Tamara’s Illness: Pilgrims, Fate, and Lived Religion in Post-Communist Romania

Abstract

Romania saw an increase in religiosity after the fall of communism. The number of pilgrimages has multiplied and they had gained in popularity in the last fifteen years. The pilgrims’ religion seems to relate less to abstract endings such as salvation and more to solving everyday life problems. Their attraction for practices and less for spiritual experiences is the object of criticism of those that promote a more “protestant” version of Orthodoxy. This article comes out of a desire to grasp the ways in which Orthodox Romanians understand and practice religion in everyday life. Following observations made during several pilgrimages in Romania in 2012, I examine one particular aspect that came out of the fieldwork: the pilgrims’ attitude towards fate. As it turns out, two contradictory attitudes towards fate emerge: action and resignation. I argue that the tension between the desire to influence fate and resignation might explain what is seen as “irrational” in the eyes of an external observer.