But now we are all strangers and pilgrims, travelers and Sojourners.

This is the inscription on the plaque which marks the square where "the Pilgrims" (of American Thanksgiving  fame) lived for the twelve years immediately preceding their journey to the New World aboard the Mayflower. Although these Pilgrims were of English descent, several of the younger ones were born here in the Netherlands. Several of the couples were married here in the Netherlands. And a number of their group died and were buried here in the Netherlands.

I didn't always realize the Dutch connections to the American Thanksgiving story -- but it's actually a pretty significant part of the story. After experiencing religious persecution in England for their anti-Anglican, Reformed theology, a community of these "Separatists" decided to move to Leiden, in the Netherlands, under the leadership of their pastor John Robinson. There they were granted religious freedom and opportunities for economic stability (through the booming textile industry of the period), and eventually they established a commune of sorts on this square in the shadow of the big Pieterskerk (Peter's Church) in central Leiden. For twelve years, they lived and worked in the Netherlands -- until they started to fear that their children were getting too assimilated into the surrounding culture, and they ultimately decided to send all of the able-bodied members of their community on to North America, where greater freedom, greater isolation, and greater economic opportunities awaited them.

But the Pilgrims certainly left their mark on Leiden. And Leiden -- it would seem -- left its mark on the Pilgrims, too. Most intriguingly, historical records indicate that the Pilgrims greatly admired the Leidenaars annual religious / civic holiday, along with its traditional feasting, designed specifically for the purpose of thanking God for His deliverance of the Dutch against their Spanish oppressors in the Eighty Years War (celebrated every year in October). Some historians have even theorized that the early Thanksgiving feasts in New England may have been inspired by the Pilgrims' time in Leiden! I honestly don't know how much stock to put in these theories, but they are certainly interesting to consider...

In any event, our family was privileged to visit Leiden on Thanksgiving Day this year (the kids were even granted the day off from school!). We went together with several American friends from Amsterdam, and we all joined in a larger celebration put on by the American Embassy in the Netherlands. The service itself was all right (a kind of typical patriotic / pseudo-religious, ecumenical church service)... But more than anything it was just cool to be in that place, together with a group of other "strangers and pilgrims, travelers and sojourners."

It's ironic that we now live here in the Netherlands, having moved from North America seeking to establish a spiritual community: kind of Pilgrims in reverse (although our goal has always been to engage with the surrounding culture, not to separate from it). But to say the least, we felt a special appreciation this year for the connection between the Netherlands and the United States of America, on Thanksgiving Day.

And after our visit to the Pieterskerk, of course we had to go out to lunch. We had Dutch pancakes instead of a big turkey dinner. But that was OK. When you're strangers and pilgrims, travelers and sojourners, improvisation is always a part of the story. :-)