The Faraqasa Indigenous Pilgrimage Center:History and Ritual Practices

The Faraqasa pilgrimage center can be refered to as an indigenous institution mainly as a result of its accommodating characteristics and its indigenous development. It is probably the only spiritual establishment where the adherents of Christianity and Islam and people who belong to different ethnic and political divisions in the form of various regions came together and perform spiritual activities. This trend as a meeting place of people with various religious backgrounds might be the reason for the syncretistic nature of the Faraqasa pilgrimage center which has both Islamic, Christian, and Indigenous beliefs and practices. It is one of those pilgrimage centres not influenced by peoples loyalty to various ethnic, religious, political, and linguistic groups. This research on the Faraqasa indigenous pilgrimage center investigated some points that have been overlooked by previous researchers. Some of the articles produced in relation to the place are either historical, or anthropological. One important point that has to be made about this work is that it involved a critical historical study as well as anthropological investigation and ethnographic observation and description.