Journalist, television presenter and author of books specialized in religious topics (Angels, their visible and invisible history), the British Peter Stanford has just published Pilgrims (Editorial Crítica) in which he investigates the cultural meaning of these trips and why we are attending to a rise in pilgrimages in an increasingly secular world. Always in a good mood, Stanford speaks with La Vanguardia via Zoom and shares his experiences during his routes on all continents: the Camino de Santiago, the Via Francigena to Rome, the road to Jerusalem, the Orthodox churches of Lalibela or the Kumbh Mela in India.
Is the pilgrimage par excellence the Camino de Santiago?
The Camino de Santiago is a great gift from Spain and the whole world is trying to copy it, opening pilgrimage routes like it. The Pilgrim Route, on the other side of the north Wales coast, was recovered by people returning from the Camino de Santiago. Other pilgrims who arrived in Galicia also revived the route to Chimayó, in New Mexico, for example.
And the Compostela is its symbol...
It is very important to have a symbol, something that recognizes your pilgrimage. It is also part of the 'branding' of these roads. They are curious and powerful symbols. On the route of the 88 temples of Shikoku, in Japan, they also use yellow signs and the seashell symbol, as on the Camino de Santiago. In medieval times, pilgrims came to Santiago and took the seashells, and that was also the secret symbol of Catholicism to distinguish in England the houses that had clandestine chapels after the Anglican reform and the prohibition of Catholicism.
Which pilgrimage do you remember most?
The most exotic was that of Ethiopia. Arriving in Lalibela was simply wonderful and very different. Ethiopian Orthodox worshipers walk across the red, dusty plateau dressed in white. When you are watching them and thinking about the scene, they suddenly disappear into the abyss. When I was able to look out I saw the descent and the temples, as if they were eleven holes, churches built inside the rock, like a cave, sculpted inside a single block of rock.
Does destiny make the pilgrimage?
The journey is more important than the destination. You don't have to go far to get that feeling. I remember two experiences in the United Kingdom. One near Norfolk, at Walsingham, which was the largest Catholic shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary in all of Europe before the Anglican Reformation. In medieval times pilgrims would stop about a mile from the temple, take off their shoes and walk barefoot until they arrived. That's why they called it the sneaker chapel. And that is repeated now every August 15, during the feast of the Assumption. One year I signed up and ended up sharing a group with some elderly women who were praying the rosary, something I don't usually do.
And the second?
The other experience was on Lindisfarne Island, the sacred island, near the city of Newcastle, which has a cross accessible by walking only when the tide goes out. There I signed up for the relays of people who make the two-hour walk carrying a cross. Ten minutes I carried the cross. And I enjoyed that feeling. I consider myself a modern Catholic. That modern part of me was a little embarrassed to be with the rosary group or carrying the cross, but I realized that even though I don't like a lot of things about the Catholic church, I like being a part of it. And there's another thing, you know?
Which?
The risks of pilgrimage. Imagine that in medieval times you were caught by the rising tide. Now they have placed some elevated poles with rope ladders to climb if necessary, but they were not installed centuries ago. And there was always the risk of bandits. They could rob you on any pilgrimage, going to Santiago or Jerusalem. So doing those things I realized that I like danger, I like being a survivor.
Risk and some penitence?
On Christian pilgrimages there is some penance, punishing your body, eating little, sleeping in horrible beds, but not in other parts of the world. In Sri Lanka, for example, I was on a pilgrimage to see Buddha's teeth in the city of Kandy and I loved that party atmosphere, the music, the joy. In the Catholic tradition, pilgrimage served to erase your sins, you earned an indulgence and shortened the path to heaven. Sometimes I imagine the pilgrims going to the gates of heaven and taking out their certificates when Saint Peter receives them and saying: 'Look, I have already made merits, let me enter.'
In the book you mention the explorer Richard Burton, who posed as a Muslim so he could go to Mecca. He said that the faithful who completed that pilgrimage celebrated their milestone as if the sin counter had been reset to zero.
Yes, yes, they are human reactions, we are like that. I remember that as a child, when I prayed the Hail Mary that the priest had asked for in confession, I felt relieved, lighter. And he confessed to me without reason or guilt, just so as not to disappoint my mother.
Why do you include places like Machu Picchu in the book?
Because I was interested in exploring the phenomenon of pilgrimage in the modern era. Spain, England, France or Germany are quite secular countries now and before they were very religious. So the logical thing would be that people no longer wanted to go on pilgrimage, but there are still many pilgrims and I wanted to know their motivations. The Camino de Santiago is a good example. When the pilgrims finish it, they go to collect the certificate and the majority write that they did it for reasons other than religious ones. And then why do they do it? It seems to me that people are not very interested in institutional religion, but that does not mean that they do not have a sense of spirituality, of humanity, whatever you want to call it. So people go to places like Machu Picchu looking for references, spirituality, somewhere that does not resemble any of the usual traditional religions of Western European civilization.
Do you think there is a pilgrim soul outside of religious confession?
There are still old-fashioned pilgrims who do it because they believe in God. But, as I explain in the book, I have come to the conclusion that motivations can be summarized in the four 'Es': exploration, exercise, natural environment and escape. People are fascinated by history and hence the desire to explore. You also want to exercise, and what better than some long walks to test your body and take care of your lungs. And for that there is nothing better than a natural environment. And finally, the getaway. The world is becoming more difficult because we are connected and reachable from the moment we wake up and people really want to get away from all that and that is easier on a pilgrimage route, where there are fewer people.
What would a pilgrimage be then now?
When you go on a pilgrimage, you are following in the footsteps of people who took your same route centuries ago and that surely has an impact on you. Even the least religious person is moved when he thinks that people have walked the same path for 1,500 years. In 21st century society, the individual is very important, we are all important, we want to be taken into account, but in the big picture of history we realize that we are small, tiny grains of sand. When you are a pilgrim you realize how small we are. And also to connect with past generations, as if we belonged to a very long chain of people who have done the same thing for centuries. That's the kind of spiritual insight you can feel even if you started out with just the motivation of sightseeing. In the end, the pilgrims, all of them, there is something more. I call it the spiritual law or something like that. Do you follow me?
I'm not sure...
When you went to the Camino I don't know if you felt it, because surely your feeling was not exactly what you expected.
In my case the four 'Es' clearly applied. On the other hand, I must admit that I did feel something similar to what you mentioned the first time I was in Jerusalem.
The thing is that Jerusalem is a city, wherever you go, you pass by the places that the apostles visited, you imagine that the old trees you see already existed at the time Jesus was born, you pass by the garden of Gethsemane... I went with my children and we visited the Dead Sea and the places where Saint Peter moved. There are so many references that my daughter, who was 15 at the time, threatened me that she would never speak to me again if I made her enter another church.
When does a trip stop being tourism and become something more?
It's hard to say because the journey itself is important. Maybe you realize during the trip that it is a pilgrimage. Because there has to be a sense of community, of meeting people you don't normally meet, a certain sense of awakening and, obviously, pilgrimage is about arriving and often achieving some proof or sign that you have reached the destination. Sometimes I worry that the word pilgrimage is used to sell vacations to people and make them seem more interesting. But, frankly, if it makes them go to these places that's fine. If you go with an open mind you never know what you will feel. But I don't think the pilgrimage has an evangelical component. That has been outdated.
I remember seeing dozens or hundreds of people in Calcutta every day who 'made a pilgrimage' to go see Mother Teresa.
That sums up the idea of what definition we give to a pilgrimage in 2024. I think people call a lot of different things a pilgrimage and I think it's cool. In reality, they are trips with meaning, they are not those of going to tan or swim in the sea, go out to party or get drunk, they are trips with which you want to grow as a human being. I think that is the difference between pilgrimage and tourism. With tourism you want to have a good time, be happy and relax; and on pilgrimage you consciously search for some kind of meaning in life. Two experiences come to mind.
Which is it?
In 2019, just before confinement, I signed up for a pilgrimage in El Salvador, a route to remember the murdered archbishop Óscar Romero, who seemed to me to be a very notable person. I liked that experience, it was a type of political pilgrimage against the terrible things that have been perpetrated with the US intervention in Central America. And another was the visit to the First World War cemeteries in northern France. I was overwhelmed by the way so many English people came to see the graves of their grandparents and other relatives. The solemnity of that gesture struck me, and there I saw a true sense of pilgrimage
And the tourists who, thanks to your support, are financing the construction of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona?
You could also say, if we talk about Barcelona, that there are Gaudí pilgrims who go to see his works. His buildings are fantastic and very religious and I'm sure that the people who go to see them will recognize that they are pilgrims who pay a kind of tribute to someone who inspires them. We do it often, following in the footsteps of the deceased, because what we are trying to do is find meaning, in some way.
All roads lead to Rome and there is actually no famous pilgrimage to Rome
Now the Via Francigena is being restored and more and more hostels are opening. They want to reactivate it like the Camino de Santiago, but I don't know if they will ever match it. In Rome you see the extremes of religion. When I see all those young priests there, all very conservative, I don't like it. Like the commercialism I saw in Lourdes. There are many negative things about certain pilgrimages, just as there are positive things.
