September 24th is Schwenkenfelder Day, the September Thanksgiving, the day some Pennsylvania Germans celebrate Thankgiving.
On September 24, 1734, shortly after their arrival in Pennsylvania, the Schwenkenfelders celebrated their first Gedaechtnisz Tag, the September Thanksgiving. It is the oldest continuous Thanksgiving tradition in America.
The Schwenkenfelders are Plain People who are the followers of the Anabaptist mystic, Kasper Schwenkfeld von Ossig, a contemporary of Martin Luther, born in 1490 of an old aristocratic family in the Duchy of Leibnitz. Schwenkenfelders were prosecuted everywhere in Europe until they fled in 1733 and 1734 to Pennsylvania because of its religious freedom.
Schwenkfelders
Schwenckfelder Passenger Ships:
Pennsylvania Merchant 1733
St. Andrew 1734
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