New Pilgrimage Routes and Trails

Since the dawn of humanity, people have traveled in search of meaning and to petition for worldly and otherworldly blessings. In the twenty-first century, the number of people traveling to religious sacred sites on pilgrimage has increased more than at any point in human history. An increased demand for pilgrimage routes and trails with the spiritual rather than the religious walker in mind, has also led various enterprising groups and individuals to develop entirely new pilgrimage routes and trails. This book highlights this new chapter in pilgrimage and trail development with essays by pilgrimage scholars and practitioners working in over ten countries.

These include an examination of circular pilgrimage in The Netherlands, weird or «antipilgrimages» in the UK, and the revitalization of ancient trails along the Old Way to Canterbury, in the Baltic States, and on the Kumano Kodo in Japan. Entirely new trails include the Sufi Trail in Turkey, the Western Front Way in Europe, the Abraham Path in Southwest Asia, the Mormon Canadian Trail, and various new religious-themed trails in Lebanon. Human rights pilgrimages include one focused on peace building in Indigenous Australia, another on Indigenous settler pilgrimage protocols in Canada, and an emancipation pilgrimage along the Underground Railroad in the United States.

Daniel H. Olsen is a Professor in the Department of Geography at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA. His research interests revolve around pilgrimage, tourism, and spirituality. He has published over 70 articles and book chapters, and is co-editor of Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys (2006), Religious Pilgrimage Routes and Trails: Sustainable Development and Management (2018), Dark Tourism and Pilgrimage (2020), Religious Tourism and the Environment (2020), and The Routledge Handbook of Religious and Spiritual Tourism (2022).

Dane Munro is a Resident Academic at the Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture (ITTC) at the University of Malta. His academic educational trajectory is marked by an MA in the Classics and a PhD in the cultural anthropology of pilgrimage and faith-based tourism at the University of Malta. He has also obtained a Ph.D. in history at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, regarding the culture of memoria and the identity of the knights of the Order of St John throughout the ages.

Australian anthropologist and pilgrimage scholar Ian S. McIntosh is the Director of International Partnerships at IUPUI. He is the founder of the Sacred Journeys project that brings pilgrimage scholars together from across the world for an annual conference. He has authored and co-edited four books on pilgrimage and peace-building including Pilgrimage: Walking to Peace, Walking for Change, The Many Voices of Pilgrimage and Reconciliation, Pilgrimage in Practice, and Peace Journeys. He has also authored three books on Aboriginal Australian religion. Dr. McIntosh is also the co-founder of the Australia-based heritage group, Past Masters International, which works closely with Indigenous Australians in the mapping and protection of heritage areas and sacred sites.