Rituals compared

Pilgrimage across the world

Why travel to a holy place? Pilgrims leave home to reach a place where the sacred is believed to be especially present: a shrine, a mountain, a river, a tomb. The journey itself is often treated as part of the act, with set routes, circuits and rites on arrival. Some pilgrimages are religious duties, others vows or devotions, and some are tied to a calendar date or an astronomical cycle.

Most instances arose independently. Islamic tradition places the origins of the Hajj with Abraham, and several Andean and Mexican pilgrimages combine Indigenous and Catholic elements, but no instance here is documented as copied from another.

Across the world

Version	Tradition	What is done, and why
Hajj 632 CE	Islam	An annual pilgrimage to the Kaaba in Mecca with set rites over several days, ending with a farewell circling of the Kaaba; it is required once in a lifetime of every Muslim able to make it. It is one of the Five Pillars; Muhammad performed it in 632 and taught its rites, which the Quran traces back to Abraham.
Arbain pilgrimage 680 CE	Shia Islam	Millions walk, often from Najaf, to the shrine of Husayn ibn Ali in Karbala on the 20th of Safar, forty days after Ashura; it is among the largest annual gatherings in the world. It mourns Husayn, killed at Karbala in 680; tradition holds that Jabir ibn Abd Allah made the first such visit.
The Three Pilgrimage Festivals 600 BCE	Judaism	At Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, all Israelites who were able were expected to go up to the Temple in Jerusalem. The journey was commanded by the Torah.
Consulting the oracle at Delphi 800 BCE	Ancient Greek Religion	Individuals and city-states travelled to the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi to put questions to the Pythia, and many left votive statues and treasuries along the Sacred Way. The oracle was consulted about important decisions throughout the classical world, and offerings thanked it for advice.
Kumbh Mela 1695 CE	Hinduism	A mass bathing pilgrimage held in a cycle tied to Jupiter at Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik and Ujjain, lasting one to three months; the name is first attested for Haridwar in texts of 1695 onward. The four sites are believed to have received drops of the nectar of immortality during the churning of the ocean.
The Buddha's four sites 250 BCE	Buddhism	Pilgrims visit the places of the Buddha's birth, awakening (Bodh Gaya), first sermon (Sarnath) and death in the Indo-Gangetic plain. The Buddha himself is said to have named these four sites as most worthy of pilgrimage. The year is approximate: the earliest dated record is the Brahmi inscription showing that the emperor Ashoka visited Lumbini, the birthplace, in the 3rd century BCE.
Circling Mount Kailash	Vajrayāna Buddhism	Pilgrims trek to Lake Manasarovar and walk around the mountain from Darchen over the Drolma pass; Hindus, Buddhists and Jains go clockwise, Bon followers counterclockwise. The mountain is sacred to four religions: home of Shiva, navel of the universe, place of Rishabhadeva's liberation and abode of a Bon sky goddess.
Okage mairi to Ise 1625 CE	Shintō	In the Edo period, waves of commoners travelled to the Ise Shrine; an estimated one in ten Japanese made the journey, and 5 million pilgrims came in 1830 alone. The shrine is dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu, believed to dwell in its Inner Shrine. The year is the earliest mass pilgrimage counted in the historical documents cited for the shrine: 3.62 million visitors in 50 days in 1625.
Pilgrimage to the Golden Temple 1604 CE	Sikhism	Pilgrims walk the marble circumambulation path around the sacred pool and visit the shrine where Guru Arjan installed the Adi Granth in 1604. Guru Arjan established Amritsar as the primary Sikh pilgrimage destination.
Camino de Santiago 850 CE	Roman Catholicism	A network of routes across Europe leading on foot to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela; the earliest records of visits date from the 9th century. Tradition holds that the remains of the apostle James are buried there.
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe 1531 CE	Roman Catholicism	Pilgrims come to the basilica in Mexico City to venerate the image of the Virgin on the cloak of Juan Diego; it draws more visitors than any other Marian shrine. Catholic tradition holds that the image was miraculously imprinted on the cloak in 1531.
Quyllurit'i 1783 CE	Andean Religion (Inca and earlier)	A syncretic festival in the Sinakara Valley near Cusco, where ukukus long climbed the glaciers to bring back crosses and ice; its legend involves an apparition of Christ investigated in 1783. Local Andean people celebrate it as a festival of the stars, marking the return of the Pleiades and the coming harvest, alongside Catholic devotion.
Wixarika journey to Wirikuta	Indigenous American Traditions	Each year the Wixarika (Huichol) travel to Wirikuta near Real de Catorce in San Luis Potosi to gather peyote (hikuri). The gathering is central to their religion, in which Corn, Blue Deer and Peyote form a sacred trinity.
Osun-Osogbo Festival 1300 CE	Yoruba Religion (Ifá)	Each August worshippers of Osun gather at the sacred grove on the Osun river outside Osogbo, one of the last surviving Yoruba sacred forests. The grove is sacred to the river goddess Osun. The year is approximate and rests on tradition: the festival is believed to be more than 700 years old.

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