The solo pilgrim phenomenon on the Journey to Santiago de Compostela in Spain

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the advantages of pilgrimage for modern-day people, trying to find and describe phenomena that are integral to the pilgrim experience. The aim is to investigate this experience holistically, without any a priori focus on a specific phenomenon. The qualitatively-oriented research was based on semi-structured interviews conducted with seven Czech pilgrims, after their experience from a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The textual analyses were performed using the grounded theory method. The main finding is that the most significant benefit of pilgrimage is Intense Self-knowledge as a product of six phenomena: Disengagement from Everydayness, Solitude, Company on the Pilgrimage, Spirituality, Pain and Walking in the Camino Environment. Understanding this phenomenon helps us, in return, to understand the need of post-modern individuals for seeking this unique mode of travel, in which they are jolted out of their routine over an extended period of time and are exposed to an environment associated with a Christian tradition which is based on the archetypal need to wander to find sacredness.