The term pilgrim was first used in the 1596 Confession of Faith. The definition at that time meant, “their own idea of life on earth as a pilgrimage towards heavenly bliss.”
William Bradford was the first to refer to the passengers on the Mayflower, as Pilgrims, when he wrote his Of Plymouth Plantation.
Bradford quoted the passage in Hebrews 11:13-16, which used the imagery of the Old Testament strangers and pilgrims who had the opportunity to return to their old country but instead longed for a better, heavenly country.
Bradford wrote,” So they lefte [that] goodly & pleasante citie, which had been ther resting place, nere 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on these things; but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits.”
Bradford’s passage referring to Pilgrim’s, was the only reference to the Mayflower passengers for more than a century. When the Mayflower story was told in 1669 and 1702, the word was only used when quoting Bradford.
The first documented use of the word Pilgrim, not quoting Bradford, was on December 22, 1798. This occasion was for the celebration of Forefather’s Day in Boston. A song was composed for the celebration, “The Pilgrims of Leyden”, to which the attendees toasted.
Pilgrim was used at future Forefather’s Day celebrations from 1800 and henceforth.
The term pilgrim, referring to the Mayflower passengers, was very common by the 1820s.
In Daniel Webster’s Plymouth bicentennial on December 22, 1820, he repeatedly referred to the pilgrims.
In Harriet Vaughan Cheney’s 1824 novel, A Peep at the Pilgrims in Sixteen Thirty-Six, and Felicia Heman’s classic 1825 poem, “The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers” the term was used.
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