The author deals with Baroque pilgrimages to Styrian Mariazell where people searched for help and solace, or they came there with gratitude for grace received from heaven. The information is drawn from surviving archival sources of both printed and written nature; these include pilgrim handbooks, books of miracles, and the direct testimony of a participant (celfotr) from the South Moravian town of Znojmo. The study focusses on the pilgrim and his or her duties associated with the preparation for the pilgrimage, such as providing for the farm and arranging money for the journey, but spiritual preparation was also important. The journey itself and the activities associated with the pilgrimage practice are also reflected. The main purpose of the journey was to see the object of reverence, the marvellous statue of the Virgin Mary; this was accompanied by ritualised acts, but the pilgrimage also had a completely secular aspect, such as purchase of various devotionals related to the pilgrimage site. The return journey did not have as strict rules as the journey to the pilgrimage site, but there are also interesting elements, e. g. the regular visit to Maria Taferl, another important Marian pilgrimage site in Lower Austria. Pilgrimages of Moravian inhabitants to Mariazell are observed in the period of the greatest flowering of this phenomenon in the first two thirds of the 18th century, but for capacity reasons the author does not take into account essential changes concerning Baroque religiosity that took place in the last third of the 18th century.
Die Terrainforschung wurde 1998 als Teil des von der Tschechoslowakischen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde unterstützten Studentenprojekts durchgeführt.
Aus der Gemeinde Palačov (Palzensdorf), Kreis Nový Jiřín (Neu Titschein), gingen jedes Jahr Pilger in den ungefähr 15 km entfernten Wallfahtrort Zašová (Zaschau) in dortige Marienkirche. Diese Tradition überdauerte bis zum Anfang der 50er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts. heute bemïht man sich, sie wiederzubeleben. Im Mittelpunkt der Gespräche mit den Informatoren standen der Verlauf der 2 Tage langen Wallfahrt ihre Route, einzelne Andachten, und das Verhältnis der Pilger zu den Einwohnern des Wallfahrtortes. Die Forschungsergebnisse wurden beeinflußt von einer gewissen Empfindlichkeit des Themas und der Geschlossenheit der einzelnen Respondenten.