Paradoxically, the nation which was most numerously represented at the World Youth Day (WYD) in the Archdiocese of Lodz were not Poles (2268), but the French (3214), which is easy to explain. The organizer of one of four festivals was the French community Chemin Neuf, which very efficiently recruited pilgrims, not only in France, but in many other countries as well. As a result, the "Paradise in the City" festival attracted the greatest number of pilgrims (5300) from 48 countries (52.5% of the participants of all events, 60% of all the participating countries).

Besides the French and Poles, other nationalities were represented by far smaller numbers: Hungarians—by 613 people, Spaniards—523, Canadians—280, the British—211, and Americans—by 182. Most countries were represented by only a few or several pilgrims. We can observe here a clear relationship: the higher the percentage of Catholics in a given country (>50%) and the shorter the distance from Poland (<1500 km), the greater the number of pilgrims arriving for WYD festivities. An additional factor encouraging people to travel to Lodz was the dynamic activity of Chemin Neuf or religious orders (Claretians, Jesuits) in a given country.

It is noteworthy that only the French, Poles, Spaniards, Canadians and Brazilians participated in all four festivals held in Lodz. Representatives of most nations took part in one festival (maximum two).

Based on the data obtained from the organizers of three festivals, it was possible to define the exact age and sex structure of the participants. A considerable majority of the pilgrims were people aged 15–30 (mostly in the 20–24 and 15–19 ranges), as the event is, by definition, directed towards young people. However, because the age limit is not observed too rigorously at the WYD, it was attended by both younger (under 10) and older (over 70) pilgrims. In the first case, they were usually children accompanying their parents. The other group consisted of priests, bishops, nuns and youth carers. They also included many participants—older by birth certificate but young at heart. The majority of people attending the Days in the Archdiocese of Lodz were women, who outnumbered men by 14%. What is interesting is that men did not form the majority in any of the age groups.

Following the WYD organization arrangement, most foreign pilgrims were accommodated with families in Lodz and other destinations in the region (59% of the people participating in Peter's Boat, Paradise in the City and Claretians' festivals). The remaining 41% stayed in schools and student hostels. There were many people willing to take the pilgrims into their own homes, but the festival organizers offered student's hostels (Technical University and University of Lodz) to the participants for their convenience, with the main attractions and events nearby.

More detailed information was provided by the survey that was conducted among the pilgrims. The relatively small sample (n = 246) cannot be regarded as fully representative of the whole group. The conclusions must be then approached carefully. The results that were obtained, however, give a general idea of the motivations, behaviour and opinions of the WYD participants. It was assumed—and later fully confirmed—that the Days in the Diocese were attended by two separate groups: Poles (49.2%) and foreigners (50.8%). Therefore, the description of WYD participants will be a comparative analysis of these two populations.

A vast majority of the respondents had participated in World Youth Day for the first time (nearly 91% of Poles and over 2/3 of the foreigners). Only 9.1% of Poles and nearly 1/3 of the foreigners stated that they had already taken part in a young people's meeting with the Pope before. What is important is that it was not confirmed that earlier experience of the event made the respondents more critical in their assessment and opinions.

Foreign pilgrims usually stayed at the Archdiocese of Lodz for 4–5 days (52.6%) or 6–7 days (36.3%). Shorter or longer stays were infrequent. Next, everybody travelled to Krakow to take part in the main WYD festivities. Thus, the foreigners spent a total of 10–14 days in Poland. The participation of Poles was slightly different. Due to their involvement in organizing the event, their stays were visibly longer. Nearly 1/3 of the respondents spent over a week in Lodz, 27.3%—4–5 days and 23.1%—6–7 days. There were also Polish pilgrims who appeared only at individual events for one (9%) or 2–3 days (8%). Including one week in Krakow, the average stay of Poles at World Youth Day can be estimated at 2–3 weeks.

The most popular means of transport for foreigners were the plane and the coach. Approximately half of the travelers (mostly from other continents) came to Poland by plane, and the other half (inhabitants of European countries) came by hired buses and coaches. Other means of public transport (e.g., trains, regular buses), as well as private cars, were statistically insignificant. The trips were usually prepared by various church institutions (parishes, religious communities, special diocesan bodies, orders, etc.—jointly over 70%), or travel agencies from the pilgrims' countries, specializing in religious tourism (11%).

The institutional organizer of the trip decided not only about the means of transport to be used, but also about a person's companions during the stay in Poland. Therefore, the foreigners usually arrived in Lodz in organized groups, together with other members of their parish (over 42%) or another religious community (23.7%), possibly in a group of friends (28.1%). Being accompanied by family members, partners or traveling alone was reported by very few people. Poles' responses were quite different. Over half of them (52.9%) declared that they were taking part in the WYD events together with their friends and people they knew. Every third respondent was a member of a larger group (a parish community or another religious organization). Every tenth respondent arrived at WYD alone, with no company.

It was particularly interesting to analyze the answers to the question about the motivations and purposes of participating in World Youth Day. They were divided into two groups: the main reasons—religious (Figure 4) and the remaining ones—non-religious (Figure 5), presenting a range of several possible variants of responses. The respondents also had an opportunity to make a free comment to this open question.

**Figure 4.** Religious purposes of respondents' participation in World Youth Day. (Source: authors, based on a survey).

**Figure 5.** Non-religious purposes of respondents' participation in World Youth Day. (Source: authors, based on a survey).

As regards the religious-spiritual purposes of attending WYD, two were clearly predominant: "the overall strengthening of faith" (over 80% of the respondents) and "the meeting with Pope Francis" (ca. 70%). Those responses were most common among Poles and foreigners alike (Figure 4), with a few

percent of Poles more (as regards their desire to see the head of the Catholic Church, the difference was 8%—74% compared to 66%). As for the foreigners, the "religious-tourist" purposes turned out to be more important. They, much more often than Poles, wanted to visit places related to Pope John Paul II (33% and 19%, respectively), Cz ˛estochowa and other Polish sanctuaries (22% and 3%, 23% and 5%, respectively), as well as KL Auschwitz, where St. Maximilian Kolbe had died (16% and under 1%, respectively). A similar proportion of Polish and foreign respondents (16–17%) planned a trip following in the footsteps of St. Faustina.

Even bigger differences could be noticed as regards the non-religious purposes (Figure 5). Poles tended to prioritize "social" motivations: meeting Catholics from other countries (over 88%), spending time among friends (63%), as well as attending cultural events (42%). They were also important to the foreigners but indicated by them much more rarely (from a few to several percent). The only exception was the desire to make new friends in Poland. The hope to meet new, interesting people was expressed by 56% of foreign and 39% of Polish World Youth Day participants. Many more foreign than Polish pilgrims indicated "tourist" purposes: discovering Polish culture (76%), sightseeing (39%), as well as visiting museums, discovering Poland's natural assets and practising active tourism (several percent each). Only a small proportion of Poles were interested in these forms of activity. The two groups were in complete agreement as regarded the recreational purpose. Every fifth respondent, regardless of their origin, hoped to relax and rest.

The respondents described their motivations in more detail in the open question. Naturally, the answers were extremely varied. After being put in order and aggregated, they can be divided into the following groups of motivations:

Pilgrims from abroad, with a few exceptions, had never been to Lodz or the Lodz region before. They did not have any family bonds with Poland either. Nearly half of the respondents had not known anything about Lodz and its region before arrival (the stay was organized by church institutions, which did not require the participants' involvement). Those who searched for information about the place of their stay looked it up on the Internet (37%), asked their families and friends (17%), looked for books and tourist guidebooks (13%), and every tenth visited a tourist information point on the spot, in Poland. In Lodz, the most frequently used information centres were located in the historical centre of Lodz (Manufaktura, Piotrkowska Street) and at the main transport nodes (Łód ´z Kaliska and Łód ´z Fabryczna train stations, W. Reymont Airport). Local guides, both professional and amateur (Polish volunteers and carers/supervisors), were an important source of information about the region. Nearly half of the foreigners admitted having used their services.

The pilgrims' schedule for their stay in the Archdiocese of Lodz was filled primarily with all kinds of religious-spiritual events, not leaving much time for tourism or recreation. Therefore, visiting the region was usually limited to walking around the town and making short trips to nearby destinations.

The most frequently indicated place in Lodz, visited by the respondents during the Days in the Dioceses, was Atlas Arena—a sports hall, where the final mass, closing the whole event was held (84% of Poles and 75% of foreigners—cf. Figure 6). Other places that were frequently mentioned by the respondents included St. Stanislaw Kostka Cathedral, Poniatowskiego Park, "Bombonierka", Expo Hall and the City Centre of Sport and Recreation, Słowackiego Park (Venice) and St. Faustina's house, i.e., sites located in the southern part of the city centre, where the pilgrims' life was bustling.

**Figure 6.** Lodz attractions visited by respondents (Source: authors, based on a survey).

Apart from taking part in religious events, the WYD participants could freely walk around the city. They were mostly interested in the historical centre of Lodz. Over half of the foreigners visited Manufaktura9, Piotrkowska Street10 and the Old Town11. Poles' preferences were slightly different. 3/4 went to Piotrkowska Street, half of them—to Manufaktura, and only 16%—to the Old Town. The differences in responses, however, may result from the misunderstanding of the term "Old Town". The foreigners quite often considered the representational Piotrkowska Street to be a fragment of the oldest district of the city, which is not true. It is a fact, however, that all these three spaces have a historical-commercial-recreational character. Other tourist-recreational attractions of Lodz were far less interesting for the respondents. Every 8–9th foreigner visited Łagiewnicki Forest, the Museum of Textile Industry, the Museum of Cinematography and the Jewish Cemetery. Poles appeared there less often, but they additionally visited Ksi ˛e ˙zy Młyn and the Old Cemetery in Ogrodowa Street (10% each). Those two places were rather omitted by the foreign visitors. Only few people went to the Museum of Art, Palm House, "Fala" Aquapark or the Open-Air Museum of Wooden Architecture.

The respondents were also asked which event of the Days in Dioceses had impressed them most. Free and very emotional responses, given by Poles and foreigners alike, clearly pointed to the following: (1) the Dismissal Mass and the closing concert in Atlas Arena, (2) the Way of the Cross, led along the streets of the city, and (3) other, minor events (concerts, meetings, prayers), which took place during the festivals or in the parishes receiving the pilgrims.

The respondents also had the opportunity to evaluate different aspects of the Days in Dioceses (1 point = very bad to 5 points = very good). Both the events and the stay in the Archdiocese of Lodz itself were evaluated very highly by Poles and foreigners alike (Figure 7). The elements appreciated the

9 A shopping and recreation center, located on the premises of a former, revitalized 19th century textile factory, owned by Israel Pozna ´nski, one of the largest in the city.

10 The main street of Lodz, over 4 km long—a historical route and the central axis of the developing city in the 19th century. Today, the northern section of the street (2 km) is a representational promenade and the center of city life.

11 The area of the medieval city surrounding the Old Market (north of Piotrkowska Street and west of Manufaktura). In 1945–1944, the Old Town was situated within the premises of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, created by Germans.

highest (over 80% were rated as good and very good) included the following: the atmosphere during the festivities (92%!), the kindness of the inhabitants, security and hospitality (Figure 8). The last of the above-mentioned categories reached the highest arithmetical mean (4.83 among Poles and 4.89 among foreigners). There were, however, visible differences between the evaluation by Polish and foreign respondents. The Poles rated cultural and sports events accompanying the WYD higher, while the foreigners—the accommodation, tourist information and the cleanliness of Lodz streets.

**Figure 7.** Mean ratings of different aspects of WYD in the Archdiocese of Lodz (1—very bad, 5—very good) (Source: authors, based on a survey).

**Figure 8.** Top-rated aspects of WYD in the Archdiocese of Lodz (the total of "good" and "very good") (Source: authors, based on a survey).

The last of the above-mentioned aspects is particularly interesting. The foreigners praised the cleanliness of the city streets (84% of positive ratings, the mean: 4.42), while the Poles were more careful when giving good and very good marks in this category (68%, mean: 3.78). As much as 11.5% thought that the level of cleanliness in the public spaces of Lodz should be a cause for embarrassment (it was rated as "very bad" and "bad"). This opinion was shared by 10 times fewer foreigners (only 1.5%).

What differed the respondents most were probably the negative opinions (Figure 9). The Poles first of all criticized public toilets (16.5% were rated as very bad and bad, the mean: 3.26), the cleanliness of streets and tourist graphic identification (6.6%; 3.91). The foreigners were definitely more critical of the local transport (9.6% of negative opinions, mean: 3.87) and access to the city (6.7%; 4.11), as well as—which may seem a little surprising—the standard of gastronomic services (low for 8.1% of respondents, despite the mean of 4.00). In general, however, the visitors were much less judgemental than Poles.

**Figure 9.** Lowest rated aspects of WYD in the Archdiocese of Lodz (the total of "bad" and "very bad") (Source: authors, based on a survey).

Naturally, all the evaluations should be approached with extreme caution, as they are heavily subjective (lack of clear assessment criteria, various points of reference when evaluating, for instance, the standard of living in one's own country), as well as sensitive to external factors (the context of evaluation, personal experience during WYD, courteousness, the feeling of gratitude towards the hosts, etc.). Nevertheless, the general impression of the Days in Dioceses must have been very positive, as over 90% of the respondents (90.9% of Poles and 91.9% of foreigners) declared that they would recommend Lodz and the Lodz region to their families and friends. A great majority of the respondents also claimed that they would be happy to take part in the next World Youth Day (80% of foreigners and 68% of Poles). These responses confirm the assumption that the event attracts young, active Catholics involved in the life of their religious community.

To sum up, based on the survey results, it can be concluded that, at the diocese level, WYD was attended by two main groups: Poles (nearly 1/4) and foreigners (3/4). The former usually came from Lodz and the Lodz region, played the role of hosts, often worked as volunteers helping to organize the event, spontaneously took care of the visitors, and took on the role of the local guides and animators of the guests' free time. The latter, regardless of the country they had arrived from, behaved as guests, showed great interest in Poland, and were willing to take part in cultural, sports or tourist events. They can certainly be defined as pilgrim tourists or religious tourists. Despite the fact that the main, spiritual aim of the meeting was the same, the groups differed considerably, for example, as regards the motivations to participate in World Youth Day, religious or tourist-recreational behaviours, as well as evaluations and opinions. All of them, however, created a unique atmosphere of an exceptional holiday—a joyous meeting of the Catholic youth from all over the world.

#### *5.3. Economic Outcomes*

Expenditure levels during the Days in the Dioceses are extremely difficult to define, or even calculate, due to different forms of payment and varied charge rates, where factors such as the home country or the status of the participant have to be taken into consideration as well. Participating in the diocese stage on the premises of the Archdiocese of Lodz cost from EUR 12 (Polish volunteers used a subsidy from Lodz Curia) to EUR 220 (foreign participants of MAGIS 2016 and Paradise in the City festivals)12. It was the price of the pilgrim's package, which included accommodation, board, water to drink, transport at the place of stay and transport to Krakow to the main WYD celebrations, insurance and a set of promotional items. The packages enabled the pilgrims to satisfy all their basic needs. Foreigners additionally paid for transport to and from Poland. This cost depended on the distance and the means of transport they chose.

According to the information provided by the Church, the payment for participation in individual festivals was used for their organization, covering the cost of renting facilities, transport, provisions for the pilgrims, sound systems, lighting, decoration, creating promotional materials and name badges, supplying water, organizing additional attractions, etc. However, they were not sufficient to cover all the costs of organizing the event. Some costs were covered by the families receiving the pilgrims; they not only put them up, but also gave them breakfast, drinking water and other support (transport, organizing free time, etc.). Some funds were provided from the state budget or local government budgets (security, medical aid, etc.).

Considering the rates suggested by the Episcopacy of Poland13, it can be estimated that the income generated by over 10,000 visitors in the Archdiocese of Lodz reached at least ca. EUR 300,000. On the other hand, assuming average charges (medium price range), the sum of EUR 950,000 is obtained. That money above all went to small, local firms (catering, sound management, lighting, transport, printing, etc.). Such enterprises certainly significantly benefited from providing services for the event, but region-wise, those were still rather small sums.

The respondents taking part in the survey were asked about their expenses during their stay in the Archdiocese of Lodz (apart from the pilgrim's package and transport to and from Poland). Nearly every tenth foreigner and every third Pole declared a lack of any additional expenses. The remaining mentioned small, spontaneous shopping (bottled drinking water, extra food, devotional items, souvenirs). The average foreign pilgrim's expenses were about EUR 53 and Poles spent about EUR 32. These sums are significantly smaller (2–3 times) than the expenses of the tourists visiting the city and region of Lodz14 in 2016 (despite the fact that the pilgrims stayed longer).

Assuming that the respondents' declarations concerning their expenses reflect the shopping behaviors of the remaining WYD participants, we may try to calculate the overall amount of money spent in the region by the pilgrims (Bik and Stasiak 2017). This sum is not very large, amounting to ca. EUR 400,000. However, the participants of the Days in the Dioceses did not arrive in order to shop, but for quite different, non-commercial purposes. The majority of pilgrims were not interested in spending money at all. Only one third of the respondents admitted that they would be willing to spend more, above all on food, souvenirs and sightseeing.

#### *5.4. Promotional Outcomes*

One of the WYD ideas that was particularly alive during the Days in the Dioceses was developing new friendships and sharing faith by young people coming from various parts of the world (Jackowski et al. 2016). Pilgrims' learning about the culture and traditions of a place they visit is

12 These are costs for the entire duration of stay.

13 The Episcopacy of Poland imposed the minimum charge for all foreigners in all the dioceses (30 Euro), so that they could not compete for foreign pilgrims through a lowered price of the packages.

14 Respectively: EUR 102 and EUR 103 (Napierała 2016).

most strongly affected by their personal experience and relationships with the inhabitants. It is later reflected in the perception they have of the whole visited country. Thus, it was decided to examine the perception of Poland by pilgrims from abroad, as well as the perception of the pilgrims by Poles. For this purpose, the authors thoroughly analyzed the contents of the media messages posted on the internet (YouTube, the local TV and the Archdiocese of Lodz news), as well as in the regional press (five newspapers). Among numerous reports from WYD, only those were selected which included direct comments made by the participants. In general, it was possible to record the opinions of 84 foreigners (73 on YouTube, 11 in the press) from 27 countries, including France (19), Spain (8), Zimbabwe (7) and Ukraine (6). It is possible to observe a certain tendency: the reporters interviewed representatives of the most numerous groups of pilgrims, but also representatives of countries which are exotic to Poles (e.g., Haiti, Martinique, Sri Lanka, New Caledonia). They participated in the two largest festivals in Lodz (Peter's Boat, Paradise in the City). The interviewees usually spoke about their motivations and purposes for participating in WYD and coming to Lodz, as well as evaluating their stay in Poland.

The main motivation to come to WYD was the desire to meet Catholics from all over the world (21 statements), to deepen faith (13) and to feel unity with other members of the Catholic Church (11). This last motivation was particularly important for people coming from countries where Catholics make up only a small part of society. In the context of the survey results, it may be surprising that for only five people it was important to meet the Pope, and nobody mentioned St. Faustina or St. Maximilian Kolbe.

It is much more difficult to sort out and generalize the opinions of the foreign visitors in Poland. Five said, generally, that they simply liked it there. However, the majority of responses were very emotional, full of pathos and exaggerated statements (Poland is extraordinary, wonderful, beautiful, breath-taking, etc.). Some pilgrims stressed that they felt very well there ("I feel here at home, though I've just arrived and I'm very far from my country"). They appreciated the way they were welcomed, the program that had been prepared for them to have fun and pray at the same time ("I'm very happy to be here with you—Poles. I like the way we are received here and I'm really proud to be here").

There were also comments regarding Polish food, which was described as "delicious", "good" or "different", as well as the weather in Poland, which some people loved (e.g., an Irish woman) and others thought it was too cold or too variable. Some visitors were surprised with the amount of greenery in Lodz, as well as the number and size of churches. Generally speaking, foreigners staying in the Archdiocese of Lodz greatly approved of Poland.

The pilgrims also commented on Poles, who often received them under their own roofs. The hosts were described in a very positive way, as amiable, friendly and kind people. This is interesting as it contradicts a popular self-stereotype that Poles are reserved, depressed, dissatisfied and complaining about everything.

During World Youth Day, the old Polish saying "a guest in the home, God in the home" became alive again. In the Archdiocese of Lodz, nearly 3500 pilgrims could experience Polish hospitality, staying with families and seeing what their everyday life was like. The foreigners often stressed in the interviews how well they were received by Poles and how nice their hosts were. They were surprised by Polish hospitality, including the meals they were offered ("We liked the people in Lodz best. They cared for us for all these days. This care we have experienced is really wonderful. The food is also delicious. Most of us lived with Lodz families. They prepared everything. The tables were always full. We really felt like home").

Both the hosts and the guests realized that there was a language barrier between them. In order to make the communication easier, they used Google translator ("Even elderly people manage Google very well, so they explain, they found great solutions and this exchange really is very, very fruitful and so very happy"), and they talked using gestures ("Most of us communicate with the families using gestures. But it's wonderful").

To sum up, foreigners highly evaluated both Poland and Poles. Table 1 presents 25 words which were most frequently used by the foreigners. The word "very" comes first—it was used 63 times, usually in combination with "much", "important", "nice", "good", "nicely". Other frequent words included "Poland", "here" and "Lodz", i.e., words describing the locations where the events took place. Based on the words which were used by the foreigners more often than ten times, we might risk defining the Days in the Dioceses in Lodz as a "wonderful experience, a very good meeting to share God here".

**Table 1.** Twenty-five words occurring most frequently in foreigners' and Poles' statements.

Source: authors.

Poles' comments in the media underwent a similar analysis (the total of 63, including 55 video broadcasts on YouTube and eight press reports). The interviews concerned above all three principal issues: the program and organization of the Days in the Dioceses, the opinions of host families, and general expressions describing the pilgrims and WYD. Different forms of the word "prepare" were used 20 times, which points to the fact that the role of host on World Youth Day and the smooth running of the event were treated very seriously ("We were preparing with the group for the whole year, in a very organized way, so that our guests from Italy and Ukraine could sleep in our house, had something to eat and something to do. So that they did whatever they liked and when they liked. But they also had some free time. It was important that they learnt something about the city, our culture and us as Poles, as young people"). The amount of preparation was accompanied with traditional Polish complaining. Poles mostly complained of being very tired, but they also stressed their satisfaction.

The comments of the families receiving the pilgrims focused on the following:

Poles, similar to foreigners, most frequently used the word "very" (55 times, e.g., "we are very happy", "very much", "very important"). Other frequent words included: "youth" (30), "joy" (22), "preparations" (20), "pilgrim" (19) and "meet" (17). Two words were not used by foreign visitors: "fatigue" and "difficult". It could be said that the hosts focused on the organization and meeting pilgrims from all over the world, while the guests paid more attention to meeting God and other human beings.

Perhaps it was the meeting of these two different worlds (host's and visitor's) that was the essence of World Youth Day. The event is a tool for breaking cultural barriers, and the opening of one person to another. Patience, the will to communicate and a positive attitude on both sides, as well as the same values (faith in Christ) make them happy members of one, huge community (Kalinowska-Zele´ ˙ znik and Lusi ´nska 2011).

#### **6. Discussion**

World Youth Day can be treated as a long-term marketing strategy of the Roman Catholic Church, aimed at refreshing its image and convincing young people that it is a resilient and modern religious institution (Pfadenhauer 2010). The attractive, diversified and colorful event is also a tool of new evangelization, serving to propagate the canons of faith, to keep the current believers and to win over new ones. In this context, WYD is treated as an example of Peter L. Berger's theory of counter-secularization (Lynch 2008), an innovation aimed at maintaining the continuity of Catholicism (Mandes and Sadło ´n 2018) or a modern pilgrimage event of evangelistic nature (Rymarz 2008; Norman and Mark 2011).

It proves a challenge for the organizers to find new means of communication with young people. Thus, they widely use the media that are popular among the youth: television, Internet, social media (Hepp and Veronika 2009). WYD is held during the holidays, which, on the one hand, facilitate the organization of outdoor events and, on the other hand, make it possible to combine religious practices with leisure and traveling (Mandes and Sadło ´n 2018). Tourism allows the young to achieve values that are important to them: to see new places and to meet new people. Gonzalez et al. (2019) emphasize the important role of home hospitality as representation of religion in action. Thanks to everyday direct contacts, pilgrims and the families that accommodate them become closer to one another, break down intercultural barriers (Kalinowska-Zele´ ˙ znik and Lusi ´nska 2011), enter into cordial relations, but also mutually strengthen their faith. Visitors have the chance to learn what the real life of the inhabitants of the visited country looks like. The practice to host the participants of WYD free of charge is several decades older than the contemporary vogue for couch surfing.

Carefully prepared and elaborate program, which has been evolving for years, is of great importance for the popularity of WYD. It is a "hybrid event" (Pfadenhauer 2010) that combines traditional, conventional religious elements with modern festivals, often of wholly lay nature. Hence, huge religious events constitute a sui generis bridge between traditional religious culture and modern popular culture, enable transmission of religious content in a manner understandable for the contemporary man (Zduniak 2015). That is why, for instance, the culminant meeting with the Pope is surrounded with multiple cultural, sports, tourist and recreational attractions that cater for all tastes and meet different expectations of the participants (Bogacz-Wojtanowska et al. 2016; Jackowski et al. 2016; Kate and Hemel 2019).

Organized since 1997, the "Days in Dioceses" component is destined for new pilgrimage tourism: spiritual preparation for the main celebrations, but also relaxation, getting to know the host country (its attractions, culture, cuisine, etc.) and meetings with its inhabitants. For the young, it is a perfect opportunity to experience religion in a completely new, emotional way, to experience unity of opinions with peers from other countries and participate in diverse events of hybrid (religious and lay) nature (Rymarz 2008; Mandes and Sadło ´n 2018). And, when the opportunity arises, to travel, sightsee, discover, rest, entertain themselves. All the more so because this manner of getting to know the world does not require high spending and gives one a sense of security. In this regard, the obtained results

correspond with the results of numerous other researchers (Kalinowska-Zele ´ ˙ znik and Lusi ´nska 2011; Bogacz-Wojtanowska et al. 2016; Jackowski et al. 2016; Kozak and P ˛ezi ´nski 2016; Borkowski 2017).

It is also worth pointing out that the eventization of faith satisfies not only fundamental spiritual needs, but also other human needs: biological and social ones, the need for security, for respect and acceptance, for self-fulfilment (Zduniak 2015) as well as for the sense of uniqueness, festiveness, celebration of special moments in life.

#### **7. Conclusions**

On the basis of wide-ranging and varied studies, we may draw the following conclusions:

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.B. and A.S.; methodology, J.B. and A.S.; software, J.B. and A.S.; validation, J.B. and A.S.; formal analysis, J.B. and A.S.; investigation, J.B. and A.S.; resources, J.B. and A.S.; data curation, J.B. and A.S.; writing—original draft preparation, J.B. and A.S.; writing—review and editing, J.B. and A.S.; visualization, J.B. and A.S.; supervision, J.B. and A.S.; project administration, J.B. and A.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

#### **References**

Kraków 2016. 2019. Available online: www.krakow2016.pl (accessed on 14 September 2019).

Łód ´z Piotrowa [Boat of St. Peter]. 2019. Available online: www.lodzpiotrowa.com (accessed on 14 September 2019).

Lynch, Andrew. 2008. Social theory, theology, secularization and World Youth Day. *New Zealand Sociology* 23: 34. Magis Poland 2016. 2019. Available online: http://magis2016.org/pl (accessed on 14 September 2019).

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

## *Article* **Religious Festival Marketing: Distinguishing between Devout Believers and Tourists**

#### **Kuo-Yan Wang 1, Azilah Kasim 2,\* and Jing Yu 1**

Received: 2 July 2020; Accepted: 10 August 2020; Published: 12 August 2020

**Abstract:** Customer classification is an integral part of marketing planning activities. Researchers have struggled to classify "pilgrims" and "tourists" because these groups overlap to a large extent in terms of their identities while participating in religious activities/sightseeing. To achieve sustainable tourism development for the region with rich religious and cultural characteristics, the present article outlines a process for analyzing the motivation of participants attending religious festival of Mazu in Taiwan and then classifies religious festival participants according to their motivations. Using cluster sampling, a total of 280 responses were obtained and analyzed. The results revealed four different motivation categories: Fun traveler, devout believer, cultural enthusiast, and religious pragmatist. The study concludes that while festivalgoers are influenced by secularization to some extent, the original doctrine of the religion epitomized in the festivals fundamentally retains the essence and spirit of its religious rituals. The findings may have a significant value for the development of religious tourism marketing as it offers a foundation for future research seeking to develop regional cultural and religious sightseeing attractions sustainably.

**Keywords:** festival; customer classification; factor analysis; motivation; folklore belief

#### **1. Introduction**

To stimulate sustainable brand development, firms usually exert great efforts to classify their customers, allowing them to identify the most profitable target markets and optimally target greater numbers of such customers. Customer classification involves the subdivision of a market into discrete customer groups that share similar characteristics, which can be a powerful means of identifying unmet customer needs (Onwezen 2018). Companies that identify underserved segments can subsequently outperform the competition by developing unique products and services. Generally, customer classification can help a business develop marketing campaigns and pricing strategies to extract maximum value from both high- and low-profit customers (Bhatnagar and Gopalaswamy 2017). A company, as well as an ad-hoc organization, can use customer classification as the principal basis for allocating resources to product development, marketing, service, and delivery programs (Timoshenko and Hauser 2019; Wang et al. 2018).

Organizations increasingly use festivals as a means to promote tourism and stimulate the regional economy due to the added value that festivals offer: The potential to reinforce local economies, encourage the conservation of festival-themed commodities, sustain and preserve local identities, and create opportunities for tourists to engage with local cultures and people (Viljoen et al. 2017; Berg and Sevón 2014; Saayman and Saayman 2006). For festival-related organizations, therefore, an accurate customer classification can help marketers better target customers during the planning phases, thus attracting more sponsors and income.

Festivals are a type of cultural event, highlighting the unique features of a destination or theme (Zhang et al. 2019). The explosion in festival numbers has multifaceted causes. Supply factors have an influence, including cultural-based event planning, tourism industry development, and civic movement repositioning (Bakas et al. 2019; Duxbury et al. 2019). Demand factors also play a role, including serious leisure, lifestyle sampling, socialization needs, and the desire for creative and firsthand experiences (Lyu and Lee 2016). Festivals can have many themes, such as music (Li and Wood 2016; Rowley and Williams 2008), sightseeing attractions (Getz and Page 2016; Getz 2010; Lee et al. 2004), and sport competitions (Brown et al. 2016; Brown 2007). Previous research has discussed, in-depth, visitors' motivations for attending festivals and special events (Ruiz et al. 2019; Grappi and Montanari 2011; Kim et al. 2006; Prentice and Andersen 2003; Dewar et al. 2001; Crompton and McKay 1997). However, few studies specifically address religious festivals, as it is difficult to determine participants' motivations for attending such events. Thus, the application of appropriate strategies for festival marketing programs is a challenge for activity sponsors, festival organizers, and tourism sector planners. In these cases, the visitor is viewed as being just along for the ride in a defocused carnival environment.

The phrase *matsuri* in the Japanese language denotes "serving" and "entertaining" the deity in Japanese religion (Kitagawa 1988). The appearance or presentation of *matsuri*, a ritual or ceremony that serves as the embodiment of meaning, effectively establishes morality, and religious festivals around the globe can last for long periods. In Kawano's (2005) definition of ritual practice, rituals are traditionally presented to ordinary people seeking to gain something from their voluntary participation. In practical terms, religious rituals themselves constitute a central force of community cohesion as they can attract wide community attention and participation. One such ritual is the annual festivals of the Hitachinokuni Sosha Shrine in Ishioka City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and Gion Matsuri in Kyoto Prefecture, ¯ Japan (Kim 2005). Similarly, folkloric beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies in Chinese tradition express deity reverence and have been practiced for several hundred years in Taiwan. From the perspective of a social-functional interpretation, an efficient religious festival also helps regional religions and cultural developments. Shimazono (1998) asserted that the idea of the general acceptance of a religion stems from religious organizations and their followers, who claim that participation in religious activities is voluntary. Participants tend to follow, to a certain extent, suggestions regarding what constitutes a suitable donation. Nevertheless, the promotional efforts of religious organizations, such as the sale of objects of worship, incense sticks, amulets, and deity-themed objects, are frequently visible. Since people widely believe that the purchase of these objects guarantees an end to misfortune, the danger of dishonest behavior in the pursuit of personal profit exists (Wang 2019; Wang 2014a). The marketing of religious commodities (e.g., religious objects, merchandise, or souvenirs) may also elicit similar attitudes where, while an underlying sacred meaning remains, there is no objection towards the commercialization of religious products (Zaidman 2003). The literature, however, does not specifically discuss this in the context of religious events such as religious cultural festivals or deity birthdate ceremonies. In addition, there is still very little discourse on the motivations of the participants of such an event. Therefore, this empirical study focuses on this gap of knowledge using a Chinese Taoist temple festival organizer in Taiwan as its research setting.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows. We briefly present the most influential Tao deity, Mazu, worshiped in Taiwan. This figure remains an indispensable part of Chinese cultural life because Taiwanese folkloric beliefs are heavily influenced by the Mainland Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, as exemplified by the ancestral homes built during the immigration wave of the 17th through the 19th centuries (Wang 2014a). For an improved customer classification of sustainable regional religious or culture-themed tourism development, the next section describes the importance of the motivation of participants in religious activities. In addition, the results of a factor analysis, in terms of basic statistics for participants' motivation in religious festivals, are presented. The final section concludes this empirical study.

#### **2. Research Focuses**

#### *2.1. Mazu Belief Practices in Taiwan*

Diachronic folkloric beliefs in Chinese society and religious culture have developed over the past few thousand years and are a mixture of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Belonging to the same cultural circle and tradition of philosophical thought, religions in Taiwan are syncretized and pantheistic (Wang 2014a; Chang 2009). In addition to the inherent aboriginal culture (Liao et al. 2019), Taiwanese folkloric beliefs are heavily influenced by Fujian and Guangdong, two provinces in Mainland China, because of the ancestral homes built during the immigration waves between the 17th and 19th centuries. As the immigrant population adjusted to a new living environment and an uncertain future, communal rituals, and folkloric beliefs derived from the mainland immigrants' original religions became widespread on the island (Wang 2014a). These festivals have shaped the belief system of contemporary ethnic Chinese residents now living in Taiwan. More than 10,000 Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian religious sites exhibit the dominant Chinese pantheistic belief structure.

Folkloric beliefs are a form of religion that recognizes all deities as gods. Temples dedicated to the deities commonly form alliances with several temples of similar characteristics dedicated to the same deities. According to Chinese pantheistic beliefs, the deity represents the soul or spirit. This belief may derive from Taoist religious communal rituals. As the most influential goddess of the sea in China, Mazu is at the center of beliefs and customs, including rituals, ceremonies, and folk practices, throughout coastal areas, with millions of followers (Chang et al. 2012). Scholars have argued that the role of Mazu is more than that of a guardian angel for fishermen (Guo et al. 2006; Shuo et al. 2009). The Mazu belief, as a social cohesion catalyst in Chinese society, was inscribed on the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Culture Organization (UNESCO) in 2009 (UNESCO and The Mazu Belief and Customs 2009). Pilgrims gather in the so-called holy land for specific festivals, such as that held on March 23 of every lunar year, to celebrate the birthday of Mazu. Many related activities accompany this commemoration, such as group worship ceremonies and pilgrimages to locations where the temple is enshrined. Even during the period of Japanese colonial occupation, the rulers did not challenge the power of Mazu beliefs. The rulers of the Taiwan Colonial Government showed appreciation for Mazu's mercy, with the additional purpose of winning over different ethnic groups. Currently, for politicians—from island wide leaders to village headmen, regardless of their own beliefs—visiting and praying in famous temples represents a way to win the votes, hearts, and minds of the people. After years of development, Mazu now acts as a bridge for numerous politicians joining Mazu-themed festivals. From tourism point of view, Mazu celebrations are important tourism income earners as they could attract millions of visitors willing to spend nine days marching through different cities just to celebrate the deity's birthday (Wong 2013, April 12).

Pilgrimage enables tourism-related activities and is an important regional characteristic because it embodies the strong local folk culture. In the case of Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage, the festival involves a nine-day parade carrying Mazu statue in a chair for 12 h a day through mountains and rough terrains. The parade starts and ends at the Jenn Lann Temple in the city but will pass through more than 100 temples at the coastal counties of Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi in its 300 km journey (Wong 2013, April 12). It is said that every temple stop provides interaction opportunities between Mazu Goddess with the Mazu statue that resides in that particular temple, that empowers the temple and brings luck to the local community. Approximately 200,000 pilgrims are involved in each Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage. They receive free food and sleep everywhere (the local community's gardens, garages, living rooms etc.) for free at each of the stops (Tsao 2014).

Though the festival was the result of public–private cooperation in Taichung city (Tsao 2014), the steady increase of participants has led to a booming growth of tourism, cultural activities, artistic activities as well as local food and transportation businesses throughout the event. In 2013, the total number of participants was five millions people (Wong 2013, April 12). This essentially highlights the

tourism importance of the event which brings with it the issue of commodification of religious tourism, where mythical narration is combined with non-religious demands, providing tourism opportunities for areas surrounding pilgrimage sites (Bixby 2006). In recent years, many temples in Taiwan have strongly promoted folkloric beliefs in cultural development to fascinate believers and tourists, thereby increasing donations and marketing revenues, including the creative product development of religious items. Figure 1 displays deity-themed cultural creative goods (e.g., amulets, postcards, key rings, and USB drives) in vending machines at a historical temple in Southern Taiwan.

**Figure 1.** A vending machine with religious-themed creative goods in a Taiwanese temple (Photo from the author).

#### *2.2. Classifying Religious Festival Participants: Filling in the Blanks*

In general, non-profit organizations have more of a need for marketing than for-profit organizations because the former mainly derive their revenues from social sponsorships (Bowdin et al. 2006). In addition, a favorable public image facilitates capital mobility (Moore 2000). Chinese temples have a special classification that falls somewhere between for-profit and non-profit, as they mainly receive funding from worshiper contributions, with some subsidies from local authorities. A temple needs to allocate resources to gain social recognition and attract more loyal believers (customers) to survive in a fiercely competitive and highly overlapping environment (Iriobe and Abiola-Oke 2019; Collins-Kreiner 2018; Wang 2014b). In recent years, temples have begun to carry out an increasing number of regional religious and culture-based activities, which attract more visitors, lead to the development of the local tourism sector and peripheral industries and strengthen the temple's reputation (Wang 2014b). Therefore, optimizing services to attract believers/customers/donators has become a top priority (Wang 2014a). That being said, as Prentice and Andersen (2003) noted, "Not everyone at a destination during a festival can be assumed to be a festival-goer." It is difficult to correctly classify pilgrims and tourists. A further question is whether or not the commercial development of religious festivals has harmed the spirituality inherent in the associated religious rituals and belief structures.

Scholars have discussed the differences and similarities between tourists and pilgrims (Durán-Sánchez et al. 2018; Mwebaza et al. 2018; Chang et al. 2012). Both tourists and pilgrims require discretionary income, leisure time, and social sanctions permissive of travel (Durán-Sánchez et al. 2018). Secularization of religious communication and development is inevitable in the modern era (Kluver and Cheong 2007) thereby making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between pilgrims and tourists. Accordingly, facing the modern secularization, the behaviors, rituals, and motivations of religious festival participants may have been adjusted. Cohen (1992) for example, has argued that visitors to a pilgrimage site may actually not be followers of that site's religion and therefore should be classified as just ordinary travelers.

The term pilgrimage itself comes to denote a leisure activity without a firm religious purpose (Liutikas 2017; Matoga and Pawłowska 2018). Pilgrimages have powerful political, economic, social, and cultural implications and can even affect global trade and social phenomena. Pilgrimage inevitably necessitates spatial movement, and such a form of "circulation" has no less an effect on the environment (Collins-Kreiner 2010; Kim et al. 2016; Moufahim and Lichrou 2019). Moreover, the concept of a "large-scale acquaintance network" distributed through the power of the Internet (Tomochi 2010; Tanaka 2014) is key. The acceleration of information exchange and social networks in small-scale societies occurs easily, and large-scale informal organizations cannot be ignored (Balbo et al. 2016) because many religious communities have utilized the Internet as part of their religious mission and growth strategy (Kluver and Cheong 2007).

The above-mentioned trend may have encouraged many people to focus attention on their own regional cultural and religious heritage preservation activities (Chen 2016). This trend could explain people's motivations to participate in religious festival activities and simultaneously highlight the importance of effective pilgrim/tourist classification. However, an in-depth discussion of actual, more complex phenomena related to distinguishing the real motivations behind a pilgrim or a tourist attending a religious activity is still lacking. Hence this study attempts to address the question—when a religious festival such as the Mazu festival becomes more commercial-driven, does it affect participants' motivations as well? The question of whether or not intensive marketing and promotion can affect 'religious purity' or the original reason for participating in a religious event (Shiomura 2009) is worth discussing. That is why this study aims to address the long-standing problem of distinguishing between pilgrims and tourists in religious festivals in attempt to provide a more comprehensive view of the issue and its implications for temple managers as organizers.

#### **3. Research Methods**

#### *3.1. Instruments*

The survey instrument was based on that used by Crompton and McKay (1997), which is considered to be an effective analysis measurement tool. This instrument, which is based on segmenting visitors and identifying their specific needs and behaviors, enables festival organizers to develop effective marketing strategies and, ultimately, ensure their long-term economic viability. Therefore, numerous studies on motivations within festival research have used this tool to investigate World Heritage Sites (Woosnam et al. 2018), food-themed events (Özdemir and Seyito ˘glu 2017), sexual tourism (Ying and Wen 2019), special holidays (Mariani and Giorgio 2017), and so on.

The instrument starts with information on respondents, such as festival visit times, religious beliefs, and where respondents heard about the event, followed by the motive-related items for observing respondents' attitudes toward religious festival participation. The responses were analyzed to make an appropriate classification using factor analysis.

Numerous articles regarding marketing research have applied multivariate methods to problems of customer classification. Factor analysis techniques are among the many potentially useful methods for researchers (Takele 2019). Many academics have recognized factor analysis as a simple-to-use survey method with a great deal of practical value, particularly for market segmentation and customer classification research (Boivin and Tanguay 2019; Lee and Kwag 2019; Dhakal et al. 2017).

For this empirical study, we applied factor analysis techniques to classify participants of several Mazu temple festivals held in Taiwan, thereby demonstrating religious festival visitor typology in a realistic setting. The advantages of using quantitative research are that it is suitable for larger sample sizes, has high objectivity and accuracy, saves time in information collection and processing, and is more cost-effective. Hence, the results were obtained by the research assistants hired for this study, who issued and collected questionnaires as well as conducted the preliminary data analysis.

These classifications were made based on 12 questionnaire items. This form of factor analysis first extracts mutually independent factors and then classifies the respondents' motivations based on their scores on these factors. The results, obtained through factor analysis, can help us better understand the phenomena and implications of interest, and in doing so, one must always place a study within the context of existing theory and practical applications.

#### *3.2. Research Subjects and Data Collection*

A total of five temples were used in March 2019 to understand Mazu-themed festival performances across the island. The temples are located in the northern part of Taiwan (temple A), in the central region (temples B and C), and the south (temples D and E). Taking into consideration tax issues and other economic factors, four temples refused to disclose their identity but accepted to take part in the empirical survey. Each temple was accustomed to annually organizing Mazu-themed festivals. Similar to the mass participation ceremony on the deity's important day, on a particular date, the deity makes a procession to affiliated temples several hundred kilometers away, accompanied by a mass of volunteer followers seeking blessings. The most famous example of this practice is for Mazu, dedicated by the Jenn Lann Temple in Dajia, Taichung City. A grand procession to the affiliated Mazu temple, Feng Tian Temple in Singang, Chiayi County, occurs each March of the lunar year with numerous devout believers involved, which also adds to the prosperity of the local economy (Wang 2014a).

In practical terms, religious object commercialization is already a worldwide trend, especially for the enhancement of regional tourism sectors. Therefore, in addition to the preliminary classification of festival visitors as pilgrims and tourists, we also investigated whether the phenomenon of religious object commercialization harms the spirituality of individuals. To seek the answer to the questions, we also surveyed temple B's Mazu-themed festival participants to understand the motivation of the Mazu beliefs of pilgrims and tourists. The survey period was from 23 March to 6 April 2019, during an activity involving approximately 30,000 participants. Cluster sampling was applied to randomly chosen tourists/pilgrims of temples B and C; one researcher conducted the survey at each temple. A total of 330 questionnaires were issued and filled out in person. The survey ruled out respondents who were unwilling to answer and invalid responses, leaving 280 valid interviewees (*n* = 280, approximately 84.8%) in this study. Of the sample, as illustrated in Table 1, 62.5% (175) were female, and 37.5% (105) respondents were male. A total of 40.35% (113) were 50 years of age or above, 35% (98) were 30–39 years old, and 20% (56) were under the age of 29. Regarding the number of visits to the deity-themed festival, most respondents (212) had participated more than two times (75.8%). Source of information about the festival for 76.1% (213) of the interviewees was the Internet, social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Line, and WeChat); 17.1% learned about the event from TV commercials (48). Of the sample, 71.4% (200) pointed out they were primarily of a folkloric belief, which is a mixture of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, a widespread traditional faith in the Chinese community.

#### **4. Four Types of Religious Festival Participants**

To effectively classify respondents' motivations to attend a religious event, the researcher also employed a 5-point Likert scale (1 = *strongly disagree* to 5 = *strongly agree*). Factor analysis was used to identify the constructs underlying the 12 posited festival participant motivations from modified questionnaire items originally designed by Crompton and McKay (1997). The questionnaire construction fully considered internal consistencies for each survey item, as well as reliability and validity less than the normal value (Cronbach's alpha value = 0.72). Each item reflected the list of selected topics and was significantly different at 5%. The KMO value was given as 0.83, meaning that each item could be validly analyzed (Hemmati et al. 2018; Akhoondnejad 2016). Table 2 illustrates the factors influencing the participants of Mazu-themed activities, and the corresponding motivations can be divided into four main types according to the festival participants' motivations: leisure travelers, devout believers, culture enthusiasts, and religious pragmatists.

**Table 2.** The motivations of religious activity participant—factor analysis result.

As seen in Table 2, the factor analysis results revealed that each factor number over 0.5 indicates that the interviewees widely recognized the item. The number of respondents for each type was almost equal. Hence, we classified four basic types of motivation as follows: Leisure travelers, devout believers, cultural enthusiasts, and religious pragmatists.

The leisure traveler accounted for most of the factors. The purpose of such participants consists of having fun travel experiences. They participate in religious activities for leisure and entertainment. Leisure travelers prefer a lively atmosphere, such as the carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In other words, the term *tourist* for a leisure traveler is much more common than the term *pilgrim*. Conversely, other participants and family members strongly put their faith in the Mazu belief. Devout believers are active participants attracted by the temple's external promotions. They are undoubtedly the typical pilgrims.

The original intentions of the remaining two types of participants, cultural enthusiasts and religious pragmatists, are difficult to classify as "tourist" or "pilgrim" intentions. Cultural enthusiasts are commonly historian types, passionate about gaining more historical and cultural knowledge; compared to other types of participants, cultural enthusiasts are more interested in the origin and

knowledge of local historical religions and customs. In Taiwan, famous temples play a central role in local folkloric beliefs. Therefore, they are also full of history and cultural heritage that motivates the participation of cultural enthusiasts. The starting point of cultural enthusiasts, however, is not necessarily on a religious level. In addition, despite the common perception of temple visitors being "belief followers," religious pragmatists tend to recognize that participation in religious activities benefits them in terms of attending Mazu ceremonies and buying associated products (e.g., dolls, clothes, hats, and amulets) as tools to help them realize their wishes. Apparently, their motivation is to meet personal spiritual and material conditions. Furthermore, commercial advertisements influence leisure travelers and religious pragmatists to a higher degree. The survey results indicate that participants were significantly attracted by social network and TV advertising from deity-themed festivals held by a Taoist temple in Taiwan (93.2% of respondents). Moreover, this article successfully classified the four types of religious festival participants between the tourist and pilgrim dimensions in Taiwan. The classification of participants' motivations also explains the current Mazu-themed activity in the festival and takes into account tourism activities related to religious beliefs and cultural characteristics, thus attracting participants with diverse motivations.

#### **5. Implications**

We successfully classified the four basic typologies of the motivations of Mazu festival participants and strengthened the marketing classification perspective in the case of annual temple festival participants. Several key points of this research are discussed below.

For the case of leisure-oriented visitors, Swatos (2006) provided an unprecedented perspective on "pilgrimage for eminent persons," and Norman (2011) extended this idea to explore phenomena such as sincere worship and praying to God. In other words, no matter "whom" (the object receiving worship), the object only needs to meet visitors' spiritual needs (e.g., family affections, friendship, love, or happiness) and can be "created" or "shaped." Similarly, the event may also be invented or emphasize historical legendary narratives.

Next, many visitors learned about the Mazu festival from social media and TV promotions. Regarding doubts about "entertaining" religious activities, such as those promoted by for-profit organizations, many temples are seemingly profit oriented due to the high level of competition in Taiwan, which also urges them to actively promote themselves via TV advertising, online communities, ritual narratives, and even ad placements and marketing. Tourism with a cultural theme has become a good entry point for the temple studied in this research. This approach also helps the temple meet the leisure or spiritual needs of worshipers or travelers, as well as to stimulate local economic and tourism development to achieve a mutually beneficial effect.

Third, our factor analysis addresses four types of religious festival participants according to the passage relating to the respondents' motivations. Some travelers who joined the group ceremony where they were motivated by a desire to participate in a public ceremony or activity. Conversely, some visitors were driven more by religious pursuits than by their egoistic needs. In this study, the four types of participants coexist in the religious event. Regarding the differentiation between tourists and pilgrims, despite the small survey sample, the researcher managed to make a preliminary classification of those participants who could implement more precisely targeted sales for future festival marketing events.

#### **6. Conclusions**

In this study, the researcher performed an exploratory case study of folklore belief temples in Taiwan by studying attendants at the Mazu-themed festival in April 2019. The survey uncovered respondents' motivations for participation. These motivations were classified into four types based on the classification developed by Crompton and McKay (1997): Leisure travelers, cultural enthusiasts, religious pragmatists, and devout believers. This classification can serve as a valuable reference for subsequent studies.

Communities can open themselves to the phenomenon of secularization and, at the same time, maintain the original intention of the religious doctrine. Furthermore, the survey results show that the influence of the Internet was strongly significant for the two sampled festival marketing activities in 2019. Such marketing strategies are particularly attractive for the young generation and may help address some issues to meet the needs of religious festival participants. Additionally, this empirical study features a quantitative method because of time and cost limitations. Qualitative analysis can also be considered in future research to draw more comprehensive results and conclusions.

The cross-sectional data used for this study may have limited the findings in the sense that if the survey were administered at other times or other locations, the findings may be different. Hence it is proposed future researchers try to avoid this by engaging in a more comprehensive or longitudinal survey. We also suggest that future researchers should examine and segment different religions and locations to extend this preliminary classification, particularly new religious groups founded after World War II, for participants of various activities (e.g., worship, spiritual practices, and festivals). Further studies on other locations are needed, and much work is still required to analyze and empirically test these new ideas.

**Author Contributions:** All authors contributed equally to this work. All authors wrote, reviewed, and commented on the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by Talent Introduction Project of Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, "Research on Marketing Planning and Practice of Cultural Theme Tourism Industry Circle".

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

## *Article* **Buddhist Pilgrimage and the Ritual Ecology of Sacred Sites in the Indo-Gangetic Region**

**David Geary 1 and Kiran Shinde 2,\***

**Abstract:** In contemporary India and Nepal, Buddhist pilgrimage spaces constitute a ritual ecology. Not only is pilgrimage a form of ritual practice that is central to placemaking and the construction of a Buddhist sacred geography, but the actions of religious adherents at sacred centers also involve a rich and diverse set of ritual observances and performances. Drawing on ethnographic research, this paper examines how the material and corporeal aspects of Buddhist ritual contribute to the distinctive religious sense of place that reinforce the memory of the Buddha's life and the historical ties to the Indian subcontinent. It is found that at most Buddhist sites, pilgrim groups mostly travel with their own monks, nuns, and guides from their respective countries who facilitate devotion and reside in the monasteries and guest houses affiliated with their national community. Despite the differences across national, cultural–linguistic, and sectarian lines, the ritual practices associated with pilgrimage speak to certain patterns of religious motivation and behavior that contribute to a sense of shared identity that plays an important role in how Buddhists imagine themselves as part of a translocal religion in a globalizing age.

### **1. Introduction**

According to early Buddhist texts such as the Pali Canon, the birthplace of Buddhism is associated with the geographic region known as *Majjhimadesha* ("middle country"). Sometime between the sixth and forth centuries BCE, it is believed that the Buddha lived and taught in the foothills of Himalayas in the low plain lands of the Terai and Indo-Gangetic region that extends east to what is now the Indian states of Bihar and West Bengal. Although the transregional histories and ties to the Buddha-dharma in the Indian subcontinent spans over numerous centuries, the modern rebirth and renewal of this ancient pilgrimage geography is a relatively recent phenomenon spanning the late nineteenth and twentieth century (Geary and Mukherjee 2017; Ray 2014; Sharma 2018; Singh 2010). Today, a journey through Buddha's homeland is a dream for many Buddhist followers and for those who seek the path of Awakening (*bodhi*) as exemplified by the Buddha's life. In this journey, four places have been elevated as part of a sacred geography due their association with important biographical events in the life of the religious founder. These places are: Lumbin¯ı, (birthplace of Buddha, Nepal); Bodhgaya (the place of Buddha's enlightenment), Sarnath (where Buddha delivered his first sermon), and Ku´sinagar¯ı (where Buddha took nirvana). Although not limited to these sights, these places have become sacred foci for the convergence of multiple expressions of Buddhist devotion that cut across national, cultural–linguistic, and sectarian lines. Collectively and individually, these sacred sites are visited by hundreds of thousands of devotees and nondevotees that are drawn to the "spiritual magnetism" (Preston 1992) of place but also the melding of Buddhist teachings, culture, and heritage values as popular religious and tourist spaces.

**Citation:** Geary, David, and Kiran Shinde. 2021. Buddhist Pilgrimage and the Ritual Ecology of Sacred Sites in the Indo-Gangetic Region. *Religions* 12: 385. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rel12060385

Academic Editor: Claude Stulting

Received: 21 April 2021 Accepted: 20 May 2021 Published: 26 May 2021

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

Many recent studies have deliberated about the meaning of such pilgrimage for those who visit these iconic Buddhist sites (Bruntz and Schedneck 2020; Geary 2014; Hall 2006; Huber 2008). A few scholars have positioned the importance of social engagement wedded to soteriological aspirations as one of the highest forms of meaning that life-long followers seek in their dwelling in Buddhist places (Goldberg 2013; Kitiarsa 2010). Others have discussed forms of contestation that is generated by those interested in touristic aspects that can be seen as contradicting the peace and serenity that is sought after among some Buddhists and spiritual tourists themselves (Geary 2008; Hung 2015; Hung et al. 2017; Philp and Mercer 1999). Such seeming contradictions are played out in the same spatial environment, not to mention the diverse national and sectarian expressions of Buddhism, including its own local adaptations among new Buddhist converts and communities. However, only a handful of studies offer some insights on the specific religious performances, rituals, and "material affordances" (Gibson 1977) in Buddhist pilgrimage sites and how these religious activities both inscribe and produce certain meanings (Seelananda 2010; Wong et al. 2013).

This paper aims to describe the ritual ecology related to the main Buddhist pilgrimage sites in North India and Nepal, showing how the material and corporeal aspects of Buddhist religious experience contribute to the distinctive religious sense of places, as well as some of the unique pressures on the built environment as spaces of religious heritage. Our use of the term ritual ecology builds on the definition of a religious setting provided by Kerestetzi (2018, para 2) as "a coherent space in which objects, bodies, actions, and ideas form a system—or even an ecosystem" that enables us to dispense with some of the dualistic approaches such as faith/matter and sacred/profane. Although much of our descriptions of ritual phenomena can be generalized across several main Buddhist pilgrimage sites, our analysis is greatly informed by sustained fieldwork at a few prominent sites, especially Bodhgaya—the seat of enlightenment located in south Bihar. Thus, a study of ritual ecosystems at Buddhist sites, such as Bodhgaya, has the potential to provide important insights into how the vitality and vibrancy of a site for Buddhist practitioners and visitors can be more effectively managed by state governments, archaeological and heritage agencies, and religious authorities. A focus on rituals as a mode of analysis also helps to make sense of the corporeal and cosmic synthesis of Buddhist world-making and the relationship between spatiality and materiality that is so important to the emplacement of a sacred geography (Shinde 2020).

It is important to keep in mind that this paper is a preliminary effort to contextualize the predominant forms of religious practice and how that gives rise to certain patterns of sacralization rather than an exhaustive all-encompassing picture of the various rituals and performances undertaken by the different international and local Buddhist groups. Due to the absence of normalized ritual protocols and diverse histories and lineages, there is considerable variability and innovation across the Buddhist spectrum. The remainder of the paper is divided into the following sections: In the next section, we provide an overview of Buddhist pilgrimage drawing on recent scholarship and translations. Following this, we provide a more comprehensive taxonomy of prominent Buddhist rituals and performances in sacred sites with a specific reference to Buddhist sites in North India and Nepal. In the final section, we highlight some main themes deriving from the research and discuss how the influence of rituals and forms of spatial management impact the religious environment, the pilgrimage-tourism economy, and heritage values that contribute to the sociocultural fabric of Buddhist sites.

#### **2. Buddhist Pilgrimage and Paths of Convergence**

Although distinctive forms of Buddhist pilgrimage and religious travel are common in various parts of Asia, such as Thailand, China, Taiwan, Japan, and so forth, (Bruntz and Schedneck 2020; Choe and O'Regan 2015; Mason and Chung 2018; Wong et al. 2016), our emphasis here is on the paths of convergence associated with the biography of the founder and how this core Indic geography absorbs and attracts pilgrims from multiple

Buddhist traditions (as well as non-Buddhists). What is the religious and historical basis for Buddhist pilgrimage in the Indian subcontinent? What are the main motivations and goals for undertaking Buddhist pilgrimage, and how is that expressed through religious journeys and the ritual ecology of sacred sites in India and Nepal?

What is usually taken as the "locus classicus" (Huber 2008) of Buddhist pilgrimage are the four main sites—Lumbin¯ı, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, and Ku´sinagar¯ı—recommended by the Buddha to visit after his death in the famous Mahaparinirv ¯ a¯n. a sutra (MPNS). These ¯ four sites mark his birth, enlightenment, first sermon, and *parinirva¯n. a* respectively. Counter to the usual reification of the four-site model of Buddhist pilgrimage, in a recent chapter, Strong (2014) scrutinizes some of the different translations of the famous discourse in Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese, noting some noteworthy differences among them. Of particular importance is a preceding paragraph that is common in Chinese translations which he refers to as "Ananda's lament". In this passage, "Ananda expresses to the Buddha his sorrow that, in times past, after they had spent the rains-retreat in various places, mindcultivating *(mano-bhavan ¯ ¯ıya*) monks used to come for the sake of seeing (*dassanaya ¯* ) the Buddha (i.e., of having *dar´san* with him), but that now, after the Blessed One's demise, they will no longer be able to do so. And this grieves him" (Strong 2014, p. 51). Furthermore, Ananda specifies that "the monks used to journey not only in order to see the Buddha, but to worship him and make offerings, to ask questions and to receive instruction on the Dharma. Once the Blessed One enters *parinirva¯n. a*, there will no longer be any point in their coming" (Strong 2014, p. 51). This leads Ananda to pose the obvious question about the preservation of the Dharma and how the monks should respond to his pending absence. In response to Ananda's query, the Buddha appears to recommend the importance of undertaking pilgrimage to the four sites as a way to earn rebirth in heaven but also as a solution to his absence whereby followers may "continue to 'see' and venerate him after his passing" (Strong 2014, p. 51).

On the basis of his reading of Ananda's lament, Strong makes a number of observations that speak to the importance of pilgrimage and ritual in the Buddhist tradition. Firstly, the passage cited above hints at what may have been an earlier pattern of pilgrimage that existed during the lifetime of the Buddha and suggests the importance of several places located on the margins of urban centers that correspond with the Buddha's rain retreats, such as Vai´sal¯ ¯ı, Rajag ¯ r.ha, Sr´ avast ¯ ¯ı, and Sam. ka´¯sya. Although these four locations are frequently described as "secondary sites" that evolved out of the primary "locus classicus" prescribed by the Buddha to Ananda, as Strong suggests, the reverse may actually be the case when referring to the origins of pilgrimage. This tradition is also corroborated by several passages in the Pali Vinaya as well as Buddhaghosa who describes the importance of monks and nuns, especially those who "cultivate the mind" (*mano-bhavan ¯ ¯ıya*) undertaking pilgrimage to visit the Buddha at the end of the rains retreat as a form of veneration and a means of receiving instruction. Another important distinction here is how the Buddha's recommendation of the four sites that follows Ananda's lament is no longer directed toward "meditating monks and nuns" but rather encompasses all Buddhists who wish to journey and see the Buddha, including laymen and laywomen (Strong 2014, p. 52). In other words, as Strong writes, "If pilgrimage originally started as a strictly monastic tradition for meditating monks during the lifetime of the Buddha, it would seem that, with the Buddha's passing, it became more generally a devotional tradition for all Buddhists" (Strong 2014, p. 52). Although more speculative, another reason for the displacement of the earlier four sites associated with the rain retreats may have been the desire to build a distinct biographical tradition that would not only be open to wider Buddhist publics but could be distinguished from other popular and competing religious movements at the time, such as Jain centers of pilgrimage that were also present in places such as Rajag ¯ r.ha, Sr´ avast ¯ ¯ı, and Vai´sal¯ ¯ı (Strong 2014).

When we turn to the goal of undertaking pilgrimage to the four sites as expressed by the Buddha to his companion Ananda, according to Strong, two key Indic concepts need to be highlighted. Firstly, by foregrounding the Buddha-*carita* or Buddha-biographical

tradition, which focuses on the activities (*carita*) performed by Sakyamuni Buddha, and the places associated with these acts, this provides an opportunity for Buddhist devotees to undertake a form of "*dar´san* by proxy"—even after his death and *parinirva¯n. a*. Another way of viewing *dar´san* by proxy, "is to see it as *dar´san* (direct seeing) on its way to being *anusmr.ti* (vivid imaginative or meditative recall). This is important because, in the non-Pali versions of the MPNS, the language of 'seeing' disappears, and is replaced by the language of 'recall'" (Strong 2014, p. 56). Given the emphasis on imaginative and meditative recall, according to André Bareau, this could imply that instead of undertaking pilgrimage to the physical sites "meditating on moments of the Buddha's life for the purpose of recalling him (buddha-*anusmr.ti*)" and his different aspects of Buddhahood might be sufficient as alternative to seeing (*dar´san*) and also indicate that this could "be done anywhere at any time" (cited in Strong 2014, p. 57). It is also worth noting that the emphasis on *anusmr.ti* would have also likely been more integral to the aspirations of monks and nuns rather than laypeople.

The second key Indic concept that needs to be highlighted with reference to pilgrimage practices is the importance of sacred places as conduits for arousing *sam. vega*. In his translation of the concept, Strong writes "*Sam. vega* is a complex notion, but it is generally thought to be a religious emotion in the face of the sight of the truth of impermanence or any other feature of *sam. sara ¯* that gives rise to a desire to adopt the religious life" (Strong 2014, p. 54). Although the Buddha does not explicitly address why these four pilgrimage sites result in *sam. vega*, it would imply, according to Strong that

*pilgrimage to (and so dar´san at) these sites entails a dual and contradictory emotion of remembering the presence of the Buddha at a particular time and place of his life by 'seeing' him, and of being moved by a realization of his present absence there. In this sense, pilgrimage sites would be akin to relics which, I have argued elsewhere, are essentially reminders of a biographical process that affirms both the presence and the absence of the departed one*. (p. 54)

Although it is tempting to suggest that there would have been some clear benefits to visiting the four sites in a biochronological order and to retracing his life journey, there does not appear to be any evidence of this from pilgrim records (Strong 2014). The only literary instance of this, as Strong points out, is the famous A´sokavad ¯ ana legend where he ¯ undertakes pilgrimage and marks the sites with *caityas*. 1

What is evident in these translations of the MPNS are the ways in which Buddhist pilgrimage can be defined as the "ritual re-enactment of religious narratives" (Castelli 2003 cited in Deeg 2014, p. 9) that has empowered a sacred landscape and is representative of a "concentrated evocation of the Tathagata's [Buddha's] life" (Coleman and Elsner 1995, p. 195). An important feature of Buddhist pilgrimage is an emphasis on rebirth. The Pali version of the Buddha's discourse mentions that those followers who die during their pilgrimage to the four sites,2 or after having made it, "will by virtue of their merit be reborn in heaven (or in the favourable human state)" (Strong 2014, p. 59). This sentiment continues today, especially among lay Buddhists, and that is its close association with accruing merit on the journey, or on the journey, in this life and for those to come. Thus, pilgrimage in the Buddhist tradition has taken on an important soteriological dimension as an external metaphor of an internal journey toward spiritual awakening (Coleman and Elsner 1995).

However, it is also important to clarify that pilgrimage is not only a process of embodied recollection that allows one to internalize the teaching of the dhamma but also involves contact with sacred traces and various material objects, such as relics, that play an important role in sanctifying space and representing the physical aspects of the narrative.3 As vital entities of the Buddha's present absence, the veneration of relics through the treatment of his corporeal remains and the subsequent construction of Buddhist *stupas ¯* or *caityas* may well be some of the oldest forms of Buddhist pilgrimage (Deeg 2014). Through their division and multiplication, relics have also played an important role in the geographic and ever-expanding repertoire of stories associated with the Buddha's life through the layering of various hagiographical legends and events. Although Buddhist relics take

on a particular significance in the Buddhist homeland given their association with the Buddha's biography and/or other enlightened persons, as Maud (2017, p. 422) writes, "the geography of relics is not static but continually evolving, and the movement, exchange, and relocation of relics index the transformations of Buddhism's presence in the world, its geographical extension, and the fluctuating fortunes of its adherents".

While much has been written on the spread of bodhi tree offshoots (Maitland 2018; Nugteren 1995; Ober 2019), the replication and reproduction of Mahabodhi temples (Asher 2012; Guy 1991), and the afterlives of relics (Mukherjee 2018; Sharf 1999; Trainor 1997) that all contribute to a "shifting terrain of the Buddha" (Huber 2008), there is no denying that these material objects and their circulations have become important foci of ritual veneration (and various sociopolitical power struggles) that mediate the Buddha's presence and are central to accruing merit. Due to their heightened status in relation to a sacred place, they have also been instrumental in the material prosperity of certain localities, including the development of monasteries around sacred sites by attracting donations and gifts from various lay pilgrims and patrons. As Schopen (2004, p. 100) writes, "relics gave rise to festivals; festivals gave rise to trade; trade gave rise to gifts and donations" (cited in Maud 2017, p. 424). Donation inscriptions as well as contemporary ritual practices at various sacred sites point to a long history of gifts and offerings to the local *sangha ˙* or the *stupa ¯* itself (Deeg 2014, p. 10). Through the actions of various pious rulers as well, at least since the time of Asoka, we also see how patronage translates into material transformations such as various infrastructural improvements, the building of rest houses, and improved connectivity (Geary 2017).

Thus, by undertaking pilgrimage for the devout, not only does this entail a journey to see the Buddha and arouse certain religious emotions associated with his worldly activity and subsequent material traces, but it is capable of inspiring one along the path of Buddhadharma by embodying the sacred paradigm of the religion's founder. Together, relics and places of pilgrimage serve as mnemonic devices and spaces of memorialization that both embed and diffuse the spiritual biography of the Buddha, as well as many of his faithful disciples. In the next section, we provide a survey of some of the dominant ritual forms that are visible at Buddhist pilgrimage sites in North India and Nepal today.

#### **3. Sacralizing Space through Ritual Performance**

Although Buddhist pilgrimage is a diverse phenomenon that cross-cuts many different rituals and motivations, based on the analysis above, especially the recent translations by John Strong, a few key patterns can be discerned from both historical and contemporary practices. It could be argued that the primary motivation to undertake pilgrimage is: *a journey to see and/or recall the Buddha and be moved by a realization of his present absence*. In Buddhism, unlike in other religions, such as Islam, it is not necessary or obligatory to undertake pilgrimage or perform certain rites of passage that are related to the fundamental religious tenets. Group composition, length of the pilgrimage journey, and the means of transportation also vary significantly across Buddhist cultural groups. For example, among some Buddhist communities, such as Tibetans, undertaking the pilgrimage journey—*gnas skor ba* (Trans. "going around a [sacred] place")—by foot and sometimes over several years and months is seen to be more meritorious than expediated modes of modern transportation such as airlines and buses. Despite these variations in length and mode of travel, pilgrimage, one could argue, is universally seen as an auspicious opportunity to venerate the sacred traces and through various ritual practices accrue religious merit (*punya*) that hopefully provides certain soteriological advances such as a favorable rebirth and ultimately liberation. However, as we illustrate below, undertaking pilgrimage and accumulating good karma may also be directed toward more mundane this-worldly aspirations and rewards that have an important social and economic role in society.

Once at a Buddhist sacred site, what activities do pilgrims undertake to fulfil the goals and aspirations of the journey? From this wider normative definition of Buddhist pilgrimage, we can now turn to some of the prevalent ritual forms and expressions that take place at sacred sites in India and Nepal. In creating this ritual taxonomy, it is important to keep in mind that these categories are not mutually exclusive, and there is considerable overlap between the different practices in term of their desired goals and intention. For example, it could be argued that merit-making is infused within each of the ritual categories below. We also do not focus on more esoteric forms of ritual engagement such as secret initiations that may take place between a discipline and guru at a sacred site. Rather, our focus is on public displays of ritual that mediate Buddhist pilgrimage and the sacred built environment.

#### *3.1. Calendrical Rites and Memorial Ceremonies*

These are rituals that occur at regular intervals throughout the Gregorian and lunisolar calendar that mark a date or event of symbolic significance for the Buddhist community. Below are some of the more prominent ritual events.

*Vesak*. (S. Vai´sakha; P. Ves ¯ akha; T. Sa ga zla ba): Based on the ceremonial cycle of ¯ Buddhist holidays, especially following the Theravada and Tibetan tradition, the foremost calendrical ritual is that of Vesak (also referred to in vernacular terms as Buddha Purnima or Sawa Dawa in Tibetan). This full-moon day falls on the fourth lunar month of the traditional Indian calendar (usually corresponding in April–May) and commemorates three important events in the life of the Buddha: his birth, awakening, and *parinirva¯n. a*. Although widely celebrated in many parts of Asia, especially in South East Asia, it takes on particular significance in the holy land and is frequently combined with other meritorious actions (see below). On this occasion, numerous functions and rituals are arranged to honor the memory of the Buddha, such as elaborate processions through the surrounding town toward the main temple or stupa (Figure 1). This event is usually organized and planned by local monastic councils and temple committees. Although the date of Vesak has become standardized in contemporary India and in many ways has become a symbol of unification for the different monastic groups and lineages in Buddhist sacred places, it is important to keep in mind that the actual date and symbolic importance of Vesak varies considerably amongst Buddhist communities.4

**Figure 1.** Procession and re-enactment of events in the Buddha's life by school children during Vesak in Bodhgaya. (Photo from the author).

*Kathina Dana*: This refers to the "great robe offering" ceremony in the Theravada tradition that marks the end of the *vassa* ("rains") retreats and is celebrated with many *sanghadana's* held between different local monasteries and temples, especially from South and South East Asia (Figure 2). On these occasions, lay pilgrims visit members of the sangha and offer cotton cloth for the purpose of making new robes, gifts, feasts, and donations to the temple to support the monks and nuns in their pursuit.

**Figure 2.** Offerings by lay pilgrims during the Kathina Dana at a nearby temple in Bodhgaya. (Photo from the author).

*Other collective gatherings*: It is common for Buddhist communities to organize ritual gatherings at sacred sites to celebrate lunisolar events throughout the year. Losar (T., lo-gsar), the Tibetan New Year, is usually celebrated around February (according to the Tibetan Calendar) and lasts 3–15 days. In July, Theravada and Tibetan Buddhists in Sarnath celebrate *Asalha* "Dharma Day" or *Chökor Düchen* (T. chos 'khor chen), which honors the day the Buddha first taught the four noble truths and turned the wheel of dharma on the full-moon night of the month of Asalha. Magha Puja—a time when 1250 Buddhists came together to pay their respect to the Buddha—has now become a festive occasion among Buddhists from South East Asia to honor the Sangha and provides opportunities for lay and monastic people to reaffirm their commitment to the Buddha-dhamma. Many Burmese groups celebrate the *Abhidhamma* day to mark the day the Buddha went to the Tushita heaven to teach his mother. On the full-moon day in March, Buddhists from the Mahayana traditions of Tibet and East Asia celebrate Avalokitsevara's birthday—one of the eight great Bodhisattvas. Rituals and forms of worship on this day involve the recitation of the mantra *'om mani padme hum*' and the active practice of compassion (*karuna*) that exemplifies the Bodhisattva ideal to save and protect beings. In the spirit of the Bodhisattva ideal, among Chinese Buddhists, the Water Land Dharma Function is also prominent in some sacred sites and is presided over by high-ranking monks who invite beings of higher realms to ease the suffering of those below. Throughout each month there are also important observances such as *uposadha* (P. uposatha; T. gso sbyong) that follow the new and full moon. On these occasions, ordained members of the sangha assemble together and intensify their practice of the Buddha's teachings by making a conscious effort to renew

their commitments to moral conduct through their recitation of the *bhikkhu-pratimoksa* from the *Vinaya Pitaka* (monastic rules) as well as undertake various forms of self-cultivation and mental purification such as meditation. Among laypeople, it is important to maintain the Eight Precepts (*astahga-sila*).

In addition to these popular Buddhist ritual events that correlate with the lunisolar calendar, there are increasingly a number of memorial events that recognize important historical figures, teachers, and Rinpoches. Some of the more prominent events that we have witnessed include the birthday celebrations of the Dalai Lama on 6 July, the birth of the Thai King on 28 July, and the birth and passing of Anagarika Dharmapala (17 September and 29 April). Among new Indian Buddhists, the birth of Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar on 14 April, his conversation on 14 October, and his passing on 8 December are particularly auspicious and may also correlate with conversion ceremonies (see below).

#### *3.2. Sacred Movement, Meditation, and Veneration of Objects*

These embodied rituals reflect both individual and collective forms of aspiration and spiritual cultivation that are directed toward both soteriological and mundane goals. This category of rituals is perhaps the most dominant and expressive modality that can be observed at Buddhist pilgrimage sites. As Wallace writes "all formal practices of focused concentration, mindfulness, prayer, chanting, and other ritual activities are performed as a means of cultivating one's heart and mind or expressing one's faith" (Wallace 2002, p. 36). Similarly, Huber (2008, p. 310) shows in his study of Tibetan pilgrimage, the ritual work "performed by the pilgrim's body is understood as 'cleansing' or removing certain types of embodied moral and cognitive defilements that hinder progress toward salvation". Although there is a wide spectrum of veneration rituals and practices involving sacred movement that overlaps with the next section, we have chosen to highlight four here:

*Pradaksina* (P. padakkhina; T. skor ba) is the common practice of showing reverence by circumambulating a holy object, person, or place. Among Tibetans, this is referred to as *kora*, *kor* meaning circle in Tibetan. In English, making *kora* is the same as undertaking circumambulation, from the Latin *circum* (around) and *ambulare* (to walk), and in many ways, it represents a microcosm for the pilgrimage journey itself. To circumambulate as a form of religious veneration involves making a clear and conscious connection with something that is regarded as special and holds sacred power (Figure 3). As Keown writes "Locating the encircled object at the centre symbolizes its centrality in the lives of those who walk around it. The activity also represents integrity and cosmic harmony in mirroring natural phenomena such as the clockwise course the sun was believed to follow over the surface of the earth" (2004, p. 218). At Buddhist pilgrimage sites, the most common objects of devotion are stupas or temples but might also include relics, bodhi trees, pillars, images, monasteries, shrines, and other natural features of a sacred landscape such as mountains and hilltops. Circling a stupa or sacred object three times can also be interpreted as a way of showing respect for the Triple Gem. In places such as Bodhgaya, it is not uncommon to see a steady stream of Himalayan Buddhists moving clockwise in large numbers around the upper and lower circumambulation path swirling their prayer wheels, muttering guru-mantra recitations, and counting their mala prayer-beads on their fingertips throughout the day. For many of these Tibetan Buddhists, it is believed that performing *kora* while counting prayers or mantra and/or spinning a prayer wheel with a strong motivation helps to multiply the merit.5

**Figure 3.** Tibetan nun with prayer wheel outside Mahabodhi Temple. (Photo from the author).

*Prostration*: (P. panipata, S. namas-kara) This is a common gesture of deep respect ¯ used among Buddhists to show reverence to the Triple Gem (three times) and a common practice of veneration at sacred sites that helps to accumulate merit. Although the type of prostration and accompanying prayers vary across Buddhist traditions (such as half and full length with emphasis on different verses), it is quite common in pilgrimage sites to see Buddhists prostrating along a circumambulation path or before a particular image, teacher, or stupa (Figure 4). In the Pali Canon, there are several *suttas* that mention laypersons prostrating before the living Buddha (Mills 1982). The action, when it involves dropping the entire body forward and stretching it full length on the ground, also requires considerable physical and mental effort. For these reasons, prostrations, like forms of meditation (see below), can be interpreted as a means of purifying one's body, speech, and mind of karmic defilements to further progress along the path to enlightenment.6 For example, in the northwest corner of the Mahabodhi temple complex, during the winter season, it is common to see hundreds of maroon-clad monks performing full-length prostrations on long wooden boards in sets of a hundred thousand over several weeks and months in an effort to complete their preliminary practices.

**Figure 4.** Full-length prostration before the Mahabodhi temple, Bodhgaya. (Photo from the author).

*Meditation*: We use the English term meditation to refer to a range of more specific techniques and practices that express forms of restricted bodily movement that bring about physiological changes and encourage an altered state of consciousness which is amendable to spiritual development. The two most prominent forms of Buddhist mental cultivation that are used for concentration purposes and to focus the mind are calming meditation (*samatha*) and insight meditation (*vipasyana*). Although the various forms of meditation are not directly associated with pilgrimage rituals, they are increasingly prevalent at sacred sites and are suggested to play an important role, especially among Mahayana Buddhists, as means of enacting one's Buddha-nature that can also be interpreted as a form of veneration toward Shakyamuni and the Dharma. This is especially the case in Bodhgaya where pilgrims can be found throughout the Mahabodhi temple complex in quietude and stillness. Although it has been emphasized that these meditation techniques were rarely practiced by laity in the past, today, they figure prominently in the ritual ecology of sacred sites among individuals and groups as a means of removing mental impurities and cultivating techniques that speak to Buddhist aspirations of achieving Nirvana across a wide spectrum of practitioners.

*Dance*: although not nearly as common as the embodied rituals highlighted above, forms of religious dance, especially among Tibetan Buddhists, often take place at sacred sites and are often part of larger religious gatherings and festivals. Lama dancing (T. 'chams), in particular, are performed by masked dancers accompanied by ritual music and involve the enacting of various religious dramas that depict important Tibetan mythological themes such as the subjugation of demons.

#### *3.3. Chanting, Recitation, and Prayer Festivals*

Despite the popular association of Buddhism (and the Buddha) with forms of quietude and stillness, Buddhist pilgrimage sites are densely layered sonic environments. As part of the "ritual re-enactment of religious narratives" (Deeg 2014, p. 9), the individual and collective recitation of certain Buddhist teachings, discourses, and prayers play an important role in elevating the sanctity of the place while paying homage to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. As part of this "grammar of sanctification" (Eck 2012), certain pilgrimage places have become important locales for particular Buddhist discourses and stories associated with the Buddha's life (lives) along with his disciples. One example is the Lotus and Heart Sutra in Vulture Peak, Rajgirha. Given the importance of the Lotus Sutra in Rajgir-Nalanda for Mahayana Buddhists, especially the Nichiren school of Buddhism, it is common to see gatherings of Japanese Buddhists practicing the *daimoku*, chanting the title of the sutra in the form of "*namo myoho renge hyo*" (Jap.) a phrase meaning "Hail to the Scripture of the Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma", which is itself an expression of devotion to the Lotus Sutra's truth and power. Among Tibetan Buddhists, in most pilgrimage places, one hears the words "*om mani padme hum*". Although the exact translation of this verse has a complex grammatical structure and is not easily amendable to a definitive translation, it does gesture toward the meaning: "homage [or Praise] to the Jewel-Lotus One". This popular mantra is widely associated with the venerated Bodhisattva of compassion Avalokitsevara and is frequently placed in prayer wheels. Other common prayers include the refuge prayer (Kyabdro in Tibetan), which is the act of taking refuge in the Three Jewels. In the ancient Pali language, the chant goes,

*Buddham saranam gacchami*. "I take refuge in the Buddha". *Dhammam saranam gacchami*. "I take refuge in the Dharma". *Sangham saranam gacchami*. "I take refuge in the Sangha".

Accompanying these prayers and mantras is the use of a *mala* (skt)—a form of rosary held in the right hand and fingered by pilgrims to keep count of the number of recitations made during their worship. Although the string of beads on a mala can vary in number and length, the most common number is 108.7 In terms of the type of bead, increasingly they are made from sandalwood or seeds of the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment, although rosaries can also be made from a range of other materials such as wood, hard-nut kernels, crystal, and bone (Keown 2004, p. 171).

Given the importance of Bodhgaya in terms of multiplying aspirations, Buddhist sacred sites, such as the Mahabodhi temple, have become important staging grounds for several *monlams* (or prayer festivals) that involve prayers, mantras, and long liturgies guided by high-ranking lamas and Rinpoches from the different Tibetan schools (Figure 5). Although many of the original *monlam* prayer festivals in Tibet commemorated the Buddha's defeat of the heretical teachers at Sravasti, at several Buddhist sites in India and Nepal, they are now conflated with a broader set of global discourse such as "world peace" (see Huber 2008). Over a period of ten days (sometimes more), the festival includes prayers performed three times each day at the sacred site and may be accompanied by tantric practices of visualization, rituals for expiation of misdeeds committed during the previous year, and a rededication to the principles of Buddhism for the coming year (Buswell and Lopez 2013, p. 831). As part of the materiality of devotion that accompanies these large ritual gatherings, elaborate altars are constructed on the side of the temple or beneath the Bodhi tree, arranged with silver water bowls, receptacles filled with rice, and elaborate multicolored *tormas* made of colored barley flour and butter that are used as an offering or propitiation to various spiritual beings (Figure 6).

**Figure 5.** Monlam event under the boughs of the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya. (Photo from the author).

**Figure 6.** *Tormas* during the Monlam chanting in Bodhgaya. (Photo from the author).

In recent years, the Light of Buddhadharma Foundation (LBDFI) founded by Wangmo and Richard Dixey (the former is the daughter of Tarthang Tulku) have taken a leading role in organizing the annual International Tipitaka chanting ceremony. The chanting ceremony brings together upwards of 3500 Theravada monks, nuns, and lay followers from ten South East and South Asia countries to chant the teachings of the Buddha, as recorded in the Pali Canon. Each country is represented by separate national stalls and simultaneously chants over one another during the scheduled event (Figure 7).

**Figure 7.** Thai participants in the International Tipitika Chanting ceremony in Bodhgaya. (Photo from the author).

#### *3.4. Spiritual Teachings, Initiation, Counsel, and Retreat*

Many Buddhists undertake pilgrimage to gain access to high-ranking monks or nuns and their teachings at a sacred site. Contact with a guru or members of the sangha may translate into forms of private counsel, spiritual initiation, and blessings. Because the vast majority of pilgrim groups reside in monasteries located at each of the main pilgrimage sites, senior monks and nuns also play an important role as ritual mediators and guides for merit-making activities, providing dhamma talks that recount stories of the Buddha's life and leading groups in chanting and meditation.

Given the importance of spiritual counsel, several Buddhist sites have evolved into important centers of study (of Buddhist philosophy and practice) and retreat (meditation) that draw both secular and religious participants. For example, there are several Goenkainspired Vipassana Centres on the outskirts of various Buddhist pilgrimage sites attracting various participants throughout the year. There is a six month spiritual program offered by Root Institute for Cultural Wisdom in Bodhgaya. Through the peak months of December and January, many of the pilgrims from the Himalayan regions migrate to Bodhgaya, escaping the cooler climates by following respected lamas or Rinpoches from the various Tibetan schools and lineages (Geary 2014). This affords unique opportunities to attend various teachings, such as Ayang Rinpoche's annual phowa (T. 'pho ba) course held in Bodhgaya each year. There are also increasingly growing numbers of educational groups and pilgrimage tours such as the American-based Carleton (formerly Antioch) Buddhist Studies Program that involves both contemplative and educational university accredited courses that take place in residence at the Burmese *vihara*.

#### *3.5. Dana and Making Merit: Donations, Offerings, and Service*

*Dana* (Skt.; Pali) is loosely translated in English as "generosity" and is a key Buddhist virtue and source of great merit (*punya*) that is believed to be multiplied at a sacred site. As the first of ten perfections in the Pali tradition, among Theravada Buddhists, dana is seen as altruistic behavior that is instrumental in overcoming selfishness and attachment. In the Mahayana tradition, it usually refers to the Perfection of Generosity (Keown 2004, p. 69). Among all Buddhists, practicing different forms of generosity and making offerings provides certain soteriological advantages such as achieving a better rebirth. Offerings at a sacred site may also be directed toward more mundane material benefits such as the fulfillment of a special vow and/or to honor a deity in return for financial prosperity and good health. However, what defines a worthy recipient of a gift, also known as a 'field of merit' (*punya-ksetra*) is not always clear and may vary considerably across Buddhist cultural groups and among lay and monastic members. First and foremost, at a pilgrimage place, a valued field of merit is likely to include the giving of alms to members of the ordained sangha, making offerings toward a buddha image or shrine, the refurbishment, or embellishing of a temple or stupa, and the financial support of religious infrastructure and construction works such as a *dharamshala* (pilgrim-lodge) for pilgrims. As several scholars have shown in recent studies, increasingly, sacred sites have become launching pads for spectacular "materializations of merit" (Askew 2007; McDaniel 2016) that may also be used to compete for pilgrim and tourist patronage. In contrast to these spectacular displays, what is more common among lay pilgrims are ephemeral ritual offerings that are tied to the efficacy of karma and are part of the everyday materiality of devotion such as sweet perfumes, flowers, attaching prayer flags, providing bowls of fruit and foodstuff, water, oil lamps, candles, and incense. Applying gold leaf on sacred objects and images such as stone footprints (to the chagrin of conservation authorities) is also a popular practice among some South East Asian Buddhist groups. In a recent chapter by anthropologist Cook (2018), she accompanied a group of 120 Buddhist pilgrims from Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, to Nepal and India to make the journey around the four sites. In one instance, Cook describes the ways in which Thai lay pilgrims internalize and actualize the truths of suffering and impermanence in Ku´sinagar¯ı by symbolically cremating the names of deceased family members on small slips of paper, which allow them to create a tangible connection between the death of the Buddha and their own personal experiences of loss. These actions are not only morally transformative to the participant, but they also infuse and enhance the sacred power associated with the Buddhist sites because "the more people share in a meritorious act, the more merit is created" (Cook 2018, p. 45).

Another meritorious activity that is of great importance in Bodhgaya, especially to Theravada Buddhists, is the dressing of the gold-gilded central image of Buddha Shakyamuni with robes. During particularly auspicious days on the lunar calendar, the Buddha image is repeatedly dressed throughout the day by the temple management staff at the request of the devotee. The sanctification of robes by the Buddha is not only a great source of merit but also provides an important source of revenue for the temple management committee who later return the robes to the entrusted devotee, usually in exchange for a financial donation to the temple (Figure 8).

In several Buddhist sites in India and Nepal, making Dana may also translate into various forms of relief work and charitable projects that may fall under the umbrella term "socially engaged Buddhism" (Queen 2012), which involves applying Buddhist solutions to reduce various forms of suffering. The engaged Buddhist movement cuts across the lay–monastic divide and includes Buddhists from traditional Buddhist countries as well as more recent Western converts. Due to the poverty surrounding many Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the Indo-Gangetic region, this has given rise to a number of charitable initiatives that include supporting or sponsoring children at schools and/or orphanages, establishing an NGO, giving to beggars, and/or volunteer service to the community and environment with various initiatives ranging from health clinics to the building of public toilets. For some, this form of "engaged Buddhism" is an expression of the highest form of seeking (Goldberg 2013).

**Figure 8.** Offering robes to the main Buddha image in the Mahabodhi temple. (Photo from the author).

As we see in this section, providing Dana and accruing merit can be expressed in a range of ritual forms, from the recitation of certain verses, offerings to the sangha, donations, and social work, to name a few. Although there are multiple modalities for the transference of merit, one could argue that undertaking pilgrimage itself represents one of the highest forms of merit-making in the Buddhist world given the ways in which other ritual practices are enfolded within the journey. For these reasons, pilgrimage places are very auspicious locales for undertaking virtuous deeds which are akin to a merit multiplier effect.

#### *3.6. Temporary Ordinations and "Conversion" Ceremonies*

Although not nearly as common as some of the ritual behavior described above, pilgrimage places are also valued spaces for deepening ones commitment to the Triple Gems through forms of temporary ordination (*P. pabbajja*—"to go forth") as well as conversion. In terms of temporary ordination, this is especially the case for many Theravada Buddhists, especially from Thailand, where temporary ordinations are like a rite of passage for young men in Thai Buddhist society who are expected to spend some time in a *vihara*. Although it was not practiced during the Buddha's time and it is not clear when this practice was introduced (Keown 2004, p. 297), it is valued as a way of affirming ones commitment to the Buddha's teachings and acquiring and transmitting merit by temporarily living in accordance with the dhamma. The stay might range from one day to several weeks, during which they have their heads shaved, wear monastic robes, reside in a nearby temple, and devote themselves to religious practices, including meditation and chanting. In recent years, there have been several cases of high-profile pilgrimage missions involving government employees from Thailand, including police and judges who resided at the Royal Wat Thai in Bodhgaya during the course of their ordination period.

Although the term "conversion" is somewhat problematic in the Indic context with respect to more fluid forms of South Asian religiosity and expression, it has become more prevalent in the modern era among people belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes following the example of Bhim Rao Ambedkar. Much has been written about the highly accomplished low-caste leader Dr. Ambedkar (1891–1956) and his program of social reform that culminated in the highly symbolic conversion to Buddhism on 14 October 1956 in Nagpur, Maharashtra (Fitzgerald 1997; Jondhale and Beltz 2004; Zelliot 2008). Following in footsteps of Ambedkar, the majority of New Buddhists consider *diskha bhoomi* in Nagpur as a pilgrimage place and take initiations there. However, there are several instances of "conversion" ceremonies (or rather, *dhamma parivartan*) that have taken place under the boughs of the Bodhi tree or in other pilgrimage locales and sometimes coordinated though the Triratna Buddhist community (formerly TBMSG/FWBO) that organize these initiations among the Dalit community.

#### *3.7. Consumption and Shopping*

It is well known that pilgrimage and commerce are closely intertwined throughout the world. The record of Buddhist pilgrimage to India speaks to the importance of collecting sacred objects, "souvenirs", and mass reproductions that are believed to capture the spirit of a place, serve as a mnemonic device for storytelling, and imbue the pilgrim with the power of the original place visited. This is certainly the case for the reproduction of Mahabodhi temple miniatures (as well as large-scale reproductions) that commemorate the Buddha's enlightenment and have been found in several collections around the world (Asher 2012; Guy 1991). In more recent times, we have seen a growing market for various technologies of encapsulating the essence or authenticity of the pilgrimage journey that can be brought back to one's home and circulated among friends and relatives as gifts. Although postcards and prints have lost some of their appeal in recent years because of digital cameras, they continue to play an important role in documenting forms of devotion that help to capture a "sense of place" and as a way of memorializing the journey. Moving beyond the flatness of texts and pictures, a number of sacred souvenirs bring a different sense of materiality and are popular purchases in these sacred locales. Those in wide circulation include bodhi leaves, sandalwood perfume, wooden and stone buddha statues and images, *mala*-beads, Buddha lockets, meditation bags, incense sticks, singing bowls, bracelets, and thangka paintings (Figure 9).

**Figure 9.** Sacred souvenirs on display in the bazaar, Bodhgaya. (Photo from the author).

Some destinations have also gained certain notoriety for specific purchases that speak to the historical and mythological context for their sacredness such as in Rajgir/Nalanda black Buddha image; Vaishali—wooden Ashoka pillar with the Lion on top; Sarnath—the iconic Buddha image housed in Sarnath Museum; Ku´sinagar¯ı—reclining Buddha image; and Lumbini—the baby standing Buddha image. In addition to these "sacred souvenirs", there is also a growing market among some pilgrim groups for certain Indian products such as silk scarfs and shawls, medicinal items, and Himalayan products, such as tea, herbal medicines, and popular Indian cosmetic brands, such as skin and face creams.8

#### **4. Discussion: Embodying the Buddha-Dharma**

Although we often interpret and imagine Buddhism as a religion of transcendence, in this concluding section, we draw insights from actor-network theory and material religion that takes seriously the close ontological ties between ritual practice and religious objects in mediating the human–divine dyad and destabilizing certain dichotomies such as the sacred/profane and spirit/matter. A question that often arises in the context of Buddhist pilgrimage, why is there a persistence of place in a religion that emphasizes *annica* or impermanence as part of the ethical foundations of Buddhist life and practice?

If *annica* is one of the three marks of existence in Buddhism—the others being *dukka* (unsatisfactoriness) and *anatta* (non-selfhood)—the term expresses the notion that all conditioned existence, without exception, is in a constant state of flux—a complete absence of permanence and continuity. This is exemplified in human life itself with the aging process and the subsequent cycle of birth and death (*samsara*). Thus, underlying the doctrine of *annica* are certain ontological assumptions regarding the timeless and limitless truth about reality and the physical embodiment of that truth through individual Buddhas and their material or corporeal remains.

As a means of addressing the continued presence and agency of the Buddha following his passing, we have shown how pilgrimage and the rituals embodied at sacred places play an integral role in the memory work that help to reinforce the patterns of religious life. On one level, sacred places and their material affordances provide important physical links to religious narratives that act as mnemonic devices for recalling sacred events in the biographic life of the founder while providing a paradigmatic model of aspiration for those who have made progress along the path to nirvana. These aspirations continue to play a formative role in linking the human world with transcendent realms as the moral axis points for the religious community. Thus, as places of memory, the Buddhist pilgrimage sites provide a ritual environment that helps to reinforce and internalize the truths of the dhamma because they help bring to life the stories of the Buddha in the holy land in ways that are morally transformative. As Cook (2018, p. 51) writes, "These practices are intended to effect changes within themselves, resulting in the actualization of moral good in accordance with Buddhist cosmology".

On another level, sacred sites are also invested with the presence of the Buddha by virtue of various techniques of ritualized consecration and worship involving sacred objects. The most widespread ritual technique for defining sacred place is relic enshrinement. For Buddhist adherents, it is believed that relics contain the energy of the Buddha and contact or proximity to these sacred objects yields strong soteriological benefits as sources of great merit (Huber 2008; Trainor 2007, p. 637). Through the symbolic construction of stupas and reliquary shrines, these material embodiments also suffuse and permeate the surrounding environment with the sacred and moral qualities of enlightened beings (Huber 2008, p. 61). Furthermore, as Huber points out with reference to Tibetan pilgrims, the superior quality of a holy place and its affective residue can also "be harvested and carried away, such as is commonly seen in the collection of water, earth and stones, or talismans from holy places by pilgrims" (2008, p. 61).

Thus, at a phenomenological level, the various ritual practices such as prostrations, chanting, and circumambulations not only provide a "focusing lens" (Smith 1980) that helps to evoke various affective responses and emotions such as *samvega*, but they also

help to purify those within it. According to Anne Klein (Lama Rigzin Drolma), this is the "operative premise" of Buddhist ritual praxis. Not only do formal ritual elements and their repetition provide a great source of support along the path, but they also play an integral role in dissolving certain negative impediments toward the sublime goal of enlightenment. As Klein (2016) explains in the context of Tibetan ritual practice, this quality of "dissolving and evolving" is a vital key to the embodied experience of ritual that corresponds with the basic meaning of enlightenment: "the first is *byang*, meaning to cleanse, eliminate, remove; hence, dissolve. The second is *chub*, meaning to grow, blossom, further, develop; hence, evolve".

In the context of postcolonial modernity, Buddhist sacred space brings to the foreground a complex set of relationships and influences that converge around the notion of heritage and monumentality. There has been considerable scholarship in recent years around the ways in which heritage regimes (Geismar 2015) operate through an objectified historicist lens in ways that refashion relations among people giving rise to a sense of "disenchantment" and "social abstraction" that masks the exploitative and capital-intensive projects launched by various state governments and interest groups (del Marmol et al. 2013). As Michael Herzfeld describes, "Monumentality implies permanence, eternity, the disappearance of temporality except in some mythological sense. Monuments have a metonymic relationship to the entities (such as nation-states) that they serve, and their ponderous ontology discourages thoughts of their potential impermanence ... " (Herzfeld 2006, p. 129). These projects and prescriptions of monumentality are often ushered through by state authorities and international experts in the name of conservation, protection, and tourism development that may run in opposition to the religious sensibilities and ritual praxis of sacred space by devotees according to their own traditions of worship. Many Buddhist sites are situated in archaeological landscapes and because of the fragile nature of these landscapes, the governing authorities may prohibit or curtail the performance of certain rituals. Due to these restrictions and limited opportunities to perform certain rituals, the arena of performance often shifts to nearby monasteries and their temples. For instance, in Sarnath, pilgrims want to touch the Dhamek stupa but cannot do so because of fear of excessive wear and tear. In other words, the restrictions on certain ritual performances can create a spatial disconnect with access to certain relics and sacred objects, which is an essential part of pilgrimage (Shinde 2020).

At the same time, these forms of ritual practice also have the potential to subvert the strategies of place-making by heritage regimes and provide glimpses of alternatives to reigning territorial notions of property and enclosure (Collins 2011, p. 129) through their ongoing dialogues with devotion. As Collins writes, "There is little doubt that a naive empiricism focused on a material culture conceived of as a collection of objects fails to recognize the diversity of ways that people employ objects in social action (2011, pp. 127–28)". It is for these reasons, in this paper, we have focused on the phenomenological ritual relationship with sacred space—the sensory, performative, storied, and embodied dimensions of place. Directly associated with the ritual praxis is the Buddhist belief that pilgrimage places have transformative power and that sacred power is contingent on the ongoing ritual reconsecration and renovation of the built environment.