Pilgrimage is one of the most widespread religious practices on Earth. It is also one of the most physical. You can't do it in your head. You have to go.
The great journeys
| Pilgrimage | Tradition | Scale and shape |
|---|---|---|
| Hajj, Mecca | Islam | A duty once in a lifetime for every Muslim physically and financially able; about 1.7 million pilgrims in 2026 by official Saudi figures |
| Arbaeen, Karbala | Shia Islam | Mourning the death of Husayn, the Prophet's grandson, in 680 CE; recent estimates of 10–20 million pilgrims, many walking for days |
| Kumbh Mela, India | Hinduism | Bathing at sacred rivers, rotating among four sites; for the 2025 Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj, officials claimed more than 660 million visits over 45 days, a figure some observers called implausible |
| Camino de Santiago, Spain | Christianity | Walking to the shrine of St James; about 499,000 pilgrims received the Compostela certificate in 2024 |
| Shikoku 88 Temples, Japan | Buddhism | A loop of about 1,200 km honouring the monk Kūkai; 30–60 days on foot |
| Bodh Gaya, India | Buddhism | Where the Buddha is said to have reached enlightenment |
| Western Wall, Jerusalem | Judaism | The last remnant of the retaining walls around the ancient Temple Mount |
| Golden Temple, Amritsar | Sikhism | Its free community kitchen, the langar, feeds anyone who comes |
(Attendance at mass gatherings is notoriously hard to count. Treat every big number here as an estimate.)
Three stages of a journey
In 1909 the anthropologist Arnold van Gennep noticed that rites of passage everywhere share three phases: separation from ordinary life, a transition in which you are "betwixt and between," and return, as someone new. Pilgrimage fits the pattern almost perfectly.
- Separation. You leave home, often in special clothes, sometimes after confession, fasting or settling debts.
- Transition. On the road you are no longer quite who you were. Comfort is reduced, routines are gone, and strangers become companions.
- Return. You come home with a story, often a title (like Hajji for someone who has made the Hajj), and a changed relationship to your faith.
The anthropologists Victor and Edith Turner, who wrote Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture (1978), gave a name to the feeling many pilgrims report in that middle stage: communitas, an intense sense of equality and shared humanity among people who would normally be divided by class, nation or status.
The destination is holy, but much of the transformation happens on the way there.
Why it matters to the people who go
Ask pilgrims and you'll hear many reasons, often several at once:
- Obedience to a religious duty, as with the Hajj.
- Devotion: to be close to a saint, a teacher, or a place where the sacred broke into the world.
- Petition and healing: to pray for a sick child, a pregnancy, a recovery. Shrines such as Lourdes in France are famous for this.
- Penance and gratitude: to make up for wrongs, or to say thank you.
- Transition: many people walk the Camino after a death, a divorce, retirement or illness, with or without religious belief.
That last group points to something important: pilgrimage has spread beyond religion. People travel to war graves and memorials, to the homes of writers and musicians, to sites of tragedy such as Auschwitz, and describe the journey in almost religious terms. The impulse to go to a place, in person, in order to be changed seems to run deeper than any one creed.
The honest complications
Crowds can kill. Huge numbers in confined spaces can turn deadly. During the 2015 Hajj, a crush at Mina killed 769 people according to Saudi authorities; counts compiled by the Associated Press from other countries' reports put the toll at more than 2,400. A crush at the 2025 Kumbh Mela killed at least 30, with independent reports suggesting more. Organisers now invest heavily in crowd science, but the risk is real.
Access isn't equal. The Hajj is limited by national quotas and can be very expensive, so for many Muslims it is a lifetime's savings, or out of reach.
Tourism can crowd out pilgrimage. The Camino's popularity has brought both revival and complaints about crowding, commercialisation and rising prices in small villages along the route.
Sacred places can be contested. Some sites are holy to more than one tradition, which can make them centres of both devotion and conflict.
The takeaway
Pilgrimage, the journey to a holy place, appears in almost every tradition, from the Hajj and the Kumbh Mela to the Camino and the 88 temples of Shikoku. It follows the pattern of a rite of passage: leave, be transformed on the way, return changed. Pilgrims often feel communitas, a sense of equality with strangers, and many modern people make secular pilgrimages for the same reason. Crowds, cost and commercialism are real problems, but the human pull to go somewhere in order to become someone is very old and very strong.
Try this: choose a place within a day's walk that matters to you: a grave, a church, a tree you loved as a child, a memorial. Go on foot, without your phone in your hand, and notice how arriving feels different when the journey took effort.
Sources & Further Reading
Sources
- Hajj obligations and 2026 attendance (official Saudi figures, as reported in standard references); 2015 Mina crush toll (Saudi authorities: 769; Associated Press compilation: at least 2,411).
- Arbaeen attendance ranges (Iraqi state media and other estimates; not independently verified).
- 2025 Prayagraj Maha Kumbh: official claim of 660 million visits and press skepticism (e.g., The Economist); crowd crush of 29 January 2025.
- Camino de Santiago: Pilgrim's Office of Santiago figures (499,239 Compostelas in 2024).
- Shikoku pilgrimage: 88 temples, about 1,200 km, associated with Kūkai.
- Arnold van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (1909); Victor & Edith Turner, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture (1978).
Go deeper
- 📘 Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture — Victor & Edith Turner (the classic anthropology of pilgrimage)
- 📘 The Art of Pilgrimage — Phil Cousineau (a reflective guide for anyone, religious or not)
- 🌐 Pilgrim's Office of Santiago de Compostela (official statistics and guidance for the Camino)
- 🌐 Companion piece in this library: Ritual: Why Humans Can't Quit It