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Religious Studies & Theology vocabulary · Worship and Ritual

Pilgrimage

Meaning in religious studies & theology, with examples

/ˈpɪlɡrɪmɪdʒ/nounCore term

In religious studies & theology, pilgrimage means: A journey to a holy place made for religious reasons, such as the Hajj to Mecca, the Kumbh Mela in India or the Camino to Santiago de Compostela.

In Turkish: hac, kutsal yolculuk, ziyaret

How it is used

You make or go on a pilgrimage, and a person who does so is a pilgrim. Pilgrimage studies is a growing research area that looks at travel, economy and identity. For Islam, academic texts usually say Hajj for the obligatory pilgrimage and umrah for the shorter, voluntary one.

Example sentences

  1. The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim who is able should make once in a lifetime.

  2. Medieval Christians went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Rome and the shrines of saints.

Common collocations

  • go on pilgrimage
  • make a pilgrimage
  • pilgrimage site
  • the annual pilgrimage
  • pilgrimage route
  • worshipThe acts of honour, prayer and devotion that believers direct towards God or the divine, either privately or together with others.
  • ritualA set of actions, words or gestures performed in a fixed, repeated way, often with symbolic or religious meaning, such as a prayer service, a wedding or a funeral.
  • IslamA monotheistic religion that began in seventh-century Arabia with the Prophet Muhammad; Muslims regard the Qur'an as God's word and follow practices such as the Five Pillars.
  • sacredSet apart and treated with special reverence because of a connection to God, the divine or religious tradition; often contrasted with the profane, or ordinary.

More terms: Worship and Ritual

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