2021 Updated Mayflower 400th Anniversary Schedule

 

Events in the autumn of 2021 celebrating the 400th anniversary of the First Thanksgiving:

August 28, 2021 - Mayflower International Genealogical Conference held online via Zoom with a worldwide audience.  https://www.mayflower400uk.org/events/2021/august-2021/mayflower-international-genealogical-conference/   

September 4 and 5, 2021- The Maritime Salute to the 400th Anniversary at Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Two days of free history themed festivities at Plymouth Harbor with wooden masted ships including the Mayflower, schooner Harvey Gamage, tall ship Lynx, the Coast Guard cutter Sturgeon, and the NOAA research vessel R/V AUK.  Activities for the whole family, food, music, tour the ships, and an outdoor concert 7:30pm Saturday night by the Plymouth Philharmonic orchestra following a lighted boat parade. Artisans include the Wampanoag and other local artists. Sunday will be a community day with family activities. 

September  7 -12, 2021 - The General Society of Mayflower Descendants Board of Assistants meeting, Massachusetts. This will include a dedication ceremony for the bronze statue of William Bradford in the garden of the Mayflower House and a Pilgrim's Progress.  (The General Society of Mayflower Descendants Triennial Congress in Plymouth, Massachusetts was cancelled for 2020, and the business portions of the event were held via Zoom for delegates.  Most of the other events held during this Congress will be moved to the 2021 General Board of Assistants Meeting which will be held to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the First Thanksgiving.  The insignia shop will be open at the 1620 Hotel 8am - 5pm on Sept. 9.  The Pilgrim's Progress will be Sept. 11 at 1pm from the Mayflower House, to a wreath laying at Cole's Hill to the National Pilgrim Meeting House.  

October 11, 2021- Virtual Wampanoag Ancestors Walk.  https://www.plymouth400inc.org/event/wampanoag-ancestors-walk/  

November 06, 2021 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (Eastern Time) LEIDEN SYMPHONIC PROJECT ORCHESTRA ANTONÍN DVORÁK: SYMPHONY NO. 9 “FROM THE NEW WORLD On Saturday, November 6, 2021, the great ‘Mayflower Concert’ will finally take place: the Ninth Symphony by composer Antonín Dvorák, will be performed in the Hooglandse Kerk, conducted by Guido Marchena. This popular symphony ‘From the New World’ symbolizes the Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed to America 400 years ago on the glorious ‘Mayflower’, in search of a new homeland. The concert, which lasts about an hour, offers an excellent opportunity for all descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers to pay their respects. Live from Hooglandse Kerk Leiden. Click here for the livestream or copy this URL to your browser: https://youtu.be/apB1jb4M1jE

More information about the concert and tips for listening can be found at this link: https://singalongevents.nl/leiden400/

November 18, 2021 at 8pm "Surviving New England's Great Dying" on NH PBS. A great plague decimated New England's coastal Native communities just prior to the Pilgrim's arrival, altering the course of colonialism. This is the story of the Great Dying, and how tribal leaders are learning from the past as they deal the the effects of today's pandemic. This important TV show will be aired at 8 different times - see this page for more information: https://nhpbs.org/schedule/series.aspx?progName=Surviving+New+England%27s+Great+Dying

November 18, 2021, at 8:30pm "Stephano: The True Story of Shakespeare's Shipwreck" will be aired on NH PBS.  Check your local PBS station to see when this documentary will be aired.  This fast paced film follows several story lines at once - the friendship between Stephen Hopkins and Tisquantum, the story of Jamestown, the voyage of the Mayflower, Shakespeare's play "The Tempest", Pocahontas's visit to London, and the kidnapping of Tisquantum.  You won't believe how they intertwine into one film!  

November 20, 2021, 10am - Noon - The Plymouth, Massachusetts annual Thanksgiving Parade, and the theme will be "400th Anniversary of Thanksgiving with the Wampanoag".  See the website https://usathanksgiving.com/ for details on the schedule and more information.  Will be aired live on WCVB Boston TV. 

November 20, 2021 - "Behind the Holiday: The First Thanksgiving" a documentary film, will premiere at Plimoth Patuxet museum at 6pm.  It will also air on the Smithsonian Channel on November 22, and be available on iTunes afterwards.  For tickets to the premiere event at Plimoth Patuxet Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, see this link:  https://plimoth.org/events/behind-the-holiday-the-first-thanksgiving-film-premiere-reception?mc_cid=e5c8bcd8f0&mc_eid=8cf6024ba3  

November 20, 2021, 4:30pm - Illumination Ceremony, at the Mayflower Meetinghouse (the former First Parish Church) in the Town Square of Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Free to the public. Participants will be given a battery operated candle to hold inside the meetinghouse, and then a William Bradford re-enactor will lead the participants down Leyden Street to the band stand where final words will be spoken before ending the event. 

November 25, 2021 (Thursday)  National Holiday of Thanksgiving will be observed.

November 25, 2021 - 7:30pm on WGBH TV Boston "Surviving New England's Great Dying", please check your local PBS station to see when this important TV show will be aired in your area.  

November 25, 2021 at 9pm, The Pilgrims: American Experience will be aired on WGBH, Boston's public TV station.  Please check your local PBS station to see when it airs in your area. 

EXTRA

May 29 - June 10, 2022   Mayflower Heritage Tour to Amsterdam, Leiden, Delfshaven, Harwich, Boston, Retford, Scrooby, Babworth, Gainsborough, Stratford-upon-Avon, Droitwich Spa, Worcester, Plymouth, Southampton, Dorking and London.  Visit the website:   https://mayflower400tours.com/package/MMT22/   

See these links for more information:

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants:  https://www.themayflowersociety.org/   

Plymouth 400 website:   https://www.plymouth400inc.org/   

United Kingdom Mayflower 400 Events:  https://www.mayflower400uk.org/events/  

America's Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration:   https://usathanksgiving.com/  

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Cite Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "2021 Updated Mayflower 400th Anniversary Schedule", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 23, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/08/2021-updated-mayflower-400th.html: accessed [access date]).