Daniel Blakely Image and Pilgrimage 3

Turner discusses the origins of pilgrimages and how the origin speaks to the direction of the pilgrimage. I found this to be extremely interesting because I had not thought that far into the idea of a pilgrimage, as most of the famous ones are found outside of the United States. In class we have discussed the Camino de Santiago, which in my mind was created during a time when the end of the trail was in Finisterre, which was thought to be the edge of the world. While the shift in mindsets is obvious (we know the world goes a little bit further than that), it is still interesting that the Camino has continued to this day. Every year people continue to take the pilgrimage, including classes from our University, and yet it was established when the world was thought to end at one certain location. The power within such a tradition is evident, but I myself have trouble believing that people still walk it for the purification involved with a pilgrimage. In the modern setting it seems to me that the Camino is much more about pride and honor, than the pilgrimage itself. For that reason I feel that Turner’s thoughts on the establishment of a pilgrimage being able to last, is plain incorrect. The modern culture and technology has taken away the excitement and certainly the reward of such a trip as the Camino de Santiago.