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This study presents an analysis of the forms of family pilgrimage along the Polish sections of the Way of St. James. The purpose of the research is to understand the current status of family pilgrimage along the route to Santiago de Compostela in Poland, as well as to specify the determinants of the development of this type of pilgrimage. The forms of family pilgrimage along the Way of St. James in Poland and the importance of such pilgrimages in deepening intra-family relations are presented based on interviews and testimonies collected, as well as on several years of experience in organising and participating in family pilgrimages.

Between 2016 and 2019, I accompanied four student groups on the Camino de Santiago - however the planned 2020 project was cancelled due to the coronavirus epidemic. In this article, I describe the project, its planning, its implementation, and its conclusion, as well as some experiences and impressions of the participating students on the basis of an ethnographical approach. The projects presented have two objectives: on the one hand, to teach the students qualitative and quantitative research methods in a delimited, protected environment, and on the other hand, to introduce the students to the fascination of pilgrimage and the Camino de Santiago. During the four years, 45 students of different disciplines from BSP Business School Berlin and its partner universities in Berlin and Hamburg, participated in the projects. Although this paper can be used as a kind of instruction manual for student projects on the Camino de Santiago, it represents above all a work-in-progress that continually needs to be improved and adapted. I encourage other university teachers to embark on the Camino de Santiago with their students. It can be an enriching, valuable, and sometimes life-changing experience for all participants.

Pilgrim tattoos have come into fashion: in Santiago de Compostela, the destination of all Ways of St. James, tattoo studios are springing up and in social networks, corresponding photographs can be found more and more often. In this paper we present the results of a survey of pilgrims who have been tattooed after their pilgrimage (N=256). It turns out that certain symbols and body parts are particularly popular among pilgrim tattoos. The tattooing practice of pilgrims also depends strongly on age, nationality and previous tattoos. The central features of the pilgrimage itself, on the other hand, have only a weak influence on the tattooing practice. The increasing popularity of pilgrim tattoos can therefore be seen as a further sign of a general renaissance of tattoos (Rees, 2016). Nevertheless, pilgrim tattoos fulfill an identity-forming function and should be seen in the context of the high biographical relevance of late modern pilgrimages.

As the director of a new collegiate study-abroad program that will invite students to complete a segment of a Christian pilgrimage across northern Spain, the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James), I am tasked with setting the expectations of students, parents and administrators, and with addressing the needs of student travellers. The present chapter analyses several genres of cultural artefacts that novice pilgrims, such as my students, are likely to encounter prior to departure: travel guidebooks and manuals, publications more generally about sacred journeys, pilgrimage memoirs and films. These texts help to frame the journey ahead as a pilgrimage, as a long-distance hike or both. Of particular interest to travellers as they prepare for departure is the representation of packing lists and outdoor sports gear across the various genres. I wish to consider the ways in which the material goods one brings from home for a journey impact and/or reflect one's intended travel experience. I encourage any would-be pilgrims to interrogate their own purchasing and packing choices, as they encounter these and other textual representations of the Camino de Santiago and as they consider their motivations for undertaking the journey. pilgrims to interrogate their own purchasing and packing choices, as they encounter these and other textual representations of the Camino de Santiago and as they consider their motivations for undertaking the journey.

The aim of the research was to explore the factors conditioning the origin and development of selected sections of the Way of St. James within the territory of Visegrad Group countries.[1] The cognitive aim of the research was to determine the correctness of the spatial route of the Way of St. James, as well as to present the phenomenon of dynamic development of Routes of St. James in the said countries.The creation of the first sections of the Way of St. James in V4 countries was influenced by a number of geographical, historical, religious, economic, political, and socio-cultural factors. In the majority of marked routes of St. James in the studied area, the key factor was the entrepreneurial attitude of people who had completed pilgrimages along the Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela or who had come in contact with pilgrims themselves. It was only on further stages of development of the Way of St. James in individual regions that Camino projects were backed by regional authorities together with church authorities. The research shows that in the study area, the most intensive development of the Way of St. James and initiatives connected with Camino de Santiago can be seen in Poland.with church authorities. The research shows that in the study area, the most intensive development of the Way of St. James and initiatives connected with Camino de Santiago can be seen in Poland.

Tourism and pilgrimage are different social phenomena (Cohen, 1992; Collins-Kreiner, 2010a); tourism is more secular than pilgrimage, which is mainly a sacred journey (Barber, 2001). In spite of this, both indicate a ‘movement’; so that tourists and pilgrims are ‘foreigners, travellers and strangers’ (Smith, 1992) who look for authentic experiences (Collins-Kreiner, 2010a). The question: ‘What kind of Experience Pilgrimage is?’ has many answers. From a social point of view, pilgrims are free from social obligations; they share the same destination and the same social status. Because of this, the anthropologists Turner and Turner (1978) defined pilgrimage as an anti-structural experience that subverts the established order of things. Furthermore, pilgrimages are both liminal and inclusive experiences, as the sense of communitas (Turner and Turner, 1978) facilitates social relations and produces social safety (Bauman, 2001). Finally, the emotional dimension of pilgrimage experiences changes according to behavioural patterns. Based on these assumptions, pilgrimages are unique experiences.Because of contemporary transformations and the increasing use of the term ‘pilgrimage’ in secular contexts (Collins-Kreiner, 2010a), the geography of pilgrimages must invavioural patterns. Based on these assumptions, pilgrimages are unique experiences.Because of contemporary transformations and the increasing use of the term ‘pilgrimage’ in secular contexts (Collins-Kreiner, 2010a), the geography of pilgrimages must investigate how pilgrimage experiences change. This contribution analyses pilgrimage experiences according to a key aspect: human cognition; for this reason, the essay presents a phenomenological methodological approach (Lopez, 2013). The chief sources are records of pilgrims who went to one of the most representative sites for Christian religion: Santiago de Compostela. The examination regards the above-mentioned dimensions and the way in which pilgrims ‘live the space’. It aims to reveal that the ‘essence’ of pilgrimage tourism experiences does not disappear when the pilgrim returns to his or her everyday life. As a matter of fact, his or her everyday life is marked by the pilgrimage experience and, thus, by a different worldview (Frey, 1997, 1998; Coleman, 2004).