Poetics and Politics of Pilgrimage at the Swiss Shrine of Einsiedeln

Emily Kearney

Date of Award

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

Second Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Vesperi, Maria

Keywords

Pilgrimage, Switzerland, Religion

Area of Concentration

Anthropology

Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic study of pilgrimage to the Black Madonna at the Swiss Catholic shrine of Einsiedeln. The monastery at this site is almost a thousand years old, and has been a place of pilgrimage for more than 700 years. Its continued existence as a major shrine in Europe testifies to its enduring vitality as a religious form which pilgrims over the years have found powerful and meaningful. Whereas previous theories have located the 'power' of pilgrimage in the forms and symbols found at the shrine, or conversely, in the diverse individual meanings each pilgrim brings to the shrine, I locate the power of Einsiedeln instead in the dynamic of the interaction of individual meaning and form. This individual meaning varies for each person, but the architecture and symbols of the shrine present all visitors with a unified message of order and harmony, serving to mediate paradoxes and contrasts inherent in life. The form of Einsiedeln displays a pattern that expresses not only Catholic religious ideals and Baroque-era artistic ideals, but also ideals of mediation and unity in diversity that are the foundations of the overarching Swiss political culture.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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