Sacred Cities
For thousands of years people have crossed continents to reach these cities, and the gravity of that intention is still in the air. You need not share the faith to feel the pull.
A sacred city is not a city with impressive religious buildings. It is a place whose daily working order is set by a practice that continues whether or not anyone is watching.
The calendar governs. Shops close, streets fill and prices double on dates fixed by a lunar or liturgical year rather than by the season. In Varanasi the day begins at the ghats before light; in Mecca the whole civic apparatus exists to move several million people through a fixed sequence of rites in five days.
The visitor is a guest of a practice, not an audience. The alms round at Luang Prabang, the aarti at Haridwar and the Sabbath in Jerusalem were not arranged for anyone's benefit and will happen tomorrow regardless. Watch from a distance, dress as the place expects, and ask before photographing a person at prayer.
Access is often conditional. Some of these places are closed to non-believers entirely, others only in the inner precinct, and a few require permits obtained months ahead. The condition is part of the character and is stated on each card.
Restraint in the writing. These portraits describe what happens and why, without wonder and without irony.
Observe, and do not perform.