Pioneering phase extended by one year
Nice messages from Manja who manages our pilgrim office: ten to sometimes twenty new pilgrims register every week. We have now passed the 1,200 pilgrims and pilgrims appear to come from further and further.
We are very happy with this success and at the same time realize that this does not mean that you have a new tradition of reflection. Something like that has to grow and takes time. We want to take that time: the board of the Walk of Wisdom decided in December to extend the pioneering phase by one year until the end of 2018.
Pioneering phase?
The Walk of Wisdom was opened on 21 June 2015 after a pioneering phase of six months and an exploration phase from the end of 2011. The foundation is a thesis for the course Ritual Design, which pioneer Damiaan wrote for the Faculty of Religious Studies at Radboud University.
The pioneering phase is intended to develop the identity and basic rituals of the Walk of Wisdom , after which it is gradually explained to other countries with the help of local partners. The pioneering phase was originally planned from the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2017 (link).
Why extended by one year?
The identity of the route seems to be getting stronger and stronger roots thanks to the symbol Pilgrim by Huub and Adelheid Kortekaas and the bird rings that pilgrims save on their pilgrim’s shoelaces. Switching off the phone and since a year also the departure ceremonies seem to be picked up by more and more pilgrims. The route camera is now working on a third round.
However, one of the intended main rituals is still underdeveloped: the pilgrim’s book of hours Seasons of Life. In this book we want to show something of the wisdom of pilgrims of the Walk of Wisdom and come together: every pilgrim who walks the route can send in a page for selection for the book.
The first edition was published in 2015 with contributions by well-known and unknown ‘symbolic forerunners’ about an important life experience. Contemporary artists made miniatures (small paintings) on universal themes.
The book is a variation on the medieval books of hours by the famous Nijmegen brothers of Limburg, but lets go of the Christian theme and connects to the modern sense-seeking spirituality.
May: pilgrim’s book of hours
2017 will therefore be an important year for the development of the Pilgrim’s Book of Hours. In May, we will present a unique edition with all the original artworks, together with the first page of the second edition: a selected entry by a pilgrim.
So the pioneering will continue for a while. To be continued!
More about Seasons of Life: link
Read the Ritual Design/Strategic Plan 2015-2017 here: link
