Compare The Traditional Pilgrimages Of The Hindu Pilgrimages?

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The topic I am going to discuss is pilgrimages and more specifically I am going to compare the traditional pilgrimages of the Hindu traditions with modern pilgrimages in America. My research question is that pilgrimages are present in many cultures and have been for thousands of years, are these places then intrinsically sacred or do we give them meaning? To answer this I will analyze the traditional Hindu pilgrimage in Hardwar and various untraditional pilgrimage sites in America including natural wonders and tourist attractions. I will be using sources specifically about American pilgrimages and Hindu pilgrimages as well as some sources about spiritual places and the geographies of pilgrimages in general. I will first give a general overview …show more content…

Contemporary pilgrimage incorporates a whole range of culturally or nationalistic motivated journeys and despite a general decline in religious practice in the Western world, pilgrimage has witnessed a revival in recent decades. American pilgrimages are more unique because we don’t have as much history, so I will focus more of my paper on these. I will use the source Sacred Places: American Tourist Attractions to discuss how different tourist attractions in America are sacred and have cultural value. Many of these attractions are natural wonders which is similar to how Hardwar’s religious identity is inextricably tied to the river Ganges. Many of my sources discuss how America has a wide range of religions as well as many people who don’t identify with any particular religion but who still consider themselves spiritual. There are numerous different types of pilgrimages in America that religious and nonreligious people frequent. An example of these types of pilgrimage from the book “Choosing Our Religion” is a labyrinth which was popularized in the United States in the 1990s. People will go on journeys from one labyrinth to the next all over the country to practice walking meditation and spirituality. The labyrinths are typically modeled on medieval designs that were meant to provide a localized experience of pilgrimage to the Holy

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