Journeys and voyages: practices that mark them

Journeys and voyages call for charms because the road is uncertain. Pilgrims, sailors, traders and migrants have long carried protective things: the St Christopher medal, the Japanese omamori for traffic safety, the hamsa on a truck, the Tibetan prayer flag on a mountain pass, the Hindu pilgrim's thread, the Muslim hajji's ihram, and the sailor's tattoo. This page looks at the customs of the road and what they say about risk.

Leaving and returning

Customs mark departure and return. Families in India and Southeast Asia bless travellers with a mark or a sweet, and in Russia people sit quietly before a trip. Prayers and offerings are made at shrines on mountain passes, with stone cairns and flags in Tibet and Mongolia. Returning travellers are welcomed and sometimes cleansed. Travellers in every age have asked a blessing from a priest, a saint or an elder, and families have kept a lamp lit at home until the traveller's return.

Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage joins the journey with the sacred. Hajj to Mecca, the Camino to Santiago, the Hindu yatra to Varanasi, Shikoku's 88 temples in Japan and the Kumbh Mela all involve rites of leaving home, and often a change of dress and status. Pilgrims carry tokens, such as scallop shells, holy water and amulets, and bring them back as blessings. Some pilgrimages take weeks on foot and others are done by bus and plane, and each has its own tokens, songs and customs.

Sea, air and work

Sailors long observed taboos: no whistling on board, certain days to avoid, and a coin placed under a mast. Fishers in Japan and Scandinavia hold shrines and rites. Truckers in South Asia decorate their lorries with eyes and verses, and many airlines skip row thirteen. Such customs ease the stress of dangerous work. Such habits mix faith, habit and risk management, and a number of them have good sense in them, since checking the boat before leaving is both a rite and a safety check.

Migrants and diaspora

People who move take their customs with them, and magic travels in luggage: charms, recipes, prayers, small shrines. Migrants may also be targeted by fraud and oaths, as in trafficking cases using juju rites. A charm can offer comfort while travel safety depends on vaccination, insurance, rules of the road and reliable information. Sailors' tattoos of a swallow or an anchor were said to mark miles sailed and to bring a safe return, and fishermen's wives keep similar customs onshore.