Paper short abstract:

Pilgrimage is experiencing a revival and change of character. This paper will explore the motives why people undertake the Norwegian St. Olav pilgrimage, and to see whether the evolving post-secular pilgrimage trend of a personal pilgrimage performance prevails also there, often seen on the Camino.

Paper long abstract:

Pilgrimage is experiencing a revival, while at the same time a change of character in light of our fluid times. A post-secular pilgrimage trend is developing, pilgrimage performance focusing on the non-religious dimension of pilgrimage, related to a person's Self and spiritual life as seen on the Camino Santiago pilgrimage in Spain. This hybridity of pilgrimage offers a space of 'spiritual fixing', even 'self-healing' (Jørgensen, 2017).

Through the lens of motivations, this paper will explore the objectives, expectations and hopes that drives people to undertake the St. Olav pilgrimage in Norway to unveil their true intentions with the journey, and to see whether this post-secular trend prevails also there, compared with the Camino.

Data collection took place between May-October 2017: questionnaires were sent to pilgrim accommodations along the St. Olav's way. 53 pilgrims with an average age of 52 from 13 nationalities with different belief systems responded. Motivational categories were generated through a hermeneutic text analysis of their answers.

There seems to be as many reasons for walking the St. Olav route as there are pilgrims on the road, and people describe their faith affiliation in almost as many ways. Still, religious motives are not predominant in the respondents' quest with the journey. Solitude, time to walk and think in nature along with a whole set of personal motives of a mental, spiritual, physical and social character, however, seems prevailing.

This is worthy of further exploration considering the changing character of certain pilgrimages in terms of a possible self-therapeutic tool.