Pilgrimage as your Travel Plan

Are the pilgrimage inside your travel plan to the specific locations? Depends! One can say that because an activity that is done is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim. In the United States, the term pilgrim is typically associated with an early colonial protestant sect known for their strict rules of discipline.

Minister of Culture and Tourism of Indonesia, Jero Wacik told about Richard Gere's visit to the Borobudur temple a weeks ago, "He's been up from four in the morning. Then at the Borobudur Temple had prayed since she was Buddhist. But while waiting for the sun, it’s rain, so it is not good for the moment of image capture session. He said that unfortunately can not see it. So I answered, Please come again sometime in here, we are also pleased," he says.

Richard Gere's visit is a pilgrimage, he was preparing to visit the Borobudur temple and came upon a personal capacity in a spiritual trip to perform Buddhist prayer rituals, "parita-parita" and then with about 100 Buddhist monks around the temple three times. Richard Gere is a Buddhist good belief.

Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Indonesia saw the opportunity this pilgrimage, or often called religious tourism (tourism pilgrimage or spiritual tourism as well) as an opportunity to cooperate with neighboring countries like Malaysia who a lot come on pilgrimage to the tomb of Wali Songo for Moslem adherents.

A pilgrimage has long since past, like the belief in the Abrahamic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam in which The Holy Land acts as a focal point for the pilgrimages.

In Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, India and even China also have a place of religious tourism as believed by the Abrahamic religions above. Cambodia with Angkor Wat, the Sanchi for India, then China with Yung-kang and Indonesia for Buddhist belief adherents to the Borobudur Temple.

Religious tourism if well packed will certainly attract the attention of visitors and tourists from various countries, look at a ritual religious history that can attract tourists in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand, while enjoying architecture and beutiful details of the temple ornaments, not less than 500,000 tourists visiting each day in the peak holiday season. The ceremony happened on ritual activity there, among others, witnessed the ceremonial robe worn replacement Emerald Buddha statue three times a year, summer, monsoon and winter.

If countries with the adherents of each religion to make such a cooperation, then the ritual can be a religious tourist activity that gives a lot of meaning for each country related to travel passion of their country. Is not travel just not an ordinary tourist trip itself?

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(Various sources kompas.com, wikipedia.org / Image CC)