Thanksgiving Day Service 2023
Join this non-denominational service on Thanksgiving morning at the historic Pieterskerk Leiden. There will be a Catholic priest, Protestant ministers, a rabbi and a cantor. Bring your Dutch friends and friends from all nations and of all faiths.
For Americans, Thanksgiving at the Pieterskerk in Leiden is unique. In that church, the Pilgrims recorded their births, marriages and deaths. They lived in its surroundings from 1609 to 1620.
On the occasion of the visit of President George HW Bush, the first sitting American President to visit The Netherlands, the Pieterskerk Leiden was the site chosen for him to speak. The Bush Family trace their ancestry to Francis Cooke, also a signer of the Mayflower Compact and a Leiden pilgrim. A few years ago, the Leiden roots of President Obama were also discovered. He descends from the Blossom Family who came to America on the Mayflower in 1628.
In Leiden, one feels how inextricabl…
For Americans, Thanksgiving at the Pieterskerk in Leiden is unique. In that church, the Pilgrims recorded their births, marriages and deaths. They lived in its surroundings from 1609 to 1620.
On the occasion of the visit of President George HW Bush, the first sitting American President to visit The Netherlands, the Pieterskerk Leiden was the site chosen for him to speak. The Bush Family trace their ancestry to Francis Cooke, also a signer of the Mayflower Compact and a Leiden pilgrim. A few years ago, the Leiden roots of President Obama were also discovered. He descends from the Blossom Family who came to America on the Mayflower in 1628.
In Leiden, one feels how inextricably the values of the American nation are linked with The Netherlands. The story of a group of English dissenters who were welcomed there and able to live and worship freely and even publish at a time when freedom of religion and the press were certainly not the norm, is a Dutch story, an American story and reflects the aspirations of millions today.
The history of this day has a different meaning for the Native Nations of America. For them this is a day to commemorate centuries of violent oppression, expulsion and colonization. Since 1970 the Native Nations of New England organize The National Day of Mourning on the same day, the fourth Thursday of November.