Pilgrimage and its Effect on Faith
- 1. Places of Pilgrimage and their Importance
- 2. What is Pilgrimage? A Pilgrimage is a place of symbolic and spiritual meaning.People don't have to be a christian to be a pilgrim as their are different places of pilgrimage devoted to different religions e.g Lourdes(Christianity),the River Ganges(Hinduism), Mecca(Islam).
- 4. Lourdes,France Almost 3 million pilgrims many of them sick or disabled visit Lourdes each year. Located in southwestern France, the town is primarily important for its religious history.At Lourdes in 1858 in a grotto beside the Gave de Pau, a young girl, Bernadette Soubirous, saw visions of the Virgin Mary. She also found a spring said to have healing powers. Today Roman Catholics from all over the world visit the shrine at Lourdes. It is mainly symbolic to christians. The Grotto
- 5. Mecca,Saudi Arabia The most holy city of Islam, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad. Devout Muslims throughout the world turn toward the Mecca and pray five times each day. Every Muslim hopes to make a hajj, or pilgrimage, to its shrine at least once. Because the city is sacred, non-Muslims are not permitted to enter its gates. Mecca is, however, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, containing people from various countries throughout the globe. The city is the capital of Makkah administrative district.People go there to get healed and to strengthen their faith.
- 6. The River Ganges,Hinduism In the city of Varanasi, India, Hindu pilgrims pray and bathe in the waters of the Ganges, considered to be the holiest of rivers.Even though the water has nearly one billion litres of untreated raw sewage. Where people bathe in it to strengthen their faith. Billions of people bathe in it for that reason and even with all the diseases they still go.This shows how much belief they have in their god.
- 7. Places of Pilgrimage and their Importance The importance of pilgrimage on religious believers is that it helps to strenthen their faith as they are at the very place of their god.It also helps moral beliefs because they are around people of the same faith and is there for the same reason.They can also honor their god in a different light.These reasons above would really affect a believers faith.