Pilgrim - what is it? Everyone has heard this word at least once in their life. Maybe on TV or from your parents. But does everyone know its true meaning? But a whole layer of medieval culture is associated with it. Although some of the young will say that this is the name of a rock band or a feature film.
Let's look at the dictionary
In general, pilgrims are, of course, wanderers. Travelers to holy places, deeply believing wanderers. The word came from the Latin peregrinus, which means "wandering". In Tsarist Russia, this word also occurred, but more often it was modified into a pilgrimage.
A kind of Russian version. So called the pious mighty wanderer. Tales were told about him. In principle, a pilgrim is a synonym for the word "pilgrim".
Today
Pilgrims also exist in the modern world. Christians travel to holy places to this day. But more on that later. And every Muslim should at least once make a pilgrimage to Mecca. In addition, a significant proportion of the inhabitants of the United States consider themselves descendantspilgrims. Why?
A trip to history
In the strict sense of the word, the Pilgrim Fathers are not pilgrims at all, and they did not go to holy places. In fact, this was the name of one of the first Europeans who landed and established a colony in the territory that is now called the United States of America. And it happened at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Then, in 1620, persecuted for dissent by the Anglican Church, a group of British Puritans decided to find a new place to live. As part of one hundred and two people (among whom were also women and children), they went to the shores of the New World. But traveling on their own in those days was difficult, and therefore they enlisted the support of a large trading company. Not for free, of course.
They had to work their way out. However, it turned out that after a long journey, the ship did not land at all where it was planned. And, without thinking twice, the Puritans founded a settlement on the site of modern Plymouth. They were the first settlers in the history of New England. And having decided that since they still didn’t get to the place they agreed on, the travelers considered themselves completely free from any obligations. They signed the so-called Mayflower Agreement. The latter was an agreement on the self-government of the colony.
Their life, of course, was not easy. Only half of the settlers survived the first winter. Almost immediately clashes began with local Indian tribes. But thanks to more advanced weapons, the Europeans managed to gain a foothold onoccupied territory. Not all natives, of course, treated them with hostility. One of the Indians, who later became a legend, even helped the settlement survive. He taught the Puritans how to grow crops in their new place.
A well-chosen word
But why did all these people become known as pilgrims? And it all started with a "red word". In 1793, at a feast dedicated to the first settlers, the Reverend Father C. Robbins preached a sermon. In it, he called the colonists who arrived there, the Pilgrim Fathers. His idea, in principle, is clear: people were looking for freedom of religion. And they made a long and difficult journey for this. Then this name has got accustomed already at politicians. And some time later, the English poetess F. D. Hamans wrote her poem "The Arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England." But this, of course, is not the whole story. The first real pilgrims appeared in medieval Europe. They traveled mainly to the Holy Land, to Jerusalem.
Pilgrim's Road - what is it?
It is also called the way of St. James. And she leads pilgrims from all over the world to the tomb of this apostle, which is located in the Spanish Santiago de Compostela. But there is another path of the pilgrims. This is the name of the ancient stone road in Jerusalem. On it, believers went to a religious ceremony.
A long time ago
What made this man so famous that only the black plague could stop thousands of pilgrims going to him. The latter is known to have killed half the population of medieval Europe. Real pilgrims are, without a doubt, alreadyknow.
According to the legend, the apostle died a martyr's death in the year 44 from the Nativity of Christ in the Holy Land. And his remains were placed in a boat and released into the Mediterranean Sea. It so happened that this ship washed up on the shores of Spain, where the aforementioned saint preached during his lifetime. They considered it a miracle. True, this happened only in 813. Then on the shore the ark with incorrupt relics was discovered by a hermit monk named Pelayo.
Half a century later, a church was built on this site by decree of King Alphonse III. And this place began to be referred to as Compostela (“the place marked with a star”).
There are legends that the apostle miraculously appeared and helped during the battles with the Moors. One way or another, but he began to be considered the patron saint of Spain. During his lifetime, St. James also made a long journey as a pilgrim. That this would make him the patron saint of all pilgrims, he could hardly have imagined then. By the way, he went from the Holy Land to Spain.
Meanwhile, the city of Compostela, since one of the twelve apostles was buried on its territory, is becoming a shrine not only to Spain, but to the entire Catholic world.
There is a legend that Emperor Charlemagne had a dream. In it, the Lord showed him the way to the shrine - the Milky Way, which went through France and Spain. And God commanded him to clear the way of the pilgrims from the Moors. The latter was of considerable importance for the establishment of tradition. The emperor sent troops there and, one might say, paved the way.
And when in the twelfth century the Spanish crown established the military knightly order of St. James, whose task it was to protect pilgrims, this path became even more "comfortable".
Compostela was equated with Rome and Jerusalem - Pope Calixtus II granted the believers going there the right to indulgence. Since then, the place has become very popular. Pilgrims went there from all over the world. And the pilgrims' road was overgrown with churches and inns, which had a positive effect on the economic situation of the region.
Meanwhile, the road was laid in such a way that pilgrims along the way could visit other shrines - the relics of the Holy Faith, Mary Magdalene and many others. Famous pilgrims also passed along this road. This, for example, is Bishop Godescalk.
The road was rediscovered in the nineteenth century. And every year the number of pilgrims walking along it only grows.
Route
The road starts in the south of France and the Pyrenees, you can go through the Ronceval or Somport passes. But in Spain, this path runs from Pamplona to Santiago de Compostela. It is also called “the road of the French kings” there.
In the Middle Ages, pilgrims going there used the Milky Way to navigate. It, according to legend, was drawn in the sky by the saint himself. So he showed the way here to Emperor Charlemagne. Therefore, this cluster of stars in the sky is also often called the "way of St. James."
In conclusion
So, pilgrim - who is it? First of all, a believerHuman. He has a goal and a path he must follow in order to reach it. There have been pilgrims in the past, there are in the present, and, in all likelihood, there will be in the future. It is respectful that many Americans remember and are proud that their ancestors were deeply religious people. Perhaps someday the first settlers to distant planets will call themselves the same.
