ABSTRACT
Christians make pilgrimage to Jerusalem to retrace the steps of Christ. Underlying most religions is the notion that life is a pilgrimage, an interior moving from what one is to what one ought to be and can become. John Bunyan in his Pilgrim’s Progress tells the allegory of Christian’s journey from his home in the City of Destruction to the Celestial City and relates what he encountered on the way. Behind the notion of pilgrimage is the idea that certain places are special or holy. That certain places have special significance is part of everyday experience. The pilgrim’s motive may be an expression of devotion, it may be an offering of thanks, it may be to seek the healing of body, mind and spirit. There is a common impression around, and certainly among many children, that pilgrimages are odd and exotic and this view is reinforced by stories of medieval extravagencies like climbing steps upon the knees.
