Developing a pilgrimage route?

How do you develop a new pilgrimage tradition? A question that no one will have an immediate answer to. I am inspired by the thoughts of Ronald L Grimes, a well-known Canadian-American professor who is a leader in the field of Ritual Studies. For more detailed information, see my bachelor’s thesis Ritual Studies Dutch summary or the English original.

Rituals are dynamic

According to Grimes, rituals are not as static as many people think. All rituals have come into existence at some point and each ritual changes its meaning and form over time. In fact, every ritual is reinvented with each performance: its meaning depends on the circumstances, the performers and those present, the space, the events around it, etc.

When you want to design a new ritual, you have to be aware of that changeability. You have to design the ritual in such a way that people are also aware of that dynamism and freshness. You have to give people the power and freedom to give that ritual their own meaning so that it really touches them and they don’t sit there for bacon and beans.

That’s all well and good, but how do you develop a pilgrimage route?

Let it grow

Grimes’ advice is to let the route grow. Don’t think about what the new pilgrimage route should look like from behind the desk, but let that route be created in collaboration with people and organizations that share the same values. For example, a route that is first a ‘normal’ walking route can slowly grow into a route with more expressiveness: because people add that expressiveness to the route.

For example

When an artist places a work on the route with a statement or symbol of the core values of the route, the pilgrimage route has already been created. People can walk past that work and indicate their own meaning (or not). If there are more works of art that are linked to the themes of the new pilgrimage route, an inner dialogue will automatically arise in a person about the values that are central to the pilgrimage. And so the route is already growing a lot further.

Stops

If, in addition to works of art, we also set up small chapels or quiet places where people can light a candle or leave a note, you also give the walkers the opportunity to express something themselves that is related to the values and purpose of the new pilgrimage route. Because other people see these expressions, every candle, every note or every stone that is deliberately placed somewhere adds something to the meaning and expressiveness of the new route.

The longer the route exists and the more people want to walk the route, the greater the expressiveness becomes.

Meeting places and pilgrim hostels

The route grows a little further if we succeed in realizing stopping places and pilgrim hostels in the towns or villages along the route. Here, after a long day of walking or cycling, pilgrims can eat and spend the night. And: meet each other! Whether it’s a meal together or under the tree with a guitar – there, the inner dialogue with the themes and values of the pilgrimage route becomes a dialogue with others. And that’s how the pilgrimage route really comes to fruition.

What is small and growing…

We start small: with a pioneer route of 136 kilometers. When that pioneering route has come to fruition and has enough power of meaning – then we will allow the route to grow further. From the Nijmegen region to the Netherlands and Germany. Belgium. Europe…..

The Walk of Wisdom is just a seed. But it germinates.