Pilgrimage and pilgrimage: a place for religious tourism

Abstract

The perspectives which are exploit here come from a historically-situatedand limited case: a distinction, resulting from a pastoral (and politic) strategy,established in the first half of the twentieth century by catholic Church in Portu-gal between “romaria” e “peregrinação”. The former being a complex andatavistically-popular religious manifestation, oriented toward a sacralization of thehuman existence in its own profane dimension, whereas the latter is oriented towarda “sacramental” transfiguration of this existence, sublimated by means of theecclesiastic, official rites. Two ideal-typical models, which are open to gradations,relative weights and dominances, which can be made compatible with each otheras well as with several other models, and whose generalizing application in historymakes sense. For they both comprehend different ways of taking a “pilgrim”relationship with time, space, the body, the collective dimension. One must addthe presence of other dialetics, which are, to some extent, always reshaping. Thesedialetics are, eventually, even factors of transition between one model and theother: those of the relationship between religious dimension and political dimension,between devotional journey and tourist excursion.