Pilgrims and Puritans: Who really shaped Thanksgiving?
This story was updated to fix a spelling error and add information. Wondering the difference between Pilgrims and Puritans? Many New Englanders know the story of the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth , but with both the Pilgrims and Puritans establishing colonies in Massachusetts, it can be easy to mix up which group the holiday originated with. Here's what to know about the key differences between the Pilgrims and the Puritans. Puritans vs. Pilgrims After King Henry VIII declared himself head of the new Church of England in 1534, the Puritans emerged as a group of people who wanted to return to practicing religion in the way early Christians did. The Puritans believed in reforming, or "purifying," the Church of England from within, says the Plimoth Patuxet Museum . The Pilgrims emerged from a more radical group known as Separatists, who believed in forming new, separate church congregations outside of the Church of England. The Separatist church congregation that came to be known as the Pilgrims was from the town of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire, England. More: The first Thanksgiving was held in Massachusetts. Here's where Where did the Pilgrims settle? After a dozen years spent in the Netherlands for religious freedom,
