Shavuot, One of the Jewish Pilgrimage Festivals. View Christian Pilgrimages 100 Years Ago

Russian pilgrims on the way to Jericho. See more pictures
of Russian pilgrims - Women's hostel in Jerusalem (1899)
Russian Pilgrims at the Jordan River and here, here

Also the foreigners, that join themselves to the Lord, to minister unto Him, and to love Him... I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer... for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.  (Isaiah 56: 6-7)

During the times of the Jewish Temple, Jews made pilgrimages to Jerusalem three times a year -- on Passover, Sukkot and Shavuot. 

Christians' pilgrimage to the Holy Land is also a long tradition as evident in these photographs from the Library of Congress collection.

Russian pilgrims overlooking
the Kidron Valley. Note the
Jerusalem Old City walls on the
top right (circa 1900)



Abyssinian (Ethiopian) Christian pilgrims in Jerusalem



French pilgrims praying at the first Station of the Cross
located in Turkish barracks in Jerusalem (1913)



Egyptian Coptic Christians bathing in Jordan River (1900)




 



Click on pictures to enlarge
Click on captions to see the original photo

The Library of Congress collection includes pictures of
Muslim pilgrims in Palestine going to Mecca (1900)



Today's posting is dedicated to the memory of
Aydel Batya bat Moshe Yitzhak

"Jacobite pilgrims from Chaldea" (circa 1900)
Chaldea was an area in Babylon, now southern
Iraq.  The Jacobites are part of the Syriac
Orthodox Church and many spoke Aramaic.
Note the howling baby in the backpack