Leiden in the US

From 3rd of October to Thanksgiving

After the siege of Leiden in 1574 is has been customary to have a yearly service in the Pieterskerk (St. Peter's Church), to give thanks for the liberation from the Spanish and the renewed supply of food. Ever since then, and even now, herring and white bread are distributed in Leiden on the 3rd of October, as a reminder of the ships with food that entered the city after Leiden's Ontzet (the raising of the siege) along the Vliet. There is a theory that Thanksgiving, the feast of thanks of the Pilgrims, has elements of this tradition, along with elements of a harvest festival.

Civil marriage

Civil marriage is a Dutch 'invention'. At the end of the sixteenth century only marriages in the (Calvinist protestant) state church were valid. Because the Dutch Republic had a large Roman Catholic minority, it was impracticable to  deny marriage to almost half the population. Those who did not belong to the state church could be married by schepenen, the city authorities of the time. The marriage could then be blessed by their own church. Only the civil marriage had any legal validity. The Pilgrims imported the civil marriage in America, in part because reverend Robinson would make the journey later (he died in Leiden).

Elected government

Leiden was divided in bonnen and gebuurten. A bon was a district of the city with governed by elected bonmeesters. The district took care of fire extinction and prevention, keeping the district clean, collecting special taxes and dividing the money among the poor. The gebuurte was a smaller unit that took care of burials and other neighbourly duties. The election of civil authorities has its roots in this system, as well as the election of church officials.