Other Events of Interest to SMRG Inc. Members
The Fifth Australian Celtic Conference
21 - 24 July 2004
University of Sydney Sydney Australia
Call for Papers
Abstracts are invited for 20-minute papers in any field relating to Celtic Studies. Papers addressing the theme, Exile and Homecoming , are particularly welcome.
Please send enquiries and/or abstracts of 100-200 words to:
Sybil Jack
Conference Convenor
Prof Sybil Jack
or mail/fax abstracts and enquiries to:
A/Prof Helen Fulton
Department of English A20
University of Sydney
NSW 2006 Australia
Fax: (+61) (0)2 9351 2434
Dr Helen Fulton
DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS: February 28 2004 2434
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Pilgrimage, Compostella and Mediaeval Religious Culture
A
WEA course, number 41HM018.
Six meetings, on Wednesday afternoons. Cost: $118 or $94 concession.
First session Wednesday Feb 11th, 2-4 p.m
- Session 1 Speaker: Lyn Olson
- What drove the pilgrim to take up the badge and staff and set out? It was evidently common to young and old, saint and sinner. Did they go to gain grace or seek a cure? What was the role of miracles? Was it a way to initiation; a means of expiation; a quest for self–examination? What was the role of the local shrine and its patrons compared to the great journeys. How important was the idea of the pilgrimage as delineating the threshold of life and death, the experience of liminality?
- Session 2 Speaker: TBA
- This session will consider the idea of sacred space and sacred journeys: Jerusalem, Rome and Compostella. What was the connection between the holy place and the labyrinth, separation and community. What can we learn from the 12th century guide to the pilgrimage to Compostella? We shall also consider the legend of St James and Charlemagne, high days and holidays, relics and miracles.
- Session 3 Speaker: Sharon Davidson
- In this session we shall examine what a pilgrimage was like. We shall examine the main pilgrim routes and the protections provided for pilgrims. When the pilgrim set out s/he faced life at sea and on the road and their perils -- as well as dangerous fellow travellers, herbalists and minstrels, merchants and peddlers, pirates and outlaws. As they went the pilgrims learned of the wider world and themselves spread fables and news. The journeys of Marjorie Kempe, pilgrim and mystic. Will provide a focus.
- Session 4 Speaker: TBA
- In this session we shall investigate the structure that surrounded the pilgrim. The pilgrims were served by many different institutions as they went. There were, for example, the orders dedicated to the holy places, such as the knights of St James who were part of the Spanish confrontation with the Muslims -- a form of Crusade.
- Session 5 Speaker: TBA
- In this session we shall hear and see the music, art and architecture of the pilgrimage.
- Session 6 Speaker: TBA
- In this session we shall consider the way in which the pilgrimage influenced the culture of the people who went on pilgrimage and those who stayed behind.
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