Creating sacred space by walking in silence: Pilgrimage in a late modern Lutheran context

Abstract

In Sweden, pilgrimages have emerged as new, re-created, late modern rites, taking advantage of historical roots and contemporary international developments. Yet, the Swedish pilgrimages have their own specificities. Pilgrimages are arranged as group activities with a focus on walking, and the place to which the pilgrimage is made has lost its significance as a holy place. Instead, nature, outdoor life and especially silence are important means for spiritual experiences, and holy places are perceived in an individualized manner along the trail. The highly appreciated silent walk creates a sacred space during the pilgrimage where experiences of spirituality as well as of self-transformation can take place. The author discusses pilgrimage concepts such as structure, place, space and spirituality from a Swedish perspective.

Introduction

‘The pilgrim is back!’ said the headline in Sydsvenskan, one of Sweden’s leading daily newspapers, on 28 May 2000. The article was not about someone returning from a lengthy and strenuous pilgrimage, but about the reintroduction of pilgrimage as an event and rite.

Responsible for the pilgrimage was the Church of Sweden, the national Church, which defines itself as an Evangelical Lutheran Church. With the Reformation and the introduction of the Lutheran faith in Sweden, pilgrimages had been forbidden in 1544 and ceased to be undertaken. During the second half of the 20th century, pilgrimages were taken up again locally, initially as part of the liturgical movement, in different parts of the country, and later around Vadstena, the city of St Birgitta. However, this was not part of a national agenda within the Church.

In 2000, the Church of Sweden not only celebrated the jubilee year, like many other Churches around the world, but was also legally reformed with loosened bonds to the Swedish State as a consequence. As part of the celebration a national pilgrimage was arranged. Two ministers were sent out by the archbishop in Uppsala to walk through all the 13 dioceses, a journey of over 2,000 km. Each day people were invited to join in, and during the four months over a thousand people walked for a day or more.

The national pilgrimage was a media success, with over 200 articles and notices in newspapers and on radio and television, and had a profound impact on the general development of pilgrimages in Sweden, as it was the first time many had heard about the phenomenon in modern times and in a Lutheran context. But it is risky to point to one single factor as the cause, because influences had come from several sources. Pilgrimages in Europe had increased tremendously, with millions of pilgrims visiting Santiago de Compostela, Lourdes and Fatima, to mention but a few holy sites. Generally these places are not widely known in Sweden, with the exception of Santiago. The Swedish media and travel programmes on television frequently report on pilgrimages to Santiago, especially walked pilgrimages along El Camino. Interest in El Camino is not limited to traditional church groups, as a broader group is attracted. Similarly, within the Church of Sweden there has been a general openness for new religious activities, such as retreats, meditation groups and sacred dances, to which pilgrimages can be added.

Though inspiration for pilgrimages has come from the wider Christian context, there are significant aspects that make the Swedish situation different. Pilgrimages in Sweden are interesting as recreated and reinterpreted rites in a late modern society. They are simultaneously novel – with new intentions, new language and new forms – and traditional – as part of a global Christian history. The purpose of this article is to set this newly created rite, or religious activity, in an international perspective, empirically and theoretically. By showing how pilgrimages are shaped and experienced, from both an official and a participant perspective, we shall point out similarities and differences in comparison to other situations. The focus of this discussion is especially on definitions and the concepts of structure, place and space. Some theories are challenged, and empirical data are used with the aim of further sharpening the scientific focus.

Data and methods

From 2005 to 2008, a broad study on pilgrimages was carried out, including quantitative as well as qualitative data. The data come from field studies, with participant observations and conversations during 25 pilgrimages, 30 taped interviews and 2 questionnaires as well as brochures, books and other texts.

Most of the studied pilgrimages were organized by the Church of Sweden, a few by other Christian organizations. The Church of Sweden includes 74% of the population and has a dominant position. However, other Protestant churches arrange pilgrimages and participants also come from other Churches. The studied pilgrimages took place in different settings throughout Sweden: forests, meadows, open fields, mountains, beaches and parks. They varied greatly in length, from one hour to one week. Half of them lasted for more than one day and required accommodation. The most common place to stay was parish meeting houses, where participants slept on inflatable beds on the floors, and dinner was prepared communally. The pilgrimages had from 3 to 60 participants, but most frequently 10 to 15 pilgrims.

Interviews were made with participants and leaders, mainly by phone. One of the questionnaires had only open questions and the other was mainly quantitative. The results from the quantitative questionnaire are discussed in another article (Davidsson Bremborg, 2008) and shows that pilgrims have many different motivations for participating, both on an individual level and on a group level. Generally, the pilgrims could be categorized in three motivation groups: a leisure group, a spiritual-religious group and an escape group. While a majority of the pilgrims belonged to an active group in the parish, one-fourth only had a weak church connection, i.e. visited church services once or twice a year and no participation in other activities. Two-thirds of the pilgrims were women and the majority between 50 and 70 years old.

Quotations in this article are used for illustration and come from transcriptions of the interviews (marked with an I + number) and the qualitative questionnaire (marked with a Q + number). The original language was Swedish, and the translations are made by the author.

Definitions

Thirty years ago, the field of pilgrim studies was dominated by Turner (1973) and Turner and Turner (1978), who made pioneering work on the functions and mechanisms of pilgrimages. It was some time before their groundbreaking theories on liminality and communitas were questioned and further developed. Nonetheless, during the last ten to fifteen years, there have been numerous research projects from a diversity of scientific fields: anthropology, history, theology, sociology and psychology. Many of the published books have been multidisciplinary (Badone and Roseman, 2004; Coleman and Eade, 2004; Eade and Sallnow, 1991; Morinis, 1992b; Morris and Roberts, 2002; Post, Pieper and van Uden, 1998; Reader and Walter, 1993; Stopford, 1999; Swatos, 2006; Swatos and Tomasi, 2002). The intention here is not to analyze them all, rather to set an individual position in context.

When studying pilgrimage as a newly constructed phenomenon, one question becomes especially urgent, and that is the definition of pilgrimage. ‘What is a pilgrimage?’ was the query media and others put when the first pilgrimages were arranged, and the same question arose in this research study. The methodological starting point was that if something was called a pilgrimage, it could become an object of the study. One of the purposes of the study was to see if all events termed ‘pilgrimage’ had something in common, and from there make a definition. While pursuing this line of research, other definitions were tested, such as Luigi Tomasi’s:

Pilgrimage can be defined as a journey undertaken for religious purposes that culminates in a visit to a place considered to be the site or manifestation of the supernatural – a place where it is easier to obtain divine help. (Tomasi, 2002: 3)

The strength of this definition is that it is not bound to a certain religion, but is open for a diversity of pilgrimage places. But it also leaves many questions unanswered: What are ‘religious purposes’? What is a ‘manifestation of the supernatural’? What is ‘divine help’?

Cohen had earlier tried to separate pilgrimage from other kinds of travel with the following definition: ‘pilgrimage, a movement toward the Center, and travel, a movement in the opposite direction, toward the Other’ (1992: 50), adding that pilgrimage is more institutionalized and obligatory, and has an itinerary as well as strict codes of behaviour (1992: 56–58). In line with Turner, Cohen based his definition on the pilgrimage centre. The concept of a pilgrimage centre is not relevant in the Swedish case. Neither did the attempt to distinguish the tourist from the pilgrim in this way seem very useful for the present study. However, there are more general difficulties in separating pilgrims from tourists. The destinations are often the same and, if motivations are considered as a divider, these are not constant but may change during the journey. Tourists may become pilgrims, and pilgrims tourists (Tomasi, 2002).

Morinis defines pilgrimage as ‘a journey undertaken by a person in quest of a place or a state that he or she believes to embody a valued ideal’ (1992a: 4). Often, there is a shrine at the destination, but not necessarily. Morinis distinguishes six types of pilgrimage, one of which is classified as wanderings, without a fixed goal: ‘the pilgrimage here is in the search for an unknown or hidden goal’ (1992a: 4). With this definition new possibilities are opened to classify something as a pilgrimage without any link to a holy place. The quest can be a state or a valued ideal and does not have to be linked with a geographical spot.

Reader (1993) also uses the quest as a ground for defining pilgrimage but widens the concept to ‘secular’ places such as battlefields, Hillsborough and Graceland. The phenomenon of people coming to these places en masse is described as a pilgrimage in popular use, and could be seen as such scientifically also, as a kind of implicit religion.

Inoue (2000) discusses new goals or sacred spaces for religious journeys, and classifies them in three different categories: inner sacred space, outer sacred space and virtual sacred space. In this theory, sacred space has partly loosened from a physical place and opened up for a ‘consecration or sacralization of inner space’ (Inoue, 2000: 25). With this definition of sacred space it is possible to talk about a pilgrimage directed towards a non-physical destination. Furthermore, Inoue frees pilgrimage from physical effort.

Still, it was not a satisfactory definition for this study. It was not until the perspectives of Sarah Bill Schott (2006) were found that the necessary tools were obtained. Schott’s starting point is identity-creating behaviour. Schott uses Wang (1999), who argues that people’s holiday choices reveal something about their personal identity. Tourism is ‘a vehicle for demonstrating and creating self-identity’ (Schott, 2006: 298). Schott also points to the importance of the narrative and discusses differences in how stories of the tourist and the pilgrim are told and interpreted. She asks ‘in what kinds of identity speech and action are they participating?’ (Schott, 2006: 323).

Schott stresses the importance of how the journey is used in self-understanding through the person’s narratives. The narrative perspective makes it possible to detach the pilgrimage from a holy place or a specific purpose. The following definition is used in this article: ‘A pilgrimage has been made when you come back home from a “walked experience” and in narratives (with yourself or others) interpret it as a pilgrimage.’ The purpose of the journey is thus created afterwards. Some would probably object that it is a too open, too post modern and too individualistically coloured definition. However, the use of it is contextually applied to this study and not regarded as a general definition for pilgrimages. Coleman (2002) implies that it is impossible to find a universal pilgrim definition and that researchers must still struggle with definitions. The ambition here, despite the difficulties of finding a definition, stems from the view that definitions are normative. This statement is inspired by Kaelber and his use of the concept boundary-work. ‘Boundary-work serves to legitimize a status or activity by setting a boundary around, or a limit to, the types of activities that are considered legitimate’ (Kaelber, 2002: 54). In all times, pilgrimages have been enclosed by such boundary-work, by demarcations of where to go, who should go and how to go (Adler, 2002; Frey, 1998; Kaelber, 2002). In accordance with the definition used in this study, an agency perspective is chosen. The boundary-work, with the power to define, has become the task of the participants, the pilgrims. It is a definition that would be understood by those who want to make sharp distinctions between hiking and pilgrimage, tourism and pilgrimage, nature wanderings and pilgrimage, with the basic assumption that it is the agent who has the right to define the journey. At the same time, the intention is to make clear that definition formulation is not an individualized process, but a construction and a constant negotiation in a social context.

Structure

Structure is about ‘the how’ of pilgrimage. How is it performed? In Sweden, the structure of pilgrimage has to a large extent been made up by one person, the pilgrim minister Hans-Erik Lindström. It was Lindström who had the idea of organizing a national pilgrimage as part of the jubilee celebrations and he was one of the two people who walked most of it. But the story started a few years earlier. In 1996, Lindström was appointed as the first pilgrim minister at the new Pilgrim Centre in Vadstena, a small city that had been one of the main pilgrim destinations in Sweden during late medieval times.

During the initial years, Lindström formed a model for pilgrimages: a practical structure as well as a theoretical-theological one. The model was certainly not an innovation. Lindström mentions that inspiration came from other groups, experiences from his former pastoral work, and the first pilgrimages. He had also been part of the international ecumenical movement Pilgrims of Saint Francis (Compagnons de Saint François). Lindström’s model has been widely spread through his books, interviews in the media and lectures, and through the Pilgrim Centre, where educational courses are offered and pilgrimages arranged.

The practical structure is based on a multi-day group pilgrimage. Simply by this point of departure, something important is said about pilgrimages in Sweden: they are (mainly) an organized group leisure activity. The length of time is not crucial for the model. The practical structure should be seen as a help for other leaders, and is always used when the Pilgrim Centre arranges pilgrimages. The structure is quite detailed: Wake up at seven, followed by breakfast, cleaning and tidying, and morning prayer at 8.45. Walk at a steady pace of 4 km an hour for 45 minutes, followed by a 15-minute break. Before every period of walking, the group forms a ring and says St Birgitta’s Prayer: Lord, show me the way and make me want to walk it. Two walking periods, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, should be in silence. At lunch time take a longer break with celebration of the Eucharist. After dinner, gather the group for a ‘sharing’ (after a model from Alcoholics Anonymous) of thoughts and experiences. Finally, an evening prayer (Lindström, 2005). On shorter pilgrimages, relevant parts of the structure are applied.

It would not have been necessary to describe the structure if it just implied practical planning. But structure, especially when written down and retold, is also a way of communicating norms and values. It answers questions about ‘what ought to be done on a pilgrimage’ and is thus a kind of boundary-work. The structure stipulates, for example, periods of silence and sharing as well as specific prayers. To remove certain parts of the structure can be interpreted as ignorance of what constitutes a ‘real’ pilgrimage. Consequently, most pilgrimages in Sweden follow this recommended structure.

The structure is set in time and space. Slavin argues, in contrast to Turner, that a pilgrimage does not take place in a ‘no-place’ (in a liminal place), but in ‘a place radically ontologically different from places bounded by space and time’ (2003: 7). To take the reasoning one step away from Turner and Slavin, it is possible to claim that pilgrimage is a place bounded by space and time, but ontologically radically different. Experiences and emotions of time and space are, according to the pilgrims, different from everyday life at home. However, the pilgrims have to adapt to a new rhythm, bounded in space and time. For example, on the route to Santiago pilgrims must respect the opening and closing times of the refuges as well as meal times and bed times that structure each day (Frey, 1998). During group pilgrimages, such as the Swedish ones, every pilgrim has to adapt to the group’s rhythm: the walking pace as well as meal, gathering, prayer and bed times. Time and place are bounded. It is different from everyday life. It is another schedule with a new rhythm in a new place, and there is in fact no need to take a watch, as the leader takes responsibility for the schedule. On some pilgrimages the wearing of watches is even strongly discouraged.

The theoretical-theological structure is based on seven keywords, which Lindström (2005) argues are the pilgrim’s yearnings: slowness, freedom, simplicity, silence, light-heartedness, sharing and spirituality. The keywords are formulated as contradictions to what Lindström describes as ‘the inhuman society’, characterized by pressure of time and too many choices, worries, consumption and materialism, and bustle and noise. To each keyword, Lindström has linked an artefact, for example a staff for freedom, shoes for slowness, a hat for light-heartedness and a backpack for sharing. The seven keywords serve as Lindström’s definition of pilgrimage. Today they are widely known and frequently used as an explanation of modern pilgrimage in information leaflets and newspaper articles. They have their own life, usually used without any reference to Lindström, as part of the Swedish pilgrim discourse. Among the pilgrims, the seven keywords are seldom questioned. Rather, they are fully accepted and thought of as a ‘natural’ way of talking about pilgrimage today. Most Swedish pilgrims think the seven keywords are internationally known and accepted, which is not the case.

Route and destination

Most pilgrimage studies have been undertaken at the destination, the holy place. One reason has been that the journey has less importance in modern society with sophisticated means of transportation: ‘The journey has been abolished. Now there is only the point of departure and that of arrival’ (Ferrarotti, quoted by Tomasi, 2002: 20). Though certainly other researchers have highlighted the movement to and from the destination (Coleman and Eade, 2004; Frey 1998 and 2004), the destination as a holy place has so far been undisputable.

For Swedish pilgrims the destination has only minor importance. The main purpose is without doubt the walking. Most pilgrimages lead to a holy place, a church for example, but the church has a function mainly as an ending point and a room for prayer or service. A pilgrimage could start and end at the same church, and there are even pilgrimages going from and to carparks.

On a pilgrimage course for potential leaders at the Pilgrim Centre, the participants were taught that it is possible to make a pilgrimage anywhere and to any destination. To walk along any of the known historical routes leading towards Trondheim in Norway or Vadstena in Sweden is not mandatory. Any trail could be a pilgrim route. This view on the route and the destination has important advantages. By disconnecting a specific physical place from the pilgrimage concept it has been possible to spread pilgrimages as a parish activity all over Sweden. Wherever one can walk, one can make a pilgrimage. The development has been successful. In 2002, one-sixth of the two thousand parishes of the Church of Sweden arranged a pilgrimage (Gustafsson, 2006), and by 2009 the number had more than doubled (LUKA 28).

Yet, the path for the pilgrimage is neither randomly chosen nor the same as the wandering pilgrimages that Morinis describes as having ‘no predetermined goal’ (1992a). There are specific purposes for a chosen route. Two different positions can be distinguished among the pilgrim leaders. The first stresses the importance of the route being beautiful, convenient and/or interesting. Exactly where it runs is less important. The route is planned according to the needs of the group or the theme of the pilgrimage. The pilgrim leaders might want to pass a scenic place for lunch or for an outdoor mass, or to visit an old mill or an artist’s gallery. Such pilgrimages usually avoid asphalt roads. The second position emphasizes links to history, by walking on an old pilgrim trail or between historical places. In this case, the specific places determine the route and the group has to adjust. In contrast to the former position, walking on asphalt roads might be necessary, as well as longer distances and tougher routes.

The second category, with an interest in specific pilgrim routes, seems to have increased lately. Old, known trails as well as new trails are now signposted. Some of the new ones go between medieval abbeys, holy springs or other places known as traditional pilgrim destinations during medieval times. Others link Trondheim in Norway with the European continent (and finally Santiago) through Sweden.

The concern for pilgrim routes is part of the general interest in pilgrimages to Santiago, which is almost the only pilgrim destination mentioned in conversations among Swedish pilgrims. During recent years there has been a boom in media interest in El Camino. Several biographical or semi-biographical books have been published, and Santiago pilgrims have been interviewed in newspapers and television programmes. El Camino serves as an ideal pilgrim route, with the emphasis on walking and embedded historical traditions. Many view El Camino as a medieval trail, having been the same for centuries. It carries a historical authenticity seldom questioned by the pilgrims. In reality, the formation of El Camino, as one specific trail, is a construction and derives from regional development projects from the 1980s onwards (Frey, 1998; Murray and Graham, 1997). Similarly, the Norwegian pilgrim routes were marked during the 1990s as part of a large national and regional project (DN-notat 1998-2). In both cases, no original pilgrim trails existed, as the medieval pilgrims used different routes, many of which many have disappeared in the course of history. Rather, the pilgrim trails have been constructed between historical places, using walker-friendly paths and scenic routes. The same principle is used on the newly made routes in Sweden. This reconstruction of pilgrim routes may, however, have complications in relation to the pilgrims’ expectations. After making a pilgrimage along a newly marked pilgrim route between historical places one woman told me:

The dream view was to walk along old pilgrimage trails, on old ways and paths, and then I was surprised that it was so much asphalt. I got the explanation that this is the old trail, and now it is like this. And then I think it was ok, because I was nevertheless proud to have managed 150 km, so that was not [crucial]. (I14)

The discrepancy between the representation of her imagined ‘authentic pilgrim route’ and the reality caused a cognitive dissonance, and the woman had to negotiate with her feelings and experiences. The information that the historical trail is underneath the asphalt road was an attempt by the leader to bridge the gap. It is not clear if the leader succeeded, even though the woman’s focus and the effect of the pilgrimage moved from the historicity of the way to the physical effort she had made. But it is clear that the woman’s image of a pilgrimage was linked with a pre-modern society, as it is for many pilgrims along El Camino (Fog-Nielsen, 2007; Frey, 1998).

The increased focus on specific pilgrim routes seems to be related to a search for ‘the authentic’, and has not changed the view of the pilgrim destination. The pilgrims participate because they appreciate the walking, not because they yearn for a specific place. Even on pilgrimages ending at a church or a chapel, the participants seldom view it as a target for the pilgrimage. Rather they emphasize the search for meaning in life, a pause from everyday life or a change in life. The physical goal is a goal for the pilgrimage, but the real purpose is to find a new goal in life, or a better lifestyle.

One hypothesis for this study was that the longer the pilgrimage is, the more significance the goal will have. But there are great variations between the pilgrims, and the variance is not strictly related to length or time. The experiences of the goal rather seem to depend on the physical effort required by the walk: ‘to have a specific goal made it easier to bear fatigue and stiffness’ (Q1911) one pilgrim wrote after a hundred-kilometre pilgrimage. The same ‘power’ of the goal was very clear when another pilgrim was asked if she thought it mattered where she walked:

Not exactly where, but that there should be a goal, that I think [is important], that one knows where one is going […]. The goal has a power of attraction. It gives some kind of energy. You are on your way to it, and the closer you come the stronger you feel it. (I15)

The experiences of the goal are more connected with the fact of having reached it than with the destination in itself. The goal has a function for the walk, but not as a holy place. Very seldom is the church or chapel believed to embrace any specific power or holiness, such as being a place of miracles or holy relics. The reduced importance of the destination has also been noticed among Santiago pilgrims (Frey, 1998; Slavin, 2003) as well as for other pilgrimages on foot (Weiss Ozorak, 2006).

More often than the participants, the leaders of the Swedish pilgrimages argue for an ending in a church or chapel. Nevertheless, they state that the purpose is not primarily to reach the physical goal, but the inner goal. Some draw attention to the destination by using it as a metaphor for Heaven (‘the ultimate goal’), but not very many pilgrims seem to reflect in that manner. One reason might be the general low interest for and belief in Heaven and Hell. Only 30% of the Swedes believe in Heaven and 9% in Hell (EVSSG, 2006). But it is not only on a theoretical–theological level the destination is neglected; in fact very little ritual practice is performed at the pilgrim destinations. One indication of the insignificance is that Lindström’s very fixed structure does not include any activity or ritual at the end of the pilgrimage.

Nature

For the pilgrims, as for many Swedes (Palmer, 2008; Uddenberg, 1995), the outdoors is an important place for spiritual experiences. However, nature is seldom regarded as spiritual in itself. This is an important distinction. Even if a few pilgrims in the interviews talk of Mother Earth and nature as holy, this is not the case for the majority of pilgrims. Rather, nature serves as a catalyst for spiritual experiences. It is in the relation between the individual and nature that a sense of being included in something supernatural comes forth. Nature is not spiritual, but an instrument for spirituality.

Many pilgrims refer to feelings of smallness when walking in the magnificence of nature. These feelings are referred to as feelings of holiness. But even if for some it is a feeling of smallness in relation to an almighty god, it is more common to see it in relation to meaning in life more generally. To feel smallness in relation to nature is to find the right place in life – a way of finding an authentic life, far from ordinary life with worries, duties and high technology. The holy places perceived and described by the pilgrims are seldom connected with officially selected places. Instead, each pilgrim finds holy places along the pilgrim trail. The experiences of wholeness and holiness come at diverse places: a pine wood with high trunks, a view from a lake, a valley in the mountains. It is an individualization of holiness based on personal experience.

Wynn (2007) has broadened the aspects of the pilgrim destination by highlighting it as a place to experience physical proximity, an embodied reference, to God. This is an important accentuation of the experiences of the body, but in the Swedish case, the place of the bodily experiences has moved from the pilgrim destination to somewhere along the pilgrim trail. The spiritual experiences are embodied experiences, a kind of physical proximity to God while walking in nature. Uddenberg found a similar attitude: ‘In nature one is closest to God’ (1995: 46).

Many pilgrims talk about outdoor experiences, and only a few mention feelings of holiness in churches or chapels. However, nature might play an important role also at traditional holy places. When asked about a place where she felt holiness, one woman recalled a special incident ‘when a sunbeam from a small [church] window fell exactly on me. That was pretty cool!’ (I14) For her the sunbeam was the focus of her spiritual experience and a kind of channel to holiness.

Even if churches are visited on the pilgrimage, prayers and celebration of the Eucharist are often performed outdoors. This has an important impact on the experiences of the traditional rituals. For many it is a new experience, and several of the interviewees said it was the first time ever – or since their confirmation – that they had received the bread and wine. The unusual place, the untraditional environment, and maybe group pressure, helped them to overcome hesitations and join in the Eucharist.

The outdoors is a contrast not only to traditional religious buildings, but also to the city and urban environments (Adler, 2002; Edensor, 2000; Uddenberg, 1995) and everyday life (Palmer, 2008). The outdoors represents a movement away from high-tech surroundings, scheduled times and demanding expectations, in other words ‘a pause from pressured living’, which Palmer (2008) distinguishes as a kind of contemporary Swedish spirituality. The movement out or away is an important factor for these spiritual experiences.

Silence

Traditional Christian rites are, as mentioned earlier, appreciated among the pilgrims, especially when they take place outdoors. But it is another moment during the pilgrimage that is the most popular: the silent walk. With few exceptions, it is the first mentioned, the most powerful, and the most important moment of the pilgrimage. In the questionnaire 72% answered ‘very positive’, and another 15% marked ‘positive’ for the silent walk; only 3% were negative. The moments of silence are not only highly valued, they also form a base for pilgrim definitions. When asked why she wants to participate in pilgrimages one woman answered: ‘Since I got your mail I have really thought about that, but it is this walking in nature and being silent now and then’ (I17). Another woman said: ‘The silence is important […] It is something special, especially to walk in a group and be silent in a group. It gives you another dimension’ (I6). The moments of silence constituted the pilgrimage for these – and many other – pilgrims.

Silence is important from different perspectives, according to the pilgrims. Apart from intensifying the awareness of the surroundings, it locks other participants out and gives a space for own reflections. ‘I was more receptive to impressions of nature and to my own thoughts’ (Q1913) one participant writes. The shared silence makes it legitimate not to talk, but to ‘have this time for myself with God and be able to reflect and to go through what I need, by myself’. The woman who frankly stated ‘it’s very nice not having to be polite and take responsibility for others’ (I2) is far from alone. The silence creates a space of freedom from social demands in the group. ‘One can be silent without causing offence’ (I17). Many are fascinated by how the group manages to stay quiet. One man recounted how they silently walked in a long row for half an hour in the city of Stockholm, although constantly encountering other people.

Whereas a few pilgrimages are held totally in silence, most have moments of 20 to 45 minutes when silence is mandatory. Sometimes the silent walk is organized, by asking participants to walk in a row closer or further apart from each other. If it is a day-long pilgrimage, there might be two such periods. Many pilgrimages have prolonged their periods of silence as the group has got more used to the idea. The silence is often, but not always, preceded by a short reflection or some words of meditation from the leader. However, many participants do not focus on the given words; instead, they see the silence as a moment to reflect on their own existential questions.

The widely acclaimed silence raises at least two questions. Why do the pilgrims want to walk in a group if it is silence they want? Is silence a sign of an individualized spirituality? After more than twenty pilgrimages and hundreds of conversations with pilgrims, I am still surprised by the overwhelmingly positive attitude to the silent walks. To understand it, first of all, one has to see the general interest for silence in today’s spirituality. Silence has found its way into other church activities. In services with inspiration from the ecumenical community in Taizé, France, the sermon is sometimes replaced by a moment of silence, and intercessions in the high mass have increasing periods of silence. Retreats and meditation groups have become common in many parishes. A ‘silence trend’ can be discerned. Another aspect is that silence is one of the seven keywords defining pilgrimage and is part of Lindström’s recommended structure. It is possible that silence would have become part of the pilgrimages even without this structure, but it would probably not have become so widespread. The few pilgrimages in the study without silent walks all had leaders who started the pilgrimages with inspiration from other, European, contexts.

The pilgrims themselves mention three reasons for their liking of silence: it gives them the opportunity to experience nature, time to think and a chance to be non-social. The relation to nature has been discussed earlier and is therefore not elaborated here. The other reasons are connected with an experience of not having time to think at home, and an imagined view of thinking as an unproductive activity. The last opinion is sometimes expressed with a touch of shame. The pilgrims do not want to be regarded as ‘odd’ people who do not speak to others. At the same time, they have joined the pilgrimage to get some time to themselves. Furthermore, the group forms a secure environment, which is fundamental for the positive attitude to the silence. To be silent by oneself could be a sign of loneliness, in a negative sense, thus another source of shame. The structured silence permits participants to reflect or not to think without being seen as unproductive or antisocial.

This leads to the question about spirituality. Is silence a form of highly individualized spirituality? On the one hand, one could agree. The silent walk as a moment for individual reflections is a fundamental element of this pilgrim spirituality. The silence gives people permission to reflect, to formulate their own theology (how to interpret the words of meditation) and their own praxis (what to do in life). This individualized spirituality goes hand in hand with the international value studies showing Sweden to be the country with the most secular-rational and self-expression values (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005). Spirituality comes from within; it is an individual search and an individual answer. It represents what Heelas and Woodhead (2005) have called ‘subjective-life’, where each person is his or her own authority according to emotions, reflections and experiences.

On the other hand, the collective is important. For a long time, Swedish spirituality has been classified as private religiosity: ‘I’m a Christian in my own personal way’ (Hamberg, 1989). But the idea of a highly private religiosity has also been contested, as most people seem to have a social network, some kind of plausibility structure, upholding their religious or spiritual thoughts (Löwendahl, 2005). For the pilgrims the collective form of the pilgrimage is important. The moment of silent walk separates special time for thoughts and reflections – a structural help. The other people in the group accept the silence – a social help. And finally the leaders provide some spiritual reflections and ‘input’ – a theological/existential help.

However, the leaders should not give any direct answer; they should just activate the pilgrims’ thoughts. The authority of the leaders regarding biblical interpretations comes through an ‘open mind’. This is one of the most important leader qualities mentioned by the pilgrims. Although they do not have the traditional authority of someone who knows everything about the Bible and theological matters, but are instead one among others searching for meaning and different interpretations, they convey a sense of authority to the pilgrims.

One pilgrim associated the pilgrimage with a ‘wandering study group’. The metaphor has several implications. Study groups have a long tradition in Sweden as a part of an adult education system with democratic ideals. One of the features of the traditional study group is the individual’s growth within a group. A pilgrimage might promote a sort of life growth through thinking and talking about important things in life. Democratic ideals also emerge, as everyone gets a chance to formulate his or her belief and the experiences of spirituality are individual.

Several researchers have pointed to self-transformation as an important part of pilgrimages (Frey, 1998; Post et al., 1998; Tomasi, 2002; Weiss Ozorak, 2006). In this study the importance of transformation differs greatly, partly because of the differences in time and length between the pilgrimages. Some pilgrims report a radical change regarding meaning and comprehension of life as well as lifestyle. The pilgrimage might not have been the direct cause of the transformation, but it is interpreted as part of the alteration in life. On a more general level, self-transformation is part of the spirituality of the pilgrimage. To find God is to find one’s way through life.

The silent walk has two aspects, one of collectivism and one of individualism. Both are important for the understanding of Swedish pilgrimages. The structured silence creates a safe space for the individual. Furthermore, the safe space of silence might become a space of spirituality. Pilgrims particularly report spiritual experiences during the moments of silence. The need for silence to experience spirituality was also observed by Palmer (2008). The silent walks have an important function for the pilgrims, and the space of silence becomes a substitute for the pilgrim destination as a sacred place and space.

Lifestyle

The seven keywords form a theological structure for the pilgrimages. But according to Lindström (2005) they have larger implications. In a similar manner to that in which pilgrimage has been released from specific places, the keywords can turn pilgrimage into a continuous action. The keywords – slowness, freedom, simplicity, silence, light-heartedness, sharing and spirituality – are said to represent a counter-culture in today’s society. They represent a desire for another life, not in Heaven, but here on earth. Pilgrimage can thus be transformed into a lifestyle, a life-long inner journey.

As a consequence, the Pilgrim Centre in 2006 launched a Pilgrim Community open for everyone with a longing to live for the seven keywords. Five activities are recommended: daily prayers, weekly walks/pilgrimages, readings, deeds and the sharing of thoughts. Within a year, 40 people had signed up. Even though it is called a ‘community’, each member lives in his or her home, in different parts of Sweden.

To link pilgrimage with a continuous lifestyle is, however, not necessary, as most pilgrims view pilgrimage as a break from ordinary life, to which they will return. The pilgrimage functions as a recovery, rather than a ‘life switch’ or lifestyle. This kind of discrepancy between the official view and that of lay people is not unusual at pilgrimages (Eade and Sallnow, 1991) but might in the long run cause mistrust.

While on the one hand, the seven keywords can be seen as contradictions of the prevailing lifestyle of late modern society, on the other hand, they can be seen as consequence of contemporary lifestyles. The model for the pilgrimages, with its focus on walking, silence and individually experienced spirituality, is strongly related to general values in the contemporary Swedish society, as mentioned above. However, pilgrimages could also be seen as part of other lifestyle values than the strictly spiritual-religious: as a healthy activity and therefore part of modern health trends or as a kind of experience activity and therefore part of current recreation and tourism trends.

Another aspect is that the use of contradictions is a simplification of the complex lives people generally lead. In a comparative study (Davidsson Bremborg, 2007) Lindström’s dichotomization of the social context is subjected to a sociological analysis, in which the seven keywords can be seen as a kind of lifestyle populism, capturing some people’s dissatisfaction with their living conditions but lacking any overall programme for a better lifestyle.

Conclusion: pilgrimage as a re-created rite

In the introduction, the Swedish pilgrimages were presented as re-created rites based on newness as well as tradition. It is time to summarize how pilgrimages are actually performed and experienced.

Pilgrimages in the Swedish Lutheran context are organized group activities with a focus on walking. The pilgrim destination has lost its significance as a holy place, and has a value primarily as a physical goal. Holy places are rather perceived and defined along the trail by the pilgrims individually. The setting – outdoor life and nature – serves as an instrument for spiritual experiences, often in combination with silence. The most appreciated moment is the silent walk. The structure of the silent walk forms a secure, collective environment for the individuals, while the silence creates a sacred space and facilitates spiritual experiences as well as existential thoughts. The pilgrims’ spirituality is individualized and related to self-transformation.

History serves to legitimize late modern pilgrimages. The marking of new or established pilgrim trails as well as the use of old-fashioned symbolic artefacts are means to make pilgrimages authentic, and to legitimize them through historical links. The positive development of the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela is a major source of inspiration and legitimization, as historical traditions and walking are combined. However, theologically the Swedish pilgrimages do not connect to the wider Christian community. Pilgrimages are defined as an alternative lifestyle through seven keywords – slowness, freedom, simplicity, silence, light-heartedness, sharing and spirituality – even though most participants use them for recovery rather than as a continuous way of living. A theological consequence of making pilgrimage a lifestyle is the movement from a heavenly goal towards an earthly goal.

The aim of this article was to sharpen the scientific focus on pilgrimage theories, but the results could rather be said to have widened the field of vision. The intention is not to overthrow other views on pilgrimage, but to broaden the concepts. Pilgrimages can also be a kind of spiritual walking. Holy places do not have to be connected to physical places, but can be individually experienced at different spots along the way. Silence can create a sacred space.

This study of Swedish pilgrimages has shown new ways of looking at pilgrimages, albeit with influences from and links to historical pilgrimages as well as to contemporary pilgrimages in other countries. It is a late modern rite that is still under construction. A Swedish pilgrimage can be seen as a walked, embodied, spiritual experience, performed by individuals collectively, with a focus on silence. To understand the phenomenon better, it ought to be more fully explored in a comparative perspective.