I
N THE FOOTSTEPS
OF PILGRIMS
HISTORIC TRAVELS OF FAITH
Until modern times, travel was only
undertaken for commerce, war, or as a
religious pilgrimage—a journey of the
soul. Even the great explorers journeyed
to search for valuable commodities to sell
such as gold, spices, or sources for human
labor. Rarely known was the idea that one
would travel as a form of pure recreation,
as in a vacation.
Leaving one’s home leaves many
overlapping impressions on commerce,
culture, and politics. The wars of the
Christian Crusaders are just such an
example. Was their intention to “liberate”
the Christian holy lands, to gain a foothold
in the commercial crossroads, to gain
access to scientific knowledge, or to exert
political dominance? Whatever the intent,
the consequences reflect each of these.
Underwritten by
The challenges of modern conflict carry
the same complexities. This exhibit will
examine relationships from the standpoint
of pilgrims—whether Buddhist, Christian,
Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim—and the travels
undertaken centuries ago and still today.
In so doing, the exhibit will also look at
spirituality—an intensely personal matter.
Nonetheless, we all tend to share some
common responses to certain experiences
and situations that affect us at a gut level.
What moves one, may not affect others;
yet we all share a need to be moved. Or, as
in the case of pilgrimage, a need exists to
move oneself. Some seek these experiences
far from home. Others caution that the
obligations of home should move us first.
Local businessman Ahmet Ihmen states,
“In the Muslim Hajj, you may not travel
until the needs of your neighbors are
supplied. And in the world of the Global
Village, aren’t we all neighbors?”
Across our differing religious lines,
denominations, sects, and spins on
orthodoxy, we share a need to walk across
some holy land. It might be the woods
of Western North Carolina or the islands
of western Japan. Our journeys forever
alter commerce, culture, politics, and faith.
But as local restaurateur, Farouk Bader,
points out, “The greatest pilgrimage of
all is that of the human spirit that we all
walk together.” May this journey teach
us understanding in that which drives us
apart and that which binds us.
Presented by
Z. Smith Reynolds
FOUNDATION
and the Beattie Foundation
Center for
Diversity Education
Asheville, NC
Christianity
Dr. Tom Sanders, pictured far left, began walking the El Camino de
Santiago alone, be he didn't stay by himself for long. “To do the Camino is
sort of like a rite of passage in Spain. You’ve always got folks in front of and
behind you.” Dr. Sanders fell in with a mixed group of pilgrims comprised
of Spanish, Dutch, and French people. Although they walked at different
paces, each evening they met up at a hostel, where they enjoyed each other’s
company. He cites the fellowship of other pilgrims as one of the aspects of
the journey that most impressed him, yet he commented, “I like being alone.
That’s part of the purpose.”
The walking can be
exhausting. Although pilgrims
don’t carry much—a sleeping
bag and a few clothes—days
tend to stretch out. A fifteen-mile
day isn’t unusual. Fortunately,
most of the hostels have many
amenities, including washing
machines. The path is generally
well-marked—yellow arrows in
Spain, red and white horizontal
stripes in France—but pilgrims
do occasionally take wrong turns. “There are lots of other walking trails,” Sanders pointed out. Along the
way, Sanders enjoyed the charm of the country and “the historic Catholic culture.”
At each hostel, pilgrims can have a booklet stamped, marking a
record of their journey.
David DeFerie from an Italian family, moved to
Asheville after having grown up in New Jersey in a
majority Catholic culture. In the Catholic tradition, a
“holy year” is called for every 25 years. The last one was
in 2000—the Jubilee Year. Catholics from all over the
world traveled to the Vatican City on Pilgrimage. That
year David and his wife Suzanne were in Rome for their
marriage at the Cathedral of Suzanne, the home church
for Americans. Although David and Suzanne were on
a honeymoon rather than a pilgrimage, they witnessed
many pilgrims in prayer. The view from their hotel room
included St. Peter’s Basilica.
While with an audience
to see the Pope in St. Peter's
Square, David looked out
at the more than 10,000
people in attendance. “It was
amazing to look out at this
sea of people and see so many
different countries, races,
and heritages all there as one
people. Pilgrims and tourists
had come from all over the
world.”
Christians from around the world who make a pilgrimage to Rome
stop, at least, at four of the major pilgrim churches—the Basilica of St.
Peter, St. John the Lateran (the home church of the Bishop of Rome), St.
Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Wall. Each of these churches plays
a major role in the history of Catholicism and sit alongside roads that
trace the development of commerce and trade. “I took this one picture of
Suzanne [center in bridal gown] with a group of Pilgrims from Germany.
We also saw other pilgrims from Africa who were walking on their knees
towards the pilgrims sites. Many of the Pilgrims also brought (the Pope)
gifts—beautiful oil paintings and other magnificent items.”
Judaism
Pictured on the right is a view of the Old City of Jerusalem
with the courtyard of the Kotel in the foreground. “There
are several places that stand out in my memory. Definitely
the Kotel, the wall still standing from King Solomon. This is
the direction that all Jews face in prayer. We all went there
and left our prayers, both spoken and in the traditional
way of writing on slips of paper, and placed them into the
crevices.”
- Alison Gilreath
The holiday of Sukkot brings the pilgrims to the
Kotel with their Lulavs and Etrogs, biblical fruit
and branches, to sing the songs of the harvest
festival. The word pilgrim in Hebrew translates
“to go up with food,” describing the pilgrims’
offerings when the Temple stood.
Alison Gilreath, bottom row fourth from left with hat, is the Director of the Jewish Council on Aging at the
Jewish Community Center in Asheville. In April 2001, she traveled with twenty members of her congregation,
Beth HaTephila, to Israel and shared these memories.
“Near the Kotel is an excavation the Israelis have done in the last
few years that uncovered the steps that the pilgrims would have
walked up during the days when the Temple stood (before it was
destroyed by the Romans 2,000 years ago). It is the site where
the Dome of the Rock now stands. We sat on those steps and
Rabbi Ratner led us in the song Shir ha Mahalot (Song of Praise
to the Above). We sing it all the time in Temple, but I did not
know it was the song of the pilgrims when they would come with
the offerings at Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. It was a very
connecting experience to have returned to continue that melody.”
- Alison Gilreath
“In Jerusalem, there is a law that requires everything to be
built out of the same kind of stone. They call it Jerusalem
stone. This stone seems different in every kind of light.
Some folks describe it as having nerves—as if it could feel
things. They also say it has the ability to emanate light from
within. For me, the stone itself seems sacred.”
Jerusalem stone is the only stone that can
feel pain. It has a network of nerves.
From time to time Jerusalem crowds into
mass protests like the tower of Babel.
But with huge clubs God-the-Police beats her
down: houses are razed, walls flattened,
and afterward the city disperses, muttering
prayers of complaint and sporadic screams from churches
and synagogues and loud-moaning mosques.
Each to his own place.
- Yehuda Amichai, from Jerusalem, 1967
Dr. Rick Chess, standing with his family, traveled to
Israel twice—once for a three year period from
1976-1979 where he lived in Safed for a year and in
Jerusalem for two years and again with his family for
a two month sabbatical from UNCA in 1997.
“There is a picture of Gabe, age four, standing in front
of the Kotel. You can see the scraps of paper stuck in the
cracks between the stones of the wall. Prayers are written
on those scraps. Gabe saw the people go up to the stones
and kiss them as they prayed. Just as we were getting ready
to leave Jerusalem to return to America, we were in the
German colony (a neighborhood) where he saw a wall also
made from Jerusalem stone, and Gabe walked right up to it
and kissed it! Jerusalem stone: kissing it is like kissing the
face of your child, or parent, or partner.”
- Rick Chess
Dr. Chess’s family is pictured
on the left with the walled
city in the background.
“Jerusalem is such a chaotic,
crowded modern city. There
is a new city of Jerusalem,
and the walled Old
City. Coming from West
Jerusalem, you descend
to the Jaffa Gate and the
Citadel of David and this
ancient walled city. You see it
and it feels like a magnet—it
pulls you toward it.”
Hinduism
The ceremony central to a pilgrimage to Varanasi
is a bath in the Ganges. Along the banks of this
ancient river are 51 ghats (piers). These ghats
are steps leading to the waters edge. Each ghat is
named for central figure in the Hindu faith.
Mr. Patel explained how he performed the
pilgrim’s central act of bathing in the Ganges, “I
went into the water of the Ganges, fully clothed,
facing the sun. Three times I dipped my cupped
hands into the water and held them up to the sun
and then poured the water over my head. I also
chanted the mantra Om Namah Shivay. Om is
the fundamental sound of the Universe. Namah
is ‘bow or I pray’ and Shivay (or Brahman or
Vishnu) is the name for the central force in the
Universe”.
At night, pilgrims will come to the edge of the Ganges and
purchase a small cup of leaves from a special tree and then
fill it with ghee (clarified butter). They will take the cup to
the Ganges and light it in memory of a loved one who has
died.
"The spirit of that person’s soul is present in the flame,"
Mr. Patel explained. He also described that the bamboo
in the picture
is the limit to
which those
that are doing
the sacramental
bathing in the
Ganges may
walk before
they have gone
too deep. Its
placement
is a safety
precaution.
Shashikant (literally “Moonface”
in Sanskrit) Patel grew up in the
western part of India called Surat,
Gujarat. He came to Asheville
in the early 1980’s to begin a
hotel business. In 1997, he made
a pilgrimage to Varanasi, India
to the Ashram of his guru (the
dwelling of his spiritual leader)—a
farmhouse on the rural fringe of
the city. As is traditional, the stay
at the Ashram includes a place
to sleep and simple food for no
charge, and one can stay as long as
one likes. Varanasi is also known
as Benares, the City of Light or
Kashi, the Hindu holy place of
worship.
Many years ago, when one reached the age of 51, the job of raising a family and working was
finished. Mr. Patel explained, “They would repeat a mantra and walk to the Varanasi with only
God on their minds. It was time for them to leave behind the material world of acquisition and
obligation and concentrate on the connection of their soul to the world of the spirit.”
“Traditionally, this was accomplished by going to Varanasi. Varanasi is home to one of the twelve
Jyotirlingam, or Holy Places of worship, that according to Hindu tradition are not made by
humans but rather spring fully complete from the earth. The pilgrims would leave their homes
and all belongings and begin the walk to Kashi. If they were fortunate they would reach Kashi
and be able to say a prayer in the Ganges, the river that flows from heaven. If they were most
fortunate they would die there. Central to their actions was the belief that the body is just like
clothing for the soul; while the body deteriorates the soul never dies but is reborn many times in
the life cycle of birth and death called reincarnation. ”
Buddhism and Shinto
Dr. Peter Gentling is a graduate
of Carlton College in Northfield,
Minnesota. He has stayed in touch
with the alumni association which
offers out of the ordinary trips for
graduates. His wife, Jasmin, and he
(third and fourth from left) went
on a pilgrimage to the island of
Shikoku, Japan in the early 1990’s.
Seven people from the US and five
from Japan participated in this 14day walking pilgrimage.
“Sometimes the road would be through a
forest. Other times it was along side a busy
highway. There were shrines all along
the route. These shrines might be from
the Buddhist tradition or the Shinto—you
could tell by the entrance and how it was
fashioned. At the larger shrines, there would
be a priest overseeing everything.”
“There is a particular prayer that is said
at each place—the same one. Basically, it
translates as ‘here I am before you.’ First
you clap your hands and then say the sutra
in a staccato rhythm. As you leave, your
book is stamped and signed to verify that
you have been there.”
“It was interesting. Sometimes I
[Jasmin] felt like the folks from Japan
saw it as more of a trip than a pilgrimage.
I thought they didn’t have the same
spiritual intent as others did. We were
the only group walking the trail. Lots of
pilgrims would travel around the Island
by bus. When they arrived at a temple
they would say their sutra and then get
back the bus and head to the next shrine.
But after a few days on a walking trail
you do get to know folks—even if you
can’t speak the same language, and I
realized they were truly on a spiritual
pilgrimage as we were.
“I remember coming down the mountain
just as we were ending the pilgrimage.
The Japanese began a tune that we all
soon picked up. We came through the
forest path with nothing but this melody hanging in the misty air. I still get chill bumps thinking about it.”
“Some shrines and temples have
a particular purpose. One shrine
we went to had thousands of tiny
Buddhas clad with bibs. That
was the shrine for babies that
women had lost in childbirth or
miscarriage. It was very powerful
to see all these Buddhas wrapped
in little bibs.”
Islam
The Steps of the Hajj
 Ihram (purification): Before entering Mecca (or Makkah), men don a garment of two seamless pieces of
white cloth called ihram, which they wear for the duration of Hajj. Women wear modest and unobtrusive dress
of any color, and cover their heads. This special clothing is a symbol of devotionand purity for the journey.
 Tawaf at the Holy Mosque: Pilgrims walk seven times counterclockwise around the Ka’bah, the cubical
structure at the center of the Holy Mosque in Mecca. Afterward, along the eastern side of the Holy Mosque,
pilgrims perform sa'y, running seven times between the hills
of Safa and Marwah. This ritual commemorates a passage
in the Koran about the plight of Abraham's wife, Hajar, as
she desperately searched the area for water. The spring that
appeared for Hajar still flows today and is called ZamZam.



 Encampment at Mina: Pilgrims gather in the flat valley of
Mina, about five kilometers (3 miles) east of Mecca, meditating
and praying in preparation for the next day.



 Wuquf (standing) at ’Arafat: From noon prayers until
sundown, pilgrims stand or sit - some for minutes, some for
hours - and before God reflect on their lives and pray for mercy
and renewal.
 Muzdalifa: After sundown at ’Arafat, pilgrims turn back toward Mecca and stop for the night at
Muzdalifah. There, most pick up 49 stones that they will throw at the three pillars of Jamarat over the next
three days.
 Stoning at Jamarat and ’Id al-Adha: Pilgrims they throw seven pebbles at the first of three pillars which
have come to represent Satan. This symbolic repudiation of evil commemorates Abraham’s three rejections of
Satan when God asked him to sacrifice his son. Afterward, pilgrims further commemorate Abraham’s faith by
sacrificing a sheep, as God commanded Abraham to do. Thus this day is the first of the three-day ’Id al-Adha,
the “Feast of the Sacrifice", when meat is distrubuted to those in need.
’Id al-Adha and tawaf al-ifadhah: Pilgrims return to the Holy Mosque in Mecca at any time during these days,
again circle the Ka’bah seven times and perform sa’y again.
Text courtesy of Saudi Aramco World, May/June 2002
Asheville resident Zacharia Abuasba grew up in Saudi Arabia. He made Hajj
with his family in the early 1970’s when he was ten years old. Since then he has
twice returned for umrah, the lesser pilgrimage, most recently in 1992. His visits
to Mecca frame the period of that city’s greatest changes.
“Imagine squeezing three million people into Pack Square—from all walks of life,
different countries, different languages, different colors. That’s Hajj. And yet they
are all Muslims, identical as they will be on the Day of Judgment.”
In the 1970’s his family drove their station wagon from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
to Mecca, putting on their ihram in a small metal building. There weren’t many
hotels then in which pilgrims might stay, so the Abuasba family camped instead.
He remembers the experience vividly: “On the second or third day we were
visiting some family. I wandered off and got lost. I remember walking and seeing
one house in streets of emptiness. When I returned in 1992 I went back there. I
took a cab because I was worried about getting lost—this time because of all the
growth. Huge buildings had been built around Mecca. Tunnels were dug to move
people. Compared to my first hajj, it now seems like a tourist vacation—not to
belittle the experience. But it’s different now.”
Other Holy Sites in Israel
Haifa, a Mediterranean port city in northern Israel, is the world
center for the Bahai faith with its beautiful gardens and domed Temple
(pictured here). Established in the mid 1800's, the Baha'i faith is
practiced around the world and teaches the importance of unity and
peace in a global society.
“So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and
brought him by night to Anipatris…. When he had come to Caesarea and
delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him…
giving orders for him to be kept in Herod’s praetorium.”—Acts 23:35
Caesarea (Ceasar’s City), was designed as a model Roman city on the
shores of the Mediterranean, complete with aqueducts, sewers, and
an amphitheater larger than the Coliseum in Rome (pictured here). In
Christian scriptures, it was here that the Apostle Paul was imprisoned for
two months before being taken by ship to Italy.
“And then they brought him to the place of Golgotha, which is
translated, the place of the skull.”—Mark 15:22
For thousands of years, Christians have identified the site of the
crucifixion of Jesus with the Church of the Holy Sepluchre (pictured
here) within the ancient, walled city of Jerusalem, the City of Peace.
Israel is a nation with
numerous holy sites—for
Christians, Baha'is, Jews,
and Muslims—visited by
hundreds of thousands
of pilgrims each year.
The business of
welcoming visitors is
a central element in
the economy of this
region that is
sorely tested
during times
of strife.
“Glory to Allah who did take his servant for a journey by night
from the sacred mosque to the farthest mosque.”—Surah 17:1
In the Islamic tradition, the “farthest mosque” referred to in the
“Night Journey” of Mohammed was the site where the Dome of the
Rock now stands. It is also believed to be where Mohammed ascended
to heaven and is the third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
The Holy Land, as Israel is often referred to by Christians, holds
many sites of importance to pilgrims.
In addition to Jerusalem and the Kotel,
Jews on pilgrimage to Israel visit other sites
that have religious significance including
Safed, the northern village associated with the
mystical teachings of the Kabbalah. Pilgrims
will also make their way to Masada (pictured
here), the fortress on a hilltop by the Dead
Sea. It is believed to have been the last stand
for a group of Jews, who were surrounded by
the Romans in 66 CE.
“Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers,
Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into
the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, ‘…follow me and I
will make you fishers of men.’”—Matthew 4:18
The Sea of Galilee, pictured here, continues to be a major body of water
in Israel. It is fed by the Jordan River and is a much visited site for
pilgrims to the Holy Land. According to Christian tradition, it was during
a storm on the Sea of Galilee that Jesus calmed the waves and walked
on water. In more recent times, the rights to water are a central political
discussion for the peoples of the region.