Image and Pilgrimage #1

Reading the first section, I found it interesting how pilgrimages were very big back in olden days.  Since the church was a big source of authority, they could establish pilgrimages across nations due to universality.  For many of people, pilgrimages were a way of life.  For small tribes, pilgrimages was an initiation.  Now a days, people can't make much of a living off of pilgrimages.  Society stresses a lot on going to college.  For most modern pilgrims they may not rise in status but maybe in a community or group of people at the expanse of the pilgrim's economic standing.  Some people believe that going on a vacation is a contemporary way of going on a pilgrimage.  The AT can serve as a pilgrimage for people in North America due to the lack of religious pilgrimages compared to Europe and Asia.