pilgrims

15 Stories

More Than 1,300 Died During Hajj Pilgrimage: Saudi Arabia

Temperatures reached 117 degrees

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday put the number of pilgrims who died in the scorching heat during this year's Hajj pilgrimage at more than 1,300. Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel said on state TV that 83% of the fatalities were among unauthorized pilgrims who walked long distances in...

Finding Your Mayflower Ancestors Just Got Easier
Check If You Were Related
to a Pilgrim, the Easy Way
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Jun 17, 2018 10:00 AM CDT

Check If You Were Related to a Pilgrim, the Easy Way

500K names included in new online database

(Newser) - Discovering if you're descended from the Pilgrims is "easier than ever." A new database offers for the first time online records on more than 59,450 fifth-generation descendants of the small group who sailed to the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Of the roughly 132...

Tribal Chief Who Signed Treaty With Pilgrims to Be Reburied

Massasoit Ousamequin's remains were scattered when a railroad was built

(Newser) - The remains of the Wampanoag leader who forged a peaceful relationship with the Pilgrims will be reburied at his original gravesite in Rhode Island, the AP reports. Members of the Wampanoag Nation have spent 20 years tracking down the remains and artifacts of Massasoit Ousamequin. It was their "spiritual...

We May Finally Know Exactly Where the 1st Pilgrims Lived

And it only took 396 years

(Newser) - We likely now know the exact location of the first Pilgrim settlement in the New World—thanks, in part, to a cow named Constance. The Boston Globe reports it's long been known that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620, but it was never clear exactly where they built...

Archaeologists' Puzzle: Where Was Plymouth Colony?

Researchers conducting major dig to find site of original settlement

(Newser) - It's one of the most important sites in the history of the United States—but we still don't know where, exactly, it was. That's why University of Massachusetts archaeologists are digging for signs of the original Plymouth colony, the Boston Globe reports. The borders of today's...

So Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?

And more on Thanksgiving food

(Newser) - The pilgrims may not have eaten any turkey at the "First Thanksgiving" in 1621—no mention of turkey is specifically mentioned in Edward Winslow's account of the feast, but he does mention that a lot of venison was eaten, and they probably ate fish and shellfish as well—...

Europe's 'First Travel Guide' Stolen

12-century Codex Calixtinus goes missing from Spanish cathedral

(Newser) - Modern technology didn't prevent the theft of a priceless 12th-century manuscript from a Spanish cathedral. The Codex Calixtinus—known as "Europe's oldest travel guide" because it contained a guide to walking routes for pilgrims—is believed to have been stolen by professional thieves from an safe in...

Suicide Bomber Kills 25 Pilgrims in Iraq

At least 24 more injured at holy site in Samarra

(Newser) - Iraqi police say a suicide bomber struck Shiite pilgrims near a shrine north of Baghdad that has been a flashpoint in sectarian strife, killing at least 25 people. Authorities say the bomber blew himself up this afternoon in a crowd of pilgrims just 200 yards outside the al-Askari mosque. A...

Car Bombs Targeting Pilgrims Kill 18 in Iraq

Separate Baghdad bombings kill 2

(Newser) - Two car bombs struck Shiite pilgrims today in an Iraqi holy city, killing at least 18 people as crowds massed for religious rituals marking the end of a 40-day mourning period for the Islamic sect's most beloved saint. The blasts in Karbala were the latest in nearly a week of...

Record Crowds Throng Bethlehem
Record Crowds
Throng Bethlehem
Dec 25, 2010 5:46 AM CST

Record Crowds Throng Bethlehem

Most pilgrims in a decade come to mark Jesus' birth

(Newser) - The largest number of pilgrims in a decade gathered in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas, with tens of thousands flocking to the Church of the Nativity for prayers this morning. Israeli military officials, who coordinate movement in and out of the West Bank, said more than 100,000 pilgrims have come...

Bomb Threat Clears Lourdes
 Bomb Threat Clears Lourdes 
Aug 16, 2010 4:17 AM CDT

Bomb Threat Clears Lourdes

Hoax strikes on Feast of the Assumption

(Newser) - Some 30,000 Catholic pilgrims, many of them disabled or ailing, had to flee the Lourdes pilgrimage site in France yesterday because of a bomb scare on the Feast of the Assumption, one of the site's busiest days of the year. A phone call to police warning that four bombs...

Provincetown: Pilgrims Landed Here First
 Provincetown: Pilgrims 
 Landed Here First 
Suck it, Plymouth
Nov 22, 2009 12:26 PM CST

Provincetown: Pilgrims Landed Here First

Plymouth rivalry heats up as P-town seeks rightful place in history

(Newser) - Provincetown, Mass., wants you to know: The Pilgrims landed here first. Sure, the fresh water was lacking, the sand not so great for growing things, and the Native Americans were a bit scary, causing them to move a few weeks later to Plymouth—the same Plymouth that gets all the...

Pope to Kids: Spurn 'Spiritual Desert'

Young should change lives of 'quiet despair,' Benedict pleads

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI called on young Christians to revive spirituality by rejecting modern society's greed and materialism, AP reports. At a mass of 350,000 young pilgrims in Sydney, and a global TV audience of millions, the pope called for "a new age in which hope liberates us from...

40 Iraq Shiite Pilgrims Killed in Blast

Tent explodes as pilgrims take a break during a days-long trek

(Newser) - At least 40 people were killed today when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest amid a crowd of Shiite pilgrims during a trek south of Baghdad. A tent where the marchers stopped for food exploded in Iskandariyah in the second attack on Arbaeen, a day when millions descend on...

Religious Pilgrims Perish in Bus Crash

26 Poles die, 24 injured after apparent brake failure in French Alps

(Newser) - Twenty-six people died and 24 were injured today when a bus carrying religious pilgrims plunged off a bridge in the French Alps. Forty-nine Polish nationals and two drivers were on a tour of European Roman Catholic shrines when their coach slammed through a wall onto a riverbank and burst into...

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