Hajj has grappled with public health and safety risks such as crowd crushes and infectious diseases in the past. It’s now facing an emerging risk: climate extremes.
Sacred site of the Wixárika people in Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
Jmc.cantero/Wikimedia
A historian of astronomy writes about the role of astronomical events in Indigenous cultures − and also the exploitation of their sacred traditions in present times.
Thousands of Catholics travel by foot to Santuario de Chimayo, in northern New Mexico, during an annual Good Friday pilgrimage.
AP Photo/Morgan Lee
Hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the Santuario de Chimayó throughout the year, but the pilgrimage during the week before the celebration of Easter is the high point.
In the cult TV series ‘Supernatural,’ the car driven by the two protagonists is a star in its own right.
Natasha Mikles
Since 2019, fans of the TV series ‘Supernatural’ have flocked to Austin, where their encounters with 1967 Impalas customized to mimic the one used in the show arouse elation, astonishment and tears.
The Camino Finisterre takes people from Santiago de Compostela to a headland once known as the edge of the world.
M Ramírez/Alamy
Many Hindus, Buddhists and people who follow the shamanic religion of Bon undertake a pilgrimage each year to northern Nepal to look for Shaligrams, believed to be a manifestation of Lord Vishnu.
American Muslim women on pilgrimage at the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina in 2023.
Iqbal Akhtar
A religion scholar argues that the communal nature of Islamic pilgrimage helps worshippers go through a physically demanding schedule and creates camaraderie that continues beyond the pilgrimage.
Iranian pilgrims pose for a selfie during the hajj pilgrimage in 2022.
AP Photo/Amr Nabil
The Saudi government is using digital technology to help the hajj run smoothly and safely – the latest updates in a 200-year history of technology and the hajj.
Cesar Chavez salutes the crowd on the steps of the California State Capitol.
AP Photo
Frederick Dayour, SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies and Francis Kofi Essel, SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies
Globally, visiting religious destinations and sites for pilgrimage by religious faithful and tourists has gained recognition.
A baptism ceremony in the Mbashe river in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images
Waiting in line to see the Queen lying in state resonates with other contemporary, post-secular forms of pilgrimage.
A view of the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque during the hajj pilgrimage in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on July 6, 2022.
AP Photo/Amr Nabil
The start of the hajj is reigniting debates around its commercialization, but pilgrimages are also a time for seeking business opportunities, writes a scholar of Islam.
Christian clergymen carry a wooden relic believed to be from Jesus’ manger at the Notre Dame church in Jerusalem in 2019.
AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean
During pilgrimage walks, people often observe and appreciate simple things more keenly, feel the spiritual connection with their surroundings and gain new, enriching life perspectives.
Muslim women break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
Muslim Girl/ DigitalVision via Getty Images
Day 2 of our Understanding Islam series. There are five pillars – or basic tenets – of Islamic faith. Each of these pillars is an important part of being Muslim.
Muslim worshippers perform the evening Tarawih prayer during the fasting month of Ramadan around the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque complex in the holy city of Mecca, on April 13, 2021.
AFP via Getty Images
Entertainment, sports and tourism industries can learn valuable lessons from how Saudi Arabia managed the annual pilgrimage during a pandemic.
A condolence message and candles for the victims of a stampede during a Jewish ultra-Orthodox mass pilgrimage to Mount Meron, projected on a wall of Jerusalem’s Old City.
Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images
The Lag BaOmer pilgrimage, in which 45 people died recently, takes place each year to what is believed to be the gravesite of the second-century Talmudic sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
Sites of pilgrimages are few and far between in the U.S.
Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images
James Mills, State University of New York at Oneonta
The pandemic has curtailed religious tourism for many. As the US opens up, perhaps Americans can find solace and healing in the age-old tradition of pilgrimage.
Senior Research Fellow, Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at IUPUI and Journalist-fellow, Religion and Civic Culture Center, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences