Thanksgiving Day Service

We hope you will join us at 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. This is a service for everyone!

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 H.W. 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.

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Start of Service: 11 am (doors open at 10 am)

Admission: free