The Challenging Future of Pilgrimage after the Pandemic: New Trends in Pilgrimage to Compostela

Abstract

During the COVID-19 period, many authors observed changes occurring in pilgrimage along the Way of Saint James. Pandemics have appeared many times in the history of this route, causing changes in the behavior of pilgrims and their environment, such as improvements in healthcare. In this paper, we begin by examining the new contributions that the pandemic has made to the contemporary religious experience of the Camino. The pandemic can be read in a twofold manner: as an attempt to “verify” the motives and as an “opportunity” to preserve the essence of pilgrimage; it also seems to be capable of changing the attitudes of the residents living along the Camino towards the pilgrims. Next, we point to several phenomena that appear on the horizon of the post-pandemic Camino, such as the isolationism of pilgrims, the dominance of individualism, the medicalization of pilgrimage and the restrictions on access to religious practices. This opens up the question of new forms of asceticism with which the Camino has been associated and new trends in pilgrimage to Compostela.

Changing Tourism Trends of the Benedictine Abbey in Tihany: Best Practices of a Hungarian Monastic Community

“…In many cases, it has reached such a scale in certain geographical locations that it requires special management, expertise, and marketing activities from religious organizations, for whom this is not their basic task (Razaq and Griffin 2015). Recently, several studies have addressed the impact of COVID-19 on religious tourism (Tsironis 2022;Roszak and Huzarek 2022;Hassan et al 2022).…”

El Patrimonio Jacobeo y su gestión desde las Humanidades Digitales: presente y futuro del Camino de Santiago en Castilla y León

“…LoisGonzález et al, 2015;Lois González et al, 2016;Lois González y Lopez, 2020;Lois González y López, 2012;Lois González y Somoza-Medina, 2022;Lois González y Somoza Medina, 2003).Aunque su producción científica es muy reciente, desde 2019 hasta 2022, Piotr Roszak (Universidad Nicolás Copérnico en Toruń, Polonia) es actualmente el tercer autor más prolífico sobre el Camino de Santiago. Su investigación conecta explícitamente la peregrinación y el Camino mismo con los aspectos religiosos, sagrados y folclóricos del peregrinaje(Mróz et al, 2022;Roszak, 2019;Roszak, 2020;Roszak, 2021;Roszak y Huzarek, 2022;Roszak y Seryczyńska, 2020;Roszak y Tanco Lerga, 2022;Seryczynska et al, 2021). Además, colabora en varios trabajos con Beneika Seryczyńska (también de la Universidad Nicolás Copérnico, Polonia), quien a su vez ocupa la quinta posición del ranking(Seryczyńska, 2019;Seryczyńska, 2021;Seryczyńska y Duda, 2021).…”