Editing Pilgrimage (section)

== Background ==
{{further|Religious tourism}}
[[File:Jan van Scorel - Five Members of the Utrecht Brotherhood of Jerusalem Pilgrims - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Five Members of the Utrecht Brotherhood of Jerusalem Pilgrims]]

Pilgrimages frequently involve a [[Travel|journey]] or search of [[morality|moral]] or [[spirituality|spiritual]] significance. Typically, it is a journey to a [[shrine]] or other location of importance to a person's [[belief]]s and [[faith]], although sometimes it can be a metaphorical journey into someone's own beliefs.

Many religions attach spiritual importance to particular places: the place of birth or death of founders or saints, or to the place of their "calling" or spiritual awakening, or of their connection (visual or verbal) with the divine, to locations where miracles were performed or witnessed, or locations where a deity is said to live or be "housed", or any site that is seen to have special spiritual powers. Such sites may be commemorated with shrines or temples that devotees are encouraged to visit for their own spiritual benefit: to be healed or have questions answered or to achieve some other spiritual benefit.

A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim. As a common human experience, pilgrimage has been proposed as a Jungian archetype by [[Wallace Clift]] and [[Jean Dalby Clift]].<ref>{{cite book|last1= Cleft |first1=Jean Darby|last2=Cleft|first2=Wallace|year=1996|title=The Archetype of Pilgrimage: Outer Action With Inner Meaning|publisher=The Paulist Press|isbn=0-8091-3599-X}}</ref> Some research has shown that people who engage in pilgrimage walks enjoy biological, psychological, social, and spiritual therapeutic benefits.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Warfield |first1=Heather A. |last2=Baker |first2=Stanley B. |last3=Foxx |first3=Sejal B. Parikh |date=2014-09-14 |title=The therapeutic value of pilgrimage: a grounded theory study |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13674676.2014.936845 |journal=Mental Health, Religion & Culture |language=en |volume=17 |issue=8 |pages=860–875 |doi=10.1080/13674676.2014.936845 |s2cid=143623445 |issn=1367-4676|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The [[Holy Land]] acts as a focal point for the pilgrimages of the [[Abrahamic religion]]s of [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]]. According to a [[Stockholm University]] study in 2011, these [[pilgrim]]s visit the Holy Land to touch and see physical manifestations of their [[faith]], confirm their beliefs in the holy context with collective excitation, and connect personally to the Holy Land.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael Sebastian |last=Metti |title=Jerusalem – the most powerful brand in history |url=http://www.metti-bronner.com/Jerusalem.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126124828/http://www.metti-bronner.com/Jerusalem.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-date=26 January 2020 |work=[[Stockholm University School of Business]] |date=1 June 2011 |access-date=1 July 2011 }}</ref>