Rent-A-Pilgrim

Karabed, Ibrahim

My name is Ibrahim Karabed. I am at the end of my study of archaeology of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period at the Otto-Friedrich Universität in Bamberg. Before that I finished the training as an employee in the administration department and made it up to a university-entrance diploma.

A few times before a played with the thought to go on a pilgrimage for Santiago di Compostela, but I was missing the final kick to get me going. It was also due to time limitational and financial restrictions not possible to do the pilgrimage in one piece. Therefore I willingly accompanied my friend Dr. Robert Adunka as soon as I hear of his plan to go to Santiago in stages.

Now you can ask the question, what a moves a man to go on a pilgrimage in medieval clothing in the modern times on foot. On the one hand i am a believing Christian and find in this contemplative form of walk the possibility to order my thoughts and reflect on my religion. On the other hand I learned on earlier hikes that nature and seasons could be experienced on foot in a whole different way even in the well populated middle europiean countries, if you go off the beaten tracks.

Finally I also have a certain professional interest to do my pilgrimage in this kind. I am myself a advocate for experimental archaeology and want to test the practicability and durability of late medieval clothing and accessories which were reconstructed according to the up to date state of research.

It is all too clear to me that the cognitions that were gotten in that way are only useable to a certain degree as the ways and the physical premises of the people differ quite a lot from those today. But the characteristics of different material and processing technologies of fabric and leather can be analysed very good that way.

With such and other experimental tests we could prove or reject old assumptions and set up new theories. The gathered cognitions may ease the interpretation of mostly in fragments found everyday objects and will help the scientist to make up a clearer picture of the everyday culture of the past.