nPostednon September 16, 2015
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nTheynset sail on a perilous journey, to a mostly-unknown land.
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nTheynwere hoping to start a new life in the so-called New World.
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nTheyngot aboard a 100-foot sailing ship, ready to live on the Tween Deck,njust 68 feet long by 24 feet at its widest – with about 100 othernpassengers! Sunlight never reached the Tween deck – so it wasnalways dark, and cold, and damp.
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| On this diagram, the “Tween Deck” is called the “Main Deck.” |
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nThe colonists who boarded the Mayflower, choosing to leave everyonenelse they had ever known and everywhere they had ever been,nwere going to be in those miserable cramped conditions for two entirenmonths!
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nTodaynis the 395th anniversary of the Mayflower setting sailnfrom Plymouth, England. That’s right: in just five years we can celebrate the Mayflower’s quadricentennial!
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nDidnyou know…?
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nAlthoughn we refer to the colonists who came to the New World on the Mayflowern as “Pilgrims,” only some of them were Protestant Separatists,n who did not want to pledge allegiance to the Church of England. Andn they did not call themselves “Pilgrims”; instead, they calledn themselves “Saints”!
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nActually, the wordn“Pilgrims” (which means people who journey to a sacred place fornreligious reasons) wasn’t used for the Mayflower colonists untiln1820.
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nAnothern thing we are not so historically accurate about is that then Separatists (or Saints) weren’t fleeing religious persecution fromn the Old World, undertaking the dangerous ocean crossing and unknownn dangers of the New World in a desperate attempt to gain religiousn freedom. In actual fact, the English Protestants moved from Englandn to Leyden (or Leiden), in Holland, to gain their religious freedom. And they DIDn have religious freedom in Holland!n
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nBut the easygoingnatmosphere of Holland that allowed them to worship as they liked alson“drew away” some of the Saints children into a more secular life.nAnd the Saints didn’t like that one bit. So, in a way, coming to thenNew World was a way of REDUCING religious freedom – of making surenthat their kids pretty much only heard THEIR version of religion!
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nAlso, to be fair, livingnin Holland, it was hard for the English folks to get good jobs. ThenDutch craft guilds excluded the migrants, and they only got the mostnmenial, low-paying jobs (you know, the kind the migrants tend to getnthese days, as well).
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nSo the Saints hoped tonstart their new life with no governmental interference and no worldlyntemptations.
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nNoticen that I said that only some of the “Pilgrims” were Separatists.n About 60 of the new colonists were secular – they were going ton the New World for reasons that didn’t pertain to religion. Then Saints called them “Strangers.”
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Originallyn the plan was to said earlier – not in the storm season. And ton take two ships, the Mayflower and the much-less-famous Speedwell.n But the Speedwell began to leak, so they had to turn back, squeezen everyone onto the Mayflower, and set off again.n
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nBecausen of this delay, the journey was way more unpleasant and dangerousn because of the rough seas. Many passengers could not even get up,n they were so seasick; one passenger was swept overboard andn drowned.
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nThen Puritans are not the same group as the Pilgrims, as this videon states.
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nStaynAway from Seattle Day
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nStaynAway from Seattle Day
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nAnne Bradstreet Day
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nAnne Bradstreet Day
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nMexico’snIndependence Day (El Grito)
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nMexico’snIndependence Day (El Grito)
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nGlyndwr Day in Wales
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nGlyndwr Day in Wales
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nSeptembern holidays
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nSeptembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in September
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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