Kelly Hayes, Pilgrimage

On of the things we have discusses in this classes repeatedly is pilgrimage and how it relates to liminality. A liminal state describes some sort of threshold where the participant is not changed, but not the same either. Reasons for this may include some sort of alteration in social standing or rite of passage. Liminiality is a dissociation that can lead to a new perspective on life. Pilgrimage is a liminal action because the liminar comes out a changed person. The process of being a pilgrim places you in a liminal state and can cause communitas between the people who are also in liminality. You are stripped of social status and authority and held together by power. A new perspective waits on the other side of the liminality, an inward change of idea and a progression in social standing. An example is the Camino de Santiago. This is a rite of passage for many young people as a necessary spiritual journey.