Why do people undertake religious pilgrimages?

People undertake religious pilgrimages to travel to sites sanctified by their association with a divinity or holy personage, seeking a connection to a transcendent sphere. While motivations vary across and within traditions, they are often driven by a pious search for salvation.12

Common motivations include:
* Spiritual and Religious Goals: Pilgrims may seek to fulfill vows, perform penance for wrongdoing, or gain miracles and cures for physical ailments.2
* Ritual Participation: Many journeys are tied to specific sacred times or life-cycle phases, involving rituals like circumambulation or bathing in holy waters to access divine grace.2
* Seeking Merit: In many traditions, visiting specific sites is believed to bestow spiritual benefits, such as freedom from the cycle of reincarnation or the remission of sin.2
* Secular and Practical Factors: Historically and currently, pilgrimages have been combined with commercial activities, trade, or personal exploration, with some modern travelers undertaking famous routes for nonreligious reasons.2

Ultimately, these journeys allow individuals to separate from the everyday world to engage with the sacred, often bringing back relics to maintain that connection at home.2