Olivia Strittmatter - Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture

 Blog Post 6 - Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture

This post is going to be about Chapter One of Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture. In this chapter the authors write about pilgrimage as a liminoid phenomenon.

First of all, in class we discussed what being in a liminal phase means. That you’re in-between phases in life, and there is no status that separates you from others because pilgrimage is separate for everyday society. Being in a liminal phase means that you’re in a transitional phase in your life.

In Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture they talk about how past cultures had rituals where people passed into the liminal, separating them from their current lives. When they exited the liminal they had to figure out their new life afterwards. They then also talk about how the liminal is not just set to ritual and transitional rites, but rather that it can be applied to all forms of cultural and personal change.

They talk about the “inversion of societal rules” which I think means that the liminal lacks the structure that society gives to everyday life. This is partially what sets a pilgrimage apart from everyday life, because a pilgrimage is a liminal phase because of the change in how one lives because of the change in rules. 

Victor and Edith Turner compare Christian pilgrimages to other religious groups, such as the Romans, but were unable to find the mass significance of rituals involving pilgrimage or the liminality of it as they were with other, more tribal, societies. They think this is because tribal societies understood the value of liminal phases and that they are major events and turning points in people's lives. 

Overall, liminal stages are extremely important in people's lives, and pilgrimage offers a unique way to access the liminal phase. The three main phases of transitional states (separation, limin, aggregation) are used to detach people from their original lives, give them a place/way to transition, and a way to reconnect with society after their transition.