Shrine Politics and Non-Institutional Religiosity. The Mrtvalj Spring in the Choreography of the Pilgrimage Shrine of St. John the Baptist at Podmilačje (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Abstract

The Mrtvalj spring is an integral part of a more complex sacred landscape, the center of
which is the Shrine of St. John the Baptist located in Podmilačje near Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The shrine is a multi-confessional pilgrimage destination that is also very popular
within the wider region. The Mrtvalj spring is one of the key stops in pilgrimage itineraries,
but it is not only a sacred place within pilgrimage practices. In this paper the conceptualization
of the Mrtvalj spring’s sacredness is examined as a reflection of the relationship
between the religious and the political. The author analyzes the relationship between the
shrine’s politics, which are based on the ideas of a “Bosnian Lourdes” and a shared shrine,
and the spring as a focal point for the shared non-institutional practices of believers of various
religious affiliations. She aims to show that a shared sacred site does not necessarily have
to be controversial, and calls for a revalorization of non-institutional religiosity, which has
proved to be a rich phenomenon for the study of interreligious relations.