Session Organisers:
Jaeyeon Choe, Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland
Bernadette Flanagan, South East Technological University, Ireland
Ruthanne Baxter, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
Heather Warfield, Antioch University, USA

 

Abstract:
Pilgrimage has long been a method of coping with grief, serving as a spiritual process and transformative experience for managing loss and memorialisation. Grief encompasses a wide range of experiences, including the death of family members (human and non-human), health challenges, and numerous other significant life changes. Veterans and their families visiting battlefields for commemoration and coping with trauma has also become a popular form of grief pilgrimage. In the United Kingdom (UK), there is a limited tradition of rituals or coping spaces for dealing with death and loss. To support this aspect, the British Pilgrimage Trust has been organising bereavement pilgrimage walks in England since 2024, attracting considerable interest from local residents, tourists and pilgrimage scholars. This initiative has been particularly noteworthy given the current constraints in public health services, which have restricted access to psychological support resources in the UK. Thus, we are interested in exploring the potential benefits of pilgrimage walks for grief for individuals who do not have access to other coping strategies or where support strategies offered are not appealing to the individual; and how pilgrimage walks and practices can be used as an alternative form of therapy expanding the non-clinical options for social prescribing.

We are also interested in exploring other pilgrimage coping strategies and rituals in different cultures. In Western contexts, pilgrimage is often associated with walking, with participants traversing established pilgrimage routes as a means of processing grief. In some Asian traditions, pilgrimage might involve visiting significant religious and spiritual sites, such as the River Ganges in India, and engaging in specific grieving rituals. Exploring the diverse rituals for addressing loss through spiritual practices such as pilgrimage can help individuals and communities develop effective and creative healing mechanisms, particularly in regions with limited healthcare services. Moreover, this approach represents a potentially sustainable practice, given the numerous pilgrimage routes and sites such as the UK that remain underutilised by contemporary society.

We invite you to discuss how pilgrimage-based grief coping mechanisms can work on individuals and communities. We would also like to explore the diverse approaches to grief management through varied pilgrimage practices, offering nuanced insights into different cultural interpretations and healing rituals.

Interested individuals are invited to submit a 400-word abstract by 24 February 2025 to: Dr Jaeyeon Choe (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

We look forward to your contributions.

References:

Eade, J., & Kotic, M. (2018). Military Pilgrimage and Battlefield Tourism: Commemorating the Dead. Routledge.

Kubler-Ross, E., & Kessler, D. (2005). On grief and grieving: Finding the meaning of grief through the five stages of loss. Simon and Schuster.

Warfield. H. A., Michonneau. S., & Viltart, F. (Eds.) (2025). Pilgrimages to the Western Front of World War I: Historical examplars & contemporary practices. Oxford, UK: Peter Lang Publishers.

Warfield. H. A. (2022). Pilgrimage as developmental experience: A psychological lens. In J. Bloechl and A. Brouillette (Eds.), Pilgrimage as spiritual practice: A handbook for teachers and guides (pp.41-60). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

Warfield, H. A., & Hetherington, K. (Eds.) (2018). Pilgrimage as transformative process. Leiden: Brill Publishers.