2011-01-24 Leiden Pilgrim Year 2020 Celebrations uncertain

Pilgrims 400

Pilgrim Fathers

The Pilgrim Fathers is a group of people who, about four hundred years ago, founded the Plymouth Colony. The group of religious dissenters originated in England and fled to Holland to enjoy its relative religious tolerance. The congregation originally arrived in Amsterdam, but soon moved on to Leiden. They lived and worked in Leiden for nearly a dozen years, enjoying freedom of religion, opinion and press. They left Leiden to sail England on the Speedwell, and then to Plymouth on the Mayflower.
Upon arrival in New England, these colonists signed the Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony. This group went on to have great influence on the history of the United States of America and its culture. American Thanksgiving is their adaptation of the original Leiden Thanksgiving, celebrated since 1574. No fewer than seven American presidents, including current president Barack Obama, are direct descendants of the Leiden Pilgrims.

Today, many Americans are members of lineage societies that trace their ancestry back to one of the Pilgrim Fathers. They know Leiden as the city the Pilgrim Fathers came from. Leiden has a dedicated Pilgrim Archives next to the Leiden Archives. Jeremy Bangs operates his private Leiden American Pilgrim Museum. John Robinson, the pastor of the Leiden congregation, is buried in the famous 12th century Pieterskerk. The Lakenhal Museum gives an impression of textile industry the Leiden Pilgrims worked in.

1609 - 2009

When the congregation considered moving to Leiden, they first asked for permission to stay. Their letter was discussed on 1609 Feb 12, and the burgomaster and aldermen of the city of Leiden decided that they do not refuse honest persons permission to come into town and take up residence, provided that such persons behave themselves honestly, and submit to all the laws and ordinances here, and that, therefore, the coming of the petitioners will be beloved and agreeable to them. On 1609 May 1, they arrived in Leiden. On 1620 July 22, they embarked from Delfshaven on the Speedwell.

Pilgrim Year 2009

The 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims in Leiden was modestly celebrated with several activities. Pilgrims welcomed in Leiden again is about some of those. There were activities throughout the Pilgrim Year 2009. Talking to some of the organisers, I got the impression that they saw this as an overture for the Pilgrim Year 2020.

The Pilgrim Year 2009 activities were sponsored by several sources, including about € 100.000 contributed by the city, i.e. community money. The activities were organised by a committee of art museum De Lakenhal, and in February of 2010, they presented a colourful report. It is actually a report about two things; Holland Mania and the Pilgrim Year 2009. Holland Mania was the celebration of 400 years Dutch - Japanese relations; it was on 1609 Aug 24 that the Dutch were granted a trading pass by shogun Tokugawa Ieyasa.

official evaluation

The decision to invest community money in the Pilgrim Year 2009 was taken in 2008, in response to a motion of the fraction of the Christen Union (CU). On 2010 Oct 26, the burgomaster and alderman presented an official evaluation to the town council, with the formal request to consider the motion closed.

This official evaluation of the cultural activities organised to celebrate the two quadricentennials is positive about the variation and quality of the activities, but disappointed about the spin-off; the hoped-for increase in tourism did not occur. That is not entirely unsurprising; back in 2008, the city council did not approve the original, somewhat ambitious plan, but opted for a modest core programme of events that could be organised within the remaining time and for limited funds. The plans for the 2009 celebrations simply weren't developed early enough to secure involvement of tour-operators.

The Pilgrim Year 2009 attracted mostly local, regional and national publicity. The evaluation notes that Americans consider 1620 as more important than 1609; after all, that's when the Pilgrims came to America. and recommends that the status of Leiden as the Pilgrim Fathers' city should be utilised better to market Leiden as a destination for American tourists.

During the Pilgrim Year 2009, contacts between involved Dutch and American organisations have been strengthened. The burgomaster and alderman state that this makes the Pilgrim Year 2009 a good preliminary for the Pilgrim Year 2020, and they plan to discuss the potential with market parties. The evaluation stresses that timely preparations are essential.

commission meeting

This evaluation came on the agenda of the Commissie Onderwijs en Samenleving (Commission Education and Society) for 2011 Jan 13. During this commission meeting, the Christian Union (CU), the party that had proposed investing in the Pilgrim Year 2009, was ready to dismiss the matter. The Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), their natural coalition partner and the party of Jan-Jaap de Haan, the alderman for culture, took the same position. Other parties were critical. Councilman Aad van der Luit of Democrats 66 (D66) remarked that many of the activities presented as achievements of the Pilgrim Year 2009 would have happened anyway. He specifically praised the initiatives of Pilgrim scholar Jeremy Bangs, and criticised the organisation for not involving him more. His overall judgement is that it all cost too much, and yielded too little. Councilwoman Eva de Bakker of the Social Party (SP) flatly stated that Leiden should not organise a Pilgrim Year 2020. Juliette Gilissen, councilwomen for the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD, People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) stated that Leiden should organise the Pilgrim Year 2020 festivities, but then again, Anand Soekoe, councilman for Leefbaar Leiden (Liveable Leiden), a local party, opined that the city should stop investing in these projects.
The alderman answered the criticism at length, agreeing with quite a lot of it. He noted that, back in 2008, the council had decided to go with a modest proposal because of the limited time available, that organisation of a theme year should start several years in advance.

Pilgrim Year failed

The official evaluation is not with criticism, but is mild in comparison to councilwoman Eva de Bakker's blog post of 2011 Jan 22; Pilgrimjaar voor grootste deel mislukt (Pilgrim Year largely failed) contains some harsh criticism. She calls it a mistake to tie the Pilgrim Year activities to the Holland Mania organisation; this failed to profile the Pilgrim Year as a separate celebration. Some of the cultural activities organised for a modest budget were successfull, but you don't need a Pilgrim Year to organise those. She is criticial of the organisation for not realising that Americans don't care much about 1609. There was no horde of tourists in 2009 and there won't be one in 2020. She is against the Pilgrim Year 2020, and certainly against one organised by the same people. Her blog post has some comments from Jan-Jaap the Haan, the alderman for culture.

The Pilgrim Year 2020 is a political issue.

political problem

Eva de Bakker of the SP may be most outspoken in her public criticism of the Pilgrim Year 2009, but few other parties are eager to support sponsoring of the Pilgrim Year 2020.
The moderate results of the Pilgrim Year 2009 aren't the only things that temper the enthusiasm to invest in Pilgrim Year 2020 celebrations. The city's previous experience with the limited success of the Rembrandt Year 2006, celebrating the 400th birth year of Leiden's most famous citizen, plays a significant role as well. The council has become hesitant about investing in theme year celebrations in general.

The Pilgrim Year 2020 is a political issue. There is awareness that Leiden's association with the Pilgrim Fathers is of historic and even diplomatic significance. A well-organised and advertised Pilgrim Year 2020 might well draw many American tourists, but preparations should start years in advance, and any moderately ambitious programme will require a considerably larger budget than € 100.000. The less than entirely positive experiences that the city has had with recent theme years has made several political parties so leery of another theme year that they would rather not have any celebrations at all, than risk investing a lot of community money in another failure.

A lot can happen in in the nine years that are left until 2020 GC. There will be certainly be two municipal elections, but the Pilgrim Year 2020 is not likely to be a hot issue with the local population. As things stand now, whether there will be a Pilgrim Year 2020 is uncertain. It seems almost unthinkable that Leiden will pass up this once in a century opportunity to profile the city internationally, but fact is that no political party has put any proposal for the Pilgrim Year 2020 on the table yet. It remains to be seen whether any party will do so in time, and whether other parties will vote in favour of it.

updates

2011-04-23 broken link

The document Leiden in Cijfers: Holland Mania en Pilgrimjaar has been moved or moved. The broken link has been removed.