Reframing Pilgrimage in Northern Europe

What is it about?

This special issue of Numen is devoted to studies that show how pilgrimage is currently being reframed in various parts of Northern Europe where the physical and institutional infrastructure as well as the vernacular traditions of pilgrimage were interrupted, fragmented, or had disappeared altogether until recently. Today, diverse histories of disruption influence and inform the presentation, representation, and re-presentation of pilgrimage in these countries. Tracing an arc from Ireland via Scotland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland to Estonia, the contributors to this special issue study how diverse groups of pilgrims and stakeholders operationalize history and heritage in relation to pilgrimage. Travelers with varied backgrounds and motivations, local and regional administrations and associations, minority groups and spiritual movements, the churches, and national initiatives create traditions and address contemporary concerns, adapt imported practices to local material culture, negotiate physical and metaphorical borders, and translate the past into heritage.

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