Abstract
Abstract This article is the first attempt at mapping the pilgrimage landscape in contemporary Estonia, reputedly one of the most secularized countries in Europe. Based on fieldwork on three case studies — the Estonian Society of the Friends of the Camino de Santiago, the Pirita-Vastseliina pilgrim trail, and the “Mobile Congregation” — we have identified three distinctive features that shape the Estonian pilgrimage scene. The processes of Caminoization and heritagization characterize pilgrimage on a European scale, while the phenomenon that we call “bridging” has a more local flavor. Bridging refers to using pilgrimage to create connections between the Church (of any Christian denomination) and “secular” people. Historically a Christian practice, pilgrimage has transformed into something much more ambiguous. Thus, people often perceive pilgrimage as religion-related but still inherently secular. As the relationships between institutionalized religion and the vernacular world of beliefs and practices are multivalent, there is evidence of an ongoing “re-Christianization” of pilgrimage.
Highlights
Most of the analyses of the religious landscape in contemporary Estonia refer in one way or another to extreme secularization (Pickel, Pollack, and Müller 2012)
We have identified Caminoization, heritagization, and “bridging” as the prevailing trends in the pilgrimage landscape in contemporary Estonia, where general trends have combined with local peculiarities, which arise mainly, but not exclusively, from the background of the “forced secularization” of the Soviet past
There are influences from the Estonian national narrative, which is critical of Christianity, and Estonia’s Lutheran background plays a particular role
Summary
Being a border state between East and West makes Estonia distinguishable from a “typical” Western European example. They note: Perhaps it is the heritagisation aspect of the Camino that enables people to feel heirs to it, participate in it, feel part of a long tradition of spiritual travellers (though their worldviews are not those of medieval or even contemporary Catholics/Christians), use the infrastructure of the Catholic Church (which they might normally distance themselves from), value the credencial and Compostela ( they may not normally describe themselves as religious, and have no interest in indulgences) and attend the Pilgrim Mass, seek a pilgrim blessing or participate in the “pilgrim tradition” of hugging the statue of St. James on arrival at Santiago Cathedral (even though they want or expect nothing from him). The two case studies provided below show a strong interrelationship between Caminoization, heritagization, and a national take on pilgrimage
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