Image and Pilgrimage (3) - Kevin Covucci

In the introduction to Turner's book Image and Pilgrimage, Turner discusses the "Anthropological Approaches to the Study of Pilgrimage." I found this section incredibly interesting due to the fact that I was in an Anthropology class last semester and found it to be very intriguing. I was very curious to see if and how these two classes were going to lap, or even how Turner's thoughts in this section would compare to what I learned in the class last year. When Turner begins discussing pilgrimage he comments stating that "when pilgrimages of all types coexist in the same religious field, each type influences all others, so that a single pilgrimage comes to absorb features." (from one another) This got me thinking about how we learned in anthropology class about when different cultures coexist in similar areas they begin to absorb different things from one another. While the cultures grow closer in similarity, they always ensure that their is a fine line of separation between them. This reminded me exactly of what Turner is speaking about with the different pilgrimages. I found it really cool how these two seemingly different things connect so well together. Im curious if the reason that these pilgrimages absorb features from each other is more because the cultures that surround it rather than the actual pilgrimages itself? This idea is something I will probably ponder for awhile, but I figure the answer is truly just opinionated, so who knows.