narcotics Anonymous are held. The tenets of a pilgrimage, similar to the Camino, can be present in 12-step fellowship events.

Bucar’s discussion of pilgrimage also included a component that involved self-reflection. She mentioned asking students to be technology-free for a period of time, journaling, and asking some students to walk in silence (Bucar, 2022, p. 108). She wrote, “While I don’t want students to think the only purpose of walking the Camino is intercultural competency, I also don’t want them to consider religious ritual something merely to be instrumentalized for personal growth” (Bucar, 2022, p. 108). Here we see that anyone, even those of no Christian faith, can participate in a religious ritual and use it as a reflection tool even if that was not the entire purpose of the pilgrimage. This reflection can relate to what experience walking can be. Agnes Horvath and Arpad Szakolczai examined many aspects of walking in their work titled Walking into the Void: A Historical Sociology and Political Anthropology of Walking. They note, “Walking is also fundamental and foundational because of the kind of experiences it provides us with – the kind of experiences it is. In contrast to the technological-alchemic, ‘scientific’ vision of the world, which artificially and violently splits and separates so that it can re-unite in plastic syntheses, walking establishes, through a rhythm, a harmonious unity between seeming opposites” (Szakolczai & Horvath, 2018, p. 16). When analyzing the experience that walking can be, the potential significance of this pilgrimage becomes manifest.

Snežana Brumec, Miran Lavrič, and Andrej Naterer examined the qualitative reasoning for pilgrims to the Camino de Santiago. Their research was based on 32 travelogue testimonies and sorted their research into different categories and reasons for pilgrims. The researchers found, “2) Secular-spiritual motivated pilgrims. Approximately 28% of our sample are above-average secular-spiritual and below-average religiously motivated prospective pilgrims who want to get to know another country and its people better. For them, an active new experience is an opportunity to withdraw from everyday life and reflect peacefully in solitude. They want to remember past events and people and think about the future. The urge to go on a pilgrimage was felt by 41% of above-average secularly and spiritually motivated prospective pilgrims” (Brumec et al., 2023). The study had its limitations but the authors concluded based on their research “Secular motivation is by far the most common motivation; moreover, highly motivated pilgrims represent the largest group. Intermediate types of pilgrims, such as secular-spiritual, are more prevalent than exclusive categories such as ‘purely spiritual.’ The drive for exploration emerged as a common element across all types of pilgrims who were mainly or partially secular motivated” (Brumec et al., 2023). Qualitative research can give many reasons and information for why people do the things they do. This study, despite its limitations, gave good insight into the reasons for pilgrimage to this site and it could be a basis for future analysis.

In a previous post titled “Football Devotion as a Form of Religion?,” I discussed whether devotion to football could potentially be seen as a type of religion or civil religion.Football fans have their sacred rituals and traditions which means it could be seen as a form of what scholars of civil religion describe. Rebecca Alpert in her work on religion and sports notes, “Elements such as the special language, the fallible hero who makes good, the ritual celebrations, the connection to a historic tradition, the meticulous keeping of records, the loyalty of fans across generations, and the sense of a cosmic connection to something outside oneself—all are markers of religious experience as it is commonly understood” (Alpert, 2015, pp. 2-3). I have been a Jaguars fan for many years, and it hasn’t always been easy due to their tendency to be a losing team. It’s very rare for them to reach the playoffs. However, I have remained a devoted fan and I have traveled in a sort of religious pilgrimage to go to the Jaguars stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. This could be seen as a similar religious pilgrimage as the Camino de Santiago. The “ritual celebrations” could be playing the song “Bro Hymn Tribute” by Pennywise when the Jaguars score a touchdown and chanting “Duval.”

Liz Bucar’s book is an interesting read and it should be read by anyone interested in sociology and the anthropology of religion. It gives a fascinating example of how special a religious pilgrimage can be even for those not religious. Bucar provided the example of the British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton completing the hajj and studying Arabic and Islamic rituals as well as creating a fake Islamic identity so that he could complete the pilgrimage (Bucar, 2022, pp. 83-85). One doesn’t have to be Muslim to find the concept of the hajj to be a fascinating concept. I am not Sikh but I have found the idea of making a pilgrimage to the Golden Temple to be an interesting future idea. Pilgrimages whether religious or not can be a good tool for self-reflection, spiritual growth and learning.

Works Cited

Alpert, R. T. (2015). Religion and sports: An introduction and case studies. Columbia University Press.

Brumec, S., Lavrič, M., & Naterer, A. (2023). Examining motivations to walk the Camino de Santiago: A typology of pilgrims. Pastoral Psychology, 72(4), 479–500. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-023-01071-1

Bucar, L. (2022). Stealing my religion: Not just any cultural appropriation. Harvard University Press.

Carson, T. (Ed.). (2019). Neither here nor there: The many voices of liminality. The Lutterworth Press.

Culp, K. (2019). Pilgrims, thresholds, and the Camino. In T. Carson (Ed.), Neither here nor there: The many voices of liminality. The Lutterworth Press.

Szakolczai, A., & Horvath, A. (2018). Walking into the void: A historical sociology and political anthropology of walking. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315445922

Turner, V., & Turner, E. L. B. (1978). Image and pilgrimage in Christian culture: Anthropological perspectives. Columbia University Press.