Six days to go...

What is Baha'i Pilgrimage?

I'm not really sure what most people imagine when they think of a religious pilgrimage. For me, images of thousands upon thousands of Muslims circumnambulating the Kaaba (Black Stone) in Mecca is the picture that leaps into my mind most readily.

As I have never been on pilgrimage before, even when I try to describe what it is to others, in some ways, I am only guessing myself. Essentially the Baha'i pilgrimage is an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of one's Faith by visiting places associated with the history of the Faith e.g. the places where Baha'u'llah and The Bab lived and taught and now where their mortal remains are enshrined. It will be a time for prayer and meditation. A time for reflection and perhaps re-assessment. A time of refreshment and revitalisation. It will be many things perhaps.

The Shrine of Baha'u'llah in Bahji, near Akka

I suppose if you were a Catholic, it would be rather like receiving a personal invitation from the Pope to visit all of the places associated with the birth, life and death of Christ, as well as Rome and the Vatican. It would be like viewing the original relics and materials from the time of Christ, seeing the oldest surviving texts that came to be known as The Bible, and coming to an understanding of how the present-day Catholic Church operates both administratively and spiritually.

Baha'i Administrative Buildings on the Slopes of Mount Carmel

For me, our pilgrimage to the Holy Land as well as Turkey will also help all the places, dates and events seem more real to me...I don't have a particularly good head for history, so to actually see places with my own eyes and hear stories with my own ears will go a long way towards making the history of my Faith seem real and tangible. This will be one history lesson that I will never forget!