Pinkster (Festival)
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- Work cat: 2016019248: Dewulf, J. The Pinkster King and the King of Kongo, 2017.
- National Park Service www homepage, September 14, 2016(Originally a Dutch festival, Pinkster is a celebration of the coming of spring and a time of rest to be enjoyed among friends and family. To the Dutch, Pinkster originated as a religious holiday derived from the Christian feast of Pentecost as well as an observation of the change in seasons and spring renewal. Dutch colonists brought this celebration to settlements in the New York area during the 17th century; however, this holiday evolved over the subsequent decades into a primarily African American holiday infused with the African Bantu culture of Congo and Angola. The holiday became a chance for Northern enslaved and freed families to reunite and experience a brief sense of independence as well as share and pass on important African traditions, especially to those born in North America...It was not until the 1970's that efforts were made to revive this tradition, such as at the Phillipsburg Manor House in Sleepy Hollow, New York where an annual recreation is observed. Today, Pinkster is recognized as the oldest African American holiday of the original Thirteen Colonies that became the United States of America.)
Pinkster is a spring festival, taking place in late May or early June. The name is a variation of the Dutch word Pinksteren, meaning "Pentecost". Pinkster in English refers to the festivals held by the Black population of New York and New Jersey, particularly in the early 19th century. To the Dutch, Pinkster was a religious holiday, a chance to rest, gather and celebrate religious services like baptisms and confirmations. It also had a long tradition as a day of dance and merriment. For enslaved people, Pinkster was a time free from work and a chance to gather and catch up with family and friends. Pentecost is a Christian feast falling on the seventh Sunday after Easter, in remembrance of the descent of the Holy Spirit, in the guise of flames, upon the apostles at the "Feast of the Harvest" (Ex. 23:16), also known as Whitsunday, enabling the apostles to spread the news of Christ in all languages, (glossolalia or the "gift of tongues") (Acts 2). Pinksteren was also a celebration of the change of the seasons and of spring renewal. Various customs are intended to invoke the growth and fertility of fields and pastures. These include, for example, setting up Pentecost trees (pinksterkroon), that have the same origin as the maypoles. In many places inhabitants decorate village fountains with flowers and birch branches to which they attach colorful ribbons and chains of colored eggs.
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