OPINION ARTICLES
Festivals or rituals?
Festival politics, religiosity and sociability,
or
The importance of the court jester.
Part X – Pilgrimage.
Pilgrimage is a journey by definition, and usually involves a visit to a sacred site and a special event.
Three structural parts of sacred space are identified: a marked origin, a path, and a sacred centre (or destination) at the end of the path.
Special events (specially festival pilgrimages involving folkloric expressions) in pilgrimage centres with diverse crowds result in shared experiences, but also have the potential for misinterpretation.
“A pilgrimage shrine may or may not be a religious tourist attraction by virtue of its historical, artistic or architectural endowments. (…) In addition, a shrine may celebrate touristically appealing pilgrimages and on-site religious festivals. (…) tourists interested in colorful festivals are more likely to find what they seek among the many events that are not considered pilgrimages and are not held at pilgrimage shrines” (Nolan and Nolan, 1992, pp. 69-70).
Travelling to festivals is like a pilgrimage that touches liminal spaces, illuminates rites of passage, and acts as a source of spiritual fulfilment for the participants. Raves, for example, are compared to spiritual healing rituals in American subcultures and indigenous societies. The Huichol use pilgrimage to achieve unity, community and spiritual transformations, and it is based on an indigenous cosmovision with a cosmology of spiritual forces realised in the world, so it differs from festival pilgrimages in that there are different source destinations and the participants have different connections to the earth, the spiritual forces and the music-dance rituals, therefore with a different meaning to the sacred pilgrimage.
The pilgrimage of Boom Festival participants is planned months in advance and includes a long, hot journey of trials and challenges, where the entrance to the festival is considered a notorious discomfort for travellers, with queues that last for days before arriving at the festival. At the same time, there is an exultant atmosphere typical of those who arrive at the festival, which grows on the journey to the pilgrim’s goal, the “centre out there”, the benchmark vibe in the psychedelic calendar.
If at Boom there is discomfort, at Burning Man the pilgrimage takes place in an even more barren, windy and dusty place, where participants have to bring their own supplies and shelter, as no showers are provided, money should only be used for ice and coffee; and the only means of transport is by foot, bicycle or slow-moving “art car”, and it takes around 10 hours to get from the festival to the nearest public roadway. The spatial location of Burning Man was placed as another indicator of spiritual significance through its implication of ordeal.
The applicability of Turner’s concept of ritual pilgrimage to Burning Man could possibly be rejected, as it is a familiar environment and the ordeal experienced is limited, so the festival is a lush and decadent event. Despite this, the ordeal is relative, because on the one hand, for some Burners it is an experience of real danger in a challenging natural environment, while on the other hand, too much focus on the ordeal would disregard pleasure-seeking motivations, considering that spiritual motivations are likely to be superseded by hedonistic ones.
Bibliography:
BOTTORFF, David Lane (2015) “Emerging Influence of Transmodernism and Transpersonal Psychology Reflected in Rising Popularity of Transformational Festivals”, Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 17:1, pp.50-74.
GETZ, Donald e PAGE, Stephen G. (2016) “Progress and prospects for event tourism research”, Tourism Management, 52, pp.593-631.
MATTHEWS, Doug (2016) Special Event Production: The Process (2ª ed.), Oxon – Nova Iorque: Routledge.
MOHR, Kelci Lyn (2017) Dancing through Transformational Music Festivals: Playing with Leisure and Art, Dissertação de Mestrado, Alberta: University of Alberta.
NOLAN, Mary Lee e NOLAN, Sidney (1992) “Religious Sites as Tourism Attractions In Europe”, Annals of Tourism Research, 19:1, pp.68-78.
ST. JOHN, Graham e BALDINI, Chiara (2012) “Dancing at the Crossroads of Consciousness: Techno-Mysticism, Visionary Arts and Portugal’s Boom Festival”, In Cusack, Carole M. e Norman, Alex (eds.) Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production, Brill, pp.521–552.
YEGANEGY, Roxanne (2012) The Politics of Participation: Burning Man and British Festival Culture, Tese de Doutoramento, Leeds: University of Leeds.
Authorship: João Carvalho [1].
Based on the project work “Business plan. Cosmic Festival. Transformational Festival”, authored by João Carvalho, under the supervision of Specialist Professor Victor Afonso and co-supervision of PhD Professor Nuno Gustavo, for completion of the Master’s Degree in Tourism, with a specialisation in Strategic Event Management, at the Estoril Higher Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Studies. Presented and defended on December 27th, 2019.
May, 2020.
[1] Master’s Degree in Tourism, with specialisation in Strategic Event Management, by Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies; Beach Break®.
