Rituals In Medieval Traditions

A Study of the Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land And the Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca

Hajj is a once-in-a-life time obligation upon Islamic adherents whose health and means permit it. It is an essential part of Muslim faith and practice as it is the fifth pillar of faith, symbolises central concepts of Islam and commemorates the trials of the Prophet Ibrahim. Hajj provides individuals with the opportunity for spiritual rebirth through developing a closer relationship with Allah as well as fulfilling the five pillars of Islam. The global Islamic community are also united through submission to the will and communal worship of their “one God” Allah.

Every Culture has a set of rituals that they partake in, that are often constructed over a long period of time. Simple Actions, and special moments contain so much meaning and make everlasting memories. All rituals despite the locations they originate from, or the location they are carried out in contain the same components, they are repetitive, symbolic, remind a certain group of people about their values and beliefs, and these rituals commemorate a significant moment. For example christians commemorate the birth of christ by attending mass, and many other cultures celebrate this moment in many different ways that have in depth symbolic meaning. In the book “Guests of the Sheik” by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea rituals play a major role. Fernea’s husband Bob is an anthropologist studying the occupants of a small village named El Nahra and their culture. Fernea has documented her experiences, and adventures, and her perspective of the many rituals that the townspeople participate in such as, Ramadan, Muharram, weddings, and pilgrimages. In Muslim culture pilgrimages are immensely important and can even lead to an elevated status. Such as the pilgrimage to Mecca. Fernea is able to participate in a pilgrimage to Karbala with a couple of the towns women she had befriended. The Pilgrimage to Karbala is a symbolic, and cultural ritual in the aspect that it is reenacted every year, and is full of symbolic meaning, commemorates an important occasion and reminds a culture about their

The Hajj is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and ultimately reflects many core Muslim beliefs. Through spiritual rebirth, the wearing of the Ihram garments, the acknowledgement of Allah 's omnipotency and the experience of following in Prophet Muhammad 's footsteps, adherents through the Hajj are able to reflect the Islamic beliefs of Jihad, Umma, Zakat, and forgiveness in their own lives. By this Muslims are able to become more intimate with Allah and his will, and are also destined to an afterlife in heaven by his side. Accordingly, those who do not complete the Hajj in their lifetime will be sentenced to an afterlife in purgatory. These consequences reflect how

What's important about any ritual is the energy it pulls in and creates a calm peaceful energy for the spiritual gathering. The main point of the Great Rite is the creation of calm and peaceful energy between the male (physical) and female (spiritual). That can be just as easily done through symbolic means as it can through a physical act. It becomes a prayer, a method of worship in honor of the goddess and god. It is a fertility act for planting and harvesting as well for the

According to the Islamic culture and society, every Muslim must make a trek to Mecca—the hajj—at least once in their lifetime to pay tribute to Allah, the God of the Islam religion. The trek is a mandatory component of being a good Muslim for that is the secular proclamation of being a faithful follower, as according to the Prophet Muhammed who said that a person will journey to Mecca a sinful man and return home afterwards as a newborn baby purified. The ritual itself consists of five steps, each categorized into a day: the purifying ihram in which all men are in unity and peace, and the desperate run from the hills of Safa to Marwa in remembrance of Hagar; the travel to Arafah to repent of their sins and collect seventy pebbles as somewhat totems; the return to Mina to

Within the Arabian desert rests the town of Mecca which houses the Ka‘ba, the pantheon site where the all the pagan Arab pilgrims converged to worship their tribal deities. Although no one knows who built the square, roofless structure, or when it was set up, the Ka‘ba became the center of the religious life in pre-Islamic Arabia, the sixth century Anno Domini (AD), is characterized as a time of complex beliefs of no universalism or moral absolutism, neo-animism (providing a host of intermediary deities between the creator god and his creation), and henotheism (belief in a

People were coming from all over the island. Large numbers were converted as the Holy Spirit convicted them of sin. Many were weeping, some laying prostrate.

In National Geographic’s “Inside Mecca”, individuals during the Hajj cast off their material self, they trade the pleasures and comforts of the outside world for the benign struggle of ihram. A state in which individuals care only for the ethereal, they wear simple clothing and avoid negative emotion. As Kupperman

A holy ritual resulted in the deaths of more than 700 people and injuring around 900 others. A stampede occurred during the annual Islamic pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, one of the last rituals of the Hajj during “the stoning of the devil. This disaster has been reported the deadliest at Mina since 1990. The injury and death toll has been rising and the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz put together a meeting to discuss the tragedy. This pilgrimage was sought to bring 2 billion

When it comes down to it, Wicca is not about rites and ritual. What you will find here, is the basic ground work. It’s still up to you to decide if this is the path that you want to take.

Early in the morning of the 8th day of Hijjah, the pilgrims go out of

It is evident that in this chosen paragraph, Asad recognized a dichotomy within the term “ritual”. In order to expound their difference in relation to their proper context, Asad started the Chapter by directing one’s attention to how historical shifts contribute to the development of “ritual”. As he browsed through the Encyclopaedia Britannica, it caught his eye that the entry of “ritual” and “rite” are complementary to each other in the editions of the eighteenth century, but then divided into named subsections in the nineteenth century. Over half a century, scholars came to realize that “ritual” is not a fixed concept, but a cultural phenomenon that is constantly changing and thus not exclusive to the vocabulary of Christianity. As an alternative, “ritual” is now deemed as a “routine behavior” with “repetitive character” that helps to stabilize the function of religious activities within a social institution (Asad, 57). In fact, the writers who worked on the 1910 entry went further by suggesting that “ritual” with its symbolic character is not necessarily religious if its significance remains on symbolic behavior. In other words, it is a worldwide phenomenon, usually accompanied with a series of representational behavior, that is not affiliated with any subcategory, until someone deliberately shoveled the term beneath categories like “religion” or “magic”.

“Greek culture was forged in the crucible of the Bronze Age civilization” which has heavily influenced millennia of cultures to follow (Pomeroy, Sarah B, and Rogers D. Spotswood Collection xiii). The height of the Bronze Age is defined by an exquisite amount of creative and youthful energy, beginning around the year of 1600 BC. Prominent rituals from these cultures and era are apparent through archeological findings and are even visible today via popular traditions and spiritual practices demonstrated in our contemporary society. A specific category of rituals, coming of age rituals, which are defined as “the attainment of prominence, respectability, recognition, or maturity”, were fundamental in the Bronze Age and were so pivotal to their society that they continue to existing today in modern society through different forms and structures (Merriam-Webster). Contemporary Western ceremonies for transitional periods are influenced by Spartan and Mycenaean Bronze Age coming of age rituals.

Nav Said Masjid: Nav Said Masjid is one of the main mosques of Surat and the pilgrims frequently visits the Mosque.