An image from the 2003 documentary film, 'Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus', Andrew Douglas's road-trip through the musical landscape of Louisiana.
A pilgrim is a traveler, a visitor, a wayfarer, a journeyer, a vacationer.
I have been a pilgrim, as I have journeyed to foreign lands, but I haven't taken a pilgrimage, that is a reverent journey to a place considered sacred, like...
Muslims on their way to Mecca.
Hindus going to bath in the Ganges.
Christians travelling to Lourdes.
But I have taken a personal pilgrimage to Germany's Becklingen WWII grave site, where my Uncle John is buried, 1 of 38 New Zealanders, among 2401 burial sites in total.
I prepared a "textile piece" and left it there.
Knowing full well, no sooner was I outside the cemetery and looking back, my shirt piece would probably have been removed, but I appreciated that I was able to do what I did, without harassment.
Pilgrims travel the world, take America for example.
This is George Henry Boughton's, 'Pilgrims Going to Church', painted in 1867. Boughton was born in England, but grew up and worked in America. He became known for his depictions of the early history of the American colonies. This painting is very much an example of his style and subject matter.
That classic "Pilgrim" look. The hats, the caps, the shoes, the black and white palette and the collars, the pilgrim collars.
The Pilgrims came out of Puritanism, which was founded in the beginnings of the English Reformation. (The term 'Puritan' was actually a description of contempt used by their enemies.)
In the 1530s, Henry the 8th repudiated papal authority and transformed the Church of Rome into a state Church of England. All subjects were expected to attend Henry's church, with punishment being meted out if they didn't.
One group, who became known as "The Separatists", believed that the Church of England still retained too much of the liturgy and ritual of the Roman Catholic Church. They started to worship their own way, in secret, and consequently became persecuted for that expression of the protestant faith.
Eventually the Separatists headed to the Netherlands, where more tolerance was displayed toward them.
After some time of life in the Netherlands, many of the Separatists became concerned that their children were losing their native culture and this was one of the instigators in the decision to go to the 'New World' and establish their own colony and way of life.
The rest is history.
In 1620 the "Pilgrims" land at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts.
In 1629 the "Puritans" arrive at Salem.
A bit of history regard the Puritans.
Back in England, the Puritans wanted to reform/purify the Church of England from within.
They were a less radical group, but shared with the Pilgrims a form of worship and self-organisation called "the congregational way", i.e. no formal creeds or belief statements, no Pope or King as head, only Jesus Christ as revealed in the scriptures. The congregation was bound together by a covenant and made decisions democratically.
An interesting factor is that the Puritans managed to retain their wealth, while the Pilgrims tended to end up on the outside of society, with less wealth.
The Puritans saw going to the New World as a favourable investment opportunity, as they could own land and create an ideal "English Church".
When they arrived at Salem 1620, they had money and resources and a "divinely ordained arrogance", which eventually swallowed up the Plymouth Pilgrims.
(Just an interesting note: The first use of the word "Pilgrim" appears around 1800, when some citizens of Plymouth proposed the creation of a Pilgrim Society, to organise the annual celebration of the founding of the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Before 1800, the Separatists who landed at Plymouth Rock were known as "first-comers" or "forefathers".)
This will tell you more, https://www.history.com/news/pilgrims-puritans-differences
and this is also good information, worth reading just for the last paragraph alone, https://kellygoshorn.com/archives/2020/11/2950
I like that aspect about the Pilgrims not always being about "the men in black".
For example, certain Pilgrims' records concerning household items actually reveal...
"one Plymouth colonist, Mary Ring, who died in 1633 leaving behind some of the following garments:
- White stockings
- Blue stockings
- A red petticoat
- A violet petticoat
- Three blue aprons
- Two violet waistcoats
- A “mingled-color” waistcoat
Ring also owned blue and red cloth at the time of her death, presumably to make more colorful clothes. And she was no lone rainbow-colored rebel. When William Brewster, one of Plymouth’s church elders, died in 1644, he left behind green pants, a violet coat, a blue suit, and a red cap. Like Ring, Brewster was no one-color wonder.
And another example, "William Bradford, who served five non-consecutive times as Governor of Plymouth colony, listed among his possessions:
- An old violet cloak
- A light-colored cloak
- An old green gown
- A light-colored coat
- A red waistcoat
- Two hats, a black one and a colored one
- A lead-colored cloth suit with silver buttons"
The black and white palette says more about the Victorians than the Pilgrims. The Victorians loved to romanticise the past. Think back to George Henry Boughton's painting.
Before leaving this aspect of the world's history, let's view this map, because it can be easy to mistake the pilgrims/the puritans arrival with the Jamestown history.
Jamestown, America's first permanent English colony predates the Pilgrim's Plymouth by 13 years.
If you saw Terrence Malick's 2005 film, 'The New World', you'll know it's about that specific history.
Here's an interesting link to a video commenting about Malick's approach to the history.
Now, back to the pilgrim collar.
Want to know how to wear a pilgrim collar?
"Take a Peter Pan collar, double it and wear it with panache on an otherwise low-key outfit", according to a Guardian article I read.
A Peter Pan collar....also known as a Claudine collar, is flat in design with rounded corners, and shaped to fit around the neckline.
It got its name from Maude Adam's costume in her 1905 role as J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan.
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| The author herself, displaying such a collar |
There are other parallels to the Peter Pan collar reference, like in the 1885 Little Lord Fauntleroy novel written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Little Lord Fauntleroy's suit was so well described by Burnett, and then illustrated by Reginald Birch, that it became a fad for the formal dress of many an American middle-class child.
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| Reginald Birch illustration |
I think this image from the 1930 film, with Dolores Costello and Freddie Bartholomew, definitely delivers the look of a Peter Pan collar, albeit one with pointed collar tips. Actually that collar might be known more as an Eton collar.
And, Buster Brown, a comic-strip character created by Richard F. Outcault, in 1902.
And I really was taken with this 1906 image of Buster and Tige, although that collar is a sailor one, not a peter pan. Who can't relate to that comment about a politician!
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I've created a number of peter pan tops, cdg inspired.
Comme des Garcons has worked with some glorious peter pan/pilgrim collars over the years.
The Spring 2017 collection.
And maybe this "wearable" CdG dress came out that collection.
The Comme des Garcons Fall 2023, Big Bang collection presented this wonderful soft black wool cube dress, which one reviewer described as "a big Peter Pan collar", while another reviewer called it, "pilgrim collared". Whatever, I loved it.
And just had to make one!
My effort.
And the glorious pilgrim collar! It was fun creating that.
In the latest CdG Spring 2024 collection, these wonderful collars are still a feature.
Lots of good information regard the sewing and construction, plus you can download a pattern.
I gave it a go.
My result,
I think the skirt also helps in this outfit.
Pilgrims in literature.
Geoffrey Chaucer's, 'The Canterbury Tales', written 1387-1400, his story about pilgrims on a journey to seek renewal and atonement at the holy shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury, Kent. A pilgrimage was an effective way for Chaucer to bring together people from different walks of life and thus have various stories to tell.
John Bunyan's 1678 Christian allegory, 'The Pilgrim's Progress'.
Bunyan, who was a Separatist, wrote much of this work, while in Bedfordshire county prison for holding religious services beyond the Church of England.
I remember this story from my Balfour Presbyterian Church days. The protagonist, Christian goes on a harrowing journey from his home in the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.
(Note the pilgrim collars)
I have included this, because it is sung so beautifully.
'Pilgrim's Way' the American title, 'Memory Hold-the-Door', the English title, was written by Scottish author John Buchan in 1940.
It is an autobiographical memoir, recounting Buchan's life of public service, from his early days in the Scottish Highlands through to Oxford, service in the Boer and First World Wars, Parliamentarian and Governor General of Canada. I enjoyed reading about how, at the first school he attended he was taught to knit.
'Pilgrim's Way' was the book, JF Kennedy told anyone who wished to understand him, to read. In the 1963 American National Library week, it was referenced as one of his favourite books. (The only John Buchan book I have read is 'The 39 Steps'.)This link will take you to a digital copy of the book, if you feel so inclined to read it. I took in snippets, and he writes well. "I was one of the poor myself without a penny behind me, compelled to make my way in the world from nearly as bare a start as the lad from the plough-tail or the loom."
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.75079/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater
The unheroic hero, Billy Pilgrim, goes on a spiritual pilgrimage, as suggested by the book's subtitle 'The Children's Crusade'. He goes from New York to Dresden, back to New York and then to Tralfamadore, then death by an assassin's bullet. So it goes.
Here's an interesting diagnosis of Billy Pilgrim, Slaughterhouse-Five and a bit of Vonnegut.
Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse-Five', written in 1969. He writes really well.
A rather pertinent Vonnegut quote,
“For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. “Blessed are the merciful” in a courtroom? “Blessed are the peacemakers” in the Pentagon? Give me a break!”
And finishing off with my newly created pilgrim collar shirt, CdG inspired. I went with an indigo dyed cotton poplin, it will be effective with the various black skirts I have in my wardrobe.
Hopefully, you can see the pilgrim collar effect more clearly in this close-up shot.
I am a pilgrim.
Sltsltbsigning off.
