SCHWENKFELDER LIBRARY & HERITAGE CENTER
105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, PA 18073
Phone 215-679-3103; Fax 215-679-8175
info@schwenkfelder.com
www.schwenkfelder.com
September 11, 2009
Contact: David W. Luz
215-679-3103, phone
215-679-8175, fax
275th Consecutive Service of Thanksgiving
PENNSBURG, Pa - The Schwenkfelder Church, 105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, PA, announces a special service of worship, Day of Remembrance, to be held Sunday, September 27, 2009, 3:00 pm, at Olivet-Schwenkfelder United Church of Christ, 619 Township Line Road, Norristown, PA. This is the 275th consecutive Thanksgiving Service commemorating the safe arrival of 180 Schwenkfelders in Philadelphia on September 24, 1734. This service has been celebrated by The Schwenkfelder Church every year on or near September 24 since 1734.
Day of Remembrance, or in German - Gedächtnistag, was begun on September 24, 1734, when George Weiss, the leader of this small group of 180 Schwenkfelders, called his people together to offer thanks for their safe arrival in Philadelphia harbor two days earlier. The Schwenkfelder Church today has very little information regarding this day, other than clear documentation from diary sources and letters of the time, that it happened. Some feel the group gathered in a grove of trees, other suggest a Quaker meetinghouse shared its space with the newly arrived immigrants. What the service was like is also unknown, but tradition, strong within the Schwenkfelder community, suggests a simple service of prayers, scripture reading, a sermon, and hymns was followed by the eating of apple butter, bread, and water.
Since this first day, the community has gathered each year. Sermons and orders of worship from the eighteenth century remain in the collections of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center documenting each special service, year after year. The location rotated between the homes of important members of the community. In alternating years the service would be celebrated in the home of a Schwenkfelder in the Upper District – near the modern Upper Perkiomen Valley in upper Montgomery County, PA – and then in the Middle District – in central Montgomery County, PA, near the small villages of Worcester or Skippack or in Lower Salford Township. By the end of the eighteenth century, meetinghouses had been constructed, a Society of Schwenkfelders was been organized, and services had moved from homes to community structures. However, the heart and practice of thanks to Almighty God for past and current blessings continued year after year.
By 1963 cultural changes resulted in The Schwenkfelder Church moving the date from the exact day of September 24 to the Sunday closest to that date – sometimes before, sometimes after – but always, like clock-work, the community gathered, paused in thanks before their God, and shared a simple meal following the worship of bread and butter, apple butter, and water.
Some years were marked with more celebrations than others. The year 1934, the two hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the Schwenkfelders, was filled with special services including installation of a bronze plaque at the waterfront of Philadelphia. This plaque is still seen today outside the entrance to the Independence Seaport Museum at Penn’s Landing in one of the three garden areas. Another special event in this year was the placement of markers noting the grave of each of the 180 immigrants in several cemeteries surrounding the city of Philadelphia as well as at places such as Kraussdale, Worcester, Towamencin, and Salford. In addition to individual markers, large monuments were erected and the names of the immigrants were carefully documented in stone.
The meal most closely associated with this special day for the Schwenkfelders is the serving of bread, apple butter, and water. The earliest description known is a newspaper reporter’s account of the meal published in the 1880s. Until this account, there is only silence regarding this part of the tradition. At one point in the early twentieth century, there is a note that apple cider was served instead of the traditional water – but this appears to be an exception to the norm. At the 1925 fall General Conference meeting (an Annual Meeting of The Schwenkfelder Church), there was discussion about serving something other than bread and apple butter to prevent newspapers from calling the Memorial Day "Apple Butter Day". Apparently no action was taken at that meeting to change the traditional meal.
The public is invited to the service, which begins at 3:00 pm. The Rev. Leslie Kearney, newly installed pastor of Olivet Schwenkfelder United Church of Christ, will bring the sermon.
The Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center was founded in 1884 as an informal collection in a private home to assure the preservation of the Schwenkfelders’ cultural identity. Today the Heritage Center, a not-for-profit organization, is still preserving, interpreting, and documenting the history of this German Protestant group, along with the history of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. The Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm; Thursdays 9:00 am to 8:00 pm; Saturdays 10:00 am to 3:00 pm; and Sundays 1:00 to 4:00 pm. The Heritage Center is closed to the public on Mondays. For additional information call 215-679-3103 or visit our website www.schwenkfelder.com
An image of the painting, Landing of the Schwenkfelders by artist Adolph Pannash, is available by contacting info@schwenkfelder.com or by calling 215-679-3103 and speaking with David Luz.
David W. Luz
Executive Director
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
105 Seminary Street
Pennsburg, PA 18073
Tel. 215-679-3103
Fax 215-679-8175
email: info@schwenkfelder.com
www.schwenkfelder.com