PIlgrimages

=By Liam, Raiyaan, Mia and Sidney =

===Pilgrims are people who go on a holy journey called a pilgrimage. Christians, Jews and Muslims all have pilgrimages to many different holy places around the world. Pilgrims want to be closer to God and go to heaven. Christian pilgrims would travel to Christian cities for example Rome, which is the heart of Christianity. Jewish pilgrims would travel to Jerusalem to visit their Holy Temple and Muslims would travel to the important black stone, The Kabah in Mecca. Pilgrimages began during medieval times and still happen today. ===  Picture by Radiowood2000

===** In the middle ages churches encouraged other people to make pilgrimages to a holy places called a shrine. It was believed if someone prayed at these shrines their sins would be forgotten and more likely they would go to heaven. Although other people went to the shrines hoping to be cured from a illness. The most popular shrine was in England and was the tomb of Thomas Becket at Canterbury cathedral. When Thomas Becket Died of murder local people managed to get a hold of a piece of his clothing soaked in his blood. A rumor spread that if you touched this cloth you would be cured of blindness epilepsy a disorder and leprosy a disease. Not long after this people sold bottles of Becket’s blood to visiting pilgrim’s. **===

===There were specific rules that all medieval Christian pilgrims had to follow. They were not allowed to take any possessions with them. They couldn’t take their clothes, instead they could only take robes which indicated that they were pilgrims. They could only take money for basic stuff like food, water and shelter. They could bring a horse if they had one, which was only the wealthy, but otherwise they had to walk on foot. Sometimes people went on a pilgrimage not for only them, but for their entire town or city. The townspeople would fund the pilgrimage and only a few people from the town could go. The pilgrims carried a scroll of all the town's sins and placed it in the cathedral where they were going. Only the rich could go since they had the money for a trip, or everybody scraped up money so a few people could go from a town. === Picture by iansand

===** The first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity, Emperor Constantine, built many fancy buildings called monasteries. Monasteries were buildings that people in pilgrimages could go in to rest, get food and pray. As pilgrimages became more and more popular, the monasteries soon became overwhelmed. A lot of them closed down. By the time they were all gone, pilgrims were more advanced and they had it a bit easier, so they didn’t need the monasteries anymore. Constantine also built many churches, and a basilica at the place Christ was crucified. A basilica is a Roman public building. **===

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===Pilgrims commonly got robbed or murdered during the trip, so eventually they started traveling in large groups protected by guards. The groups usually met in large cities such as Paris and then traveled together in a group to their destination. Pilgrims DIDN’T have to travel on horse or foot after they made it to the cathedral or shrine they were looking for. They were allowed to purchase a ticket on a ferry to go back home, because their journeys was done, and they were no longer restricted. ===  Picture by [|CowGummy]

===Pilgrims now and in the middle ages travel to the holy land which is Israel, which contains Nazareth and Jerusalem. They also go to places all over Europe, like Rome, the Shrine of Padre Pio in Italy and Santiago De Compostella in Spain. Pilgrimages today still exist but are less common. Pilgrims now can take what they want and buy a ticket to fly to where they want to go. Pilgrimages are important in religion, now and during the medieval ages. === Picture by Moyan_Brenn

Citation "Pilgrimage." Kidipede. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. . Langley, Andrew. "Saints and Pilgrims." DK Eyewitness Books. London: DK Pub., 2011.