Pilgrimage is the oldest form of travel, known for over a millennium. Up to 80% of tourist attractions are religious sites; for example, in Paris, religious sites make up 44%. The motivations for pilgrimage travel stem from a spiritual desire to visit religious centers and holy places. This motivation arises either from religious prescriptions, such as the requirement for every Muslim to perform Hajj to Mecca, or from an individual's religious aspirations and beliefs.
By the end of the twentieth century, the boundary separating pilgrimage from other forms of tourism has blurred. Most pilgrimage sites, particularly those centered around mountains, currently attract a large number of tourists whose reasons for visiting these places can only be loosely considered religious. Such places include: Mount Tai in China, which has a cable car to its summit; Mount Fuji in Japan, visited by over 1 million people annually; and Mount Sinai in Egypt, which is part of a religious tourism tour. The largest number of pilgrims in the world gathers in the Indian mountain states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. 9.3 million pilgrims arrive annually in Haridwar-Rishikesh, the starting point of the route. The main pilgrimage sites in this region have existed since the beginning of Hindu civilization.
A special type of religious tradition, prevalent in Islamic countries, can also be observed in Kyrgyzstan, where roadside bushes are adorned with strips of fabric. This is a unique manifestation of a pagan tradition adopted by Islam at its inception. The colorful ribbons symbolize a plea to higher powers for protection from illness, healing for a loved one, and the granting of luck and abundance.
Religious tourism is an integral part of the modern tourism industry. Cathedrals, mosques, religious museums, and spiritual centers are tourist attractions that are in increasing demand.
Currently, the most significant universal world religions are:
- Christianity, which emerged at the turn of our era in Southwest Asia (with over 1 billion believers);
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- Islam, which as a religious movement arose in the 7th century on the Arabian Peninsula (currently there are about 900 million adherents of Islam);
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- Buddhism - one of the oldest world religions, which originated in northern India in the 4th-5th centuries BC (with about 700 million followers).
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The main Catholic shrines are located in Italy, the Vatican, France, Portugal, and other Western European countries. The holy sites for Judaism are concentrated in Israel, Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, and Ukraine. For Sunni Muslims, the holy cities are Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. The primary pilgrimage sites for Shiites are the cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq. The main Buddhist shrines are located in India, China, and Nepal.
In Kyrgyzstan, two religions coexist: Islam and Christianity. Islam is one of the youngest religions. According to the Muslim calendar, the year 1425 began at the end of March 2004. In Muslim countries, the calendar is based on the lunar cycle, which leads to a discrepancy with the currently adopted official calendar used worldwide. The lunar calendar consists of 12 months. Some lunar months may have 29 days, while others have 30. Thus, the lunar year consists of 354 days, which is 11 days shorter than the solar year.
This explains the shift of the Muslim lunar year in relation to the astronomical year.
During religious Muslim holidays, every Muslim must perform Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca to the temple of Allah) at least once in their lifetime. Muslims can visit these places at any other time of the year, but such a pilgrimage is called Umrah.
Trips to the Muslim holy sites in Mecca and Medina (Hajj) are organized by individual organizations (in Kyrgyzstan, this is managed by Kaziat). The limited offerings are due to a number of objective difficulties: the closed nature of Saudi Arabia to tourists and the strict limit set by the authorities on the number of pilgrims from each country (for Kyrgyzstan, this limit is 3,000 pilgrims). Currently, trips to revered Muslim holy sites within Kyrgyzstan are not organized by anyone.
The main attraction for pilgrims in Kyrgyzstan is Mount Sulayman-Too, located in the city of Osh. Other significant religious shrines of Islam located in Kyrgyzstan include the Blue Grotto in the Kojasai-Kelen area, the Abshir and Arslanbob waterfalls, the tombs of Manas and Idris the Prophet, the Mausoleum of Shah-Fazil, numerous mazars, sacred rocks, springs, and grottos. Despite Islam being the primary religion in Kyrgyzstan, there are interesting sites for the development of Christian-oriented religious tourism, such as the Resurrection Cathedral in Bishkek, the wooden church (Nikolsky Cathedral) in Karakol, and churches in Osh and Tokmok. There is a widely spread tradition in the Christian world that the relics of the Apostle Matthew were transported from Syria by his followers in the 2nd century and buried in an ancient monastery on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul.
