Caribbean Pilgrimages: A Typology.

PILGRIMS & pilgrimages; RELIGIOUS processions; PENTECOSTALS; RELIGION

CARIBBEAN; GRENADA; BARBADOS

This study analyzes two Caribbean pilgrimage types: fixed and flexible. Fixed pilgrimages (pilgrimages with specific destinations) are represented by the annual pilgrimage to Saut d'Eau in Haiti. Flexible pilgrimages (pilgrimages without specific destinations) are represented by the journeys sponsored by an indigenous Caribbean religion, the Spiritual Baptists of Trinidad. Both fixed and flexible pilgrimages may be found throughout the Caribbean region, but on each Caribbean island a particular type of pilgrimage dominates. Differences in pilgrimage types reflect attitudes toward the land, mobility of the gods, and national sentiments. Attitudes toward the land, however, was found to be the most important factor. This study concludes that fixed pilgrimages, such as the annual pilgrimage to Saut d'Eau, fit the model of pilgrimage behavior developed by Victor Turner, but that flexible pilgrimages, such as Spiritual Baptist journeys in Trinidad, do not fit Turner's model.
To summarize, I have sought to distinguish two pilgrimage types in the Caribbean: 1) fixed pilgrimages such as the annual pilgrimage to Saut d'Eau in Haiti, and 2) flexible pilgrimages such as the journeys sponsored by Trinidad's Spiritual Baptists. Examples of both types may be found throughout the Caribbean region but for each island a particular type dominates. Seventh Day Adventists of St. Vincent and Trinidad, for example, sponsor flexible pilgrimages, though they do not label them as such. Pentecostals in St. Vincent, Trinidad, and Barbados also sponsor similar religious journeys, as do Shangoists in Grenada.
It is possible to look at pilgramages to Saut d'Eau as a special type of rite de passage, but it is extremely difficult to examine Baptist pilgrimages as rites de passage. When Spiritual Baptists travel together toward a pilgrimage site, the route does not become increasingly invested with sacred value (as Turner [1973:204] would have predicted). It is unclear in the Baptist... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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