PURITANS AND PILGRIMS

Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday have just passed, but not everybody knows the meaning and history of Thanksgiving Day.

After the Church of England had split off from the Roman Catholic Church, a few Christian groups that didn’t identify themselves with the Anglicans, took root in England.

Puritans were a dissident faction who wanted to “Purify” – hence their name Puritans – the Church of England from the trappings of Catholicism.

Pilgrims, also called Separatists, aimed at separating themselves from the Church of England, which they considered corrupted, and giving rise to an autonomous entity.

Both groups were not tolerated by government authorities, but Separatists were persecuted to such an extent that they were forced to leave the country. They settled in Holland, where they remained for a long time.

In 1620,  one hundred Pilgrims or so landed on the shores of Massachusetts. Once there, they came…