ABSTRACT
The structures, development and specific practices of pilgrimages are a good reflection of the nature of religiosity in a particular age; they also are influenced by the cultural, denominational, social, economic and political conditions of their time. Consequently research on pilgrimages draws on various disciplines. The different Roma groups mostly subscribe to Roman Catholicism, but Pentecostal congregations have recently proved a powerful magnet because of their use of music. The shrine festivals that attracted thousands of people, the mingling of the sacred and the profane and the moving forms of devotional practice also had a great influence on Hungarian writers and poets. Historians interest was stimulated by the Hungarian national jubilees of the 1930s, and they paid increasing attention to the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age through the study of the emergence and functioning of shrines as well as pilgrimages to places outside the country.
