留影1620欧洲移民登陆马萨诸塞的奠基石和仿制五月花号船（2000.5.26）

黄安年文  黄安年的博客/2023年7月7日发布（第32908篇）

这里发布的两张照片拍自2000年5月26日参观英国清教徒移民始祖1620年在马塞诸萨地区登陆的地方Cape Cod ，号称奠基石。还参观了1957年仿造当年远涉重洋的船五月花号，船员在船上协议订立著名的五月花协定，这个协定连同1619年在弗吉尼亚詹姆斯城的22公民代表协议构成了早期美国式民主制度的基石。

*********************

2000年5月26日日记

黄安年文  黄安年2023年6月6日发布（第32786篇）

【按：自2022年12月23日起分批发布1999年10月22日-2000年7月4日我们的美国之行日记内容，这里是2000年5月26日日记。当时日记如实记叙所见所为所思所想，为普通公民实录具有史料价值，无涉当今价值判断】

* 9:17am-6:30pm,我们参观Plymouth港和Newport的Mansion。前者是英国清教徒移民始祖1620年在马塞诸萨地区登陆的地方，大凡来到Cape Cod和波士顿地区旅游参观的人都是必来之地，因为如果今天的美国佬忘记了这个等于忘记了“根”，就好像中国移民来到美国处处都蔑视大陆似的，岂不也有点忘“根”的苗头。最有点四不像的是有的新美国人，似乎既忘了欧洲移民的“根”，也忘了中国移民的“根”。来这里“五月花号船”是其中具有象征意义的景点，如果连这条船也不屑光顾，那就枉此一行了。

*12:50-1:45pm,大家一起去参观了这条难得看上的船，其实这是在1957年仿造当年远涉重洋的船。由于它一切均是按照资料和想象建造的，并且按照同样的航线航行在大西洋上，事实上来此参观的人是络绎不绝的。船体外围有许多历史回顾的背景资料图片，船体的每一部分均开放参观，还有好几位讲解员，其中有的显然是义务讲解的。看了这条船，可以想象在当时极其困难的条件下来到新大陆是多么的不易。比起来,现在移民美国是方便多了，那时要冒着生命危险，现在则十分安全。他们不仅终于从西欧来到北美登上了新大陆，而且还在船上协议订立著名的五月花协定，这个协定连同1619年在弗吉尼亚詹姆斯城的22公民代表协议构成了早期美国民主制度的基石。Plymouth Guide以显著篇幅介绍Mayflower II说：“The Mayflower was their space shuttle. Instead of turbo jets and booster rockets, she had the square sails of a 17^th century trading ship. Guided by the sun, stars and expertise of Captain Christopher Jones, The ‘Saints’(as the Pilgrims then called themselves) were on their own. Sheltered in a tiny boat that had already seen decades of service as a wine vessel, and before that, in the Norwegian fishing trade. The ‘Saints’ wanted to worship God in their own way and left the Church of England to seek religious freedom in Leyden, Holland where they lived comfortably for 1w years. However, Leyden was only a temporary refuge, Although the ‘Saints’ had fled England, they still wished to maintain their English language. Heritage and tradition. Fear of assimilation into the Dutch culture prompted leaders of the group to secure a patent for settlement in the New World.”。文章另外专门写了Two Months Sea & America’s First Constitution两段。两个月的航海行程写道：“Seeing the little ship Mayflower today, it’s almost impossible to believe that 102 men, women and children, guided by a crew of 25, were squeezed into a boat just 90 feet from stem to stern (that’s the length of three first downs in a football game) and only 25 feet at the Mayflower’s widest point. The seas were monstrous and icy and during the 65 days aboard the mayflower, the Pilgrims had little privacy. Destined for the ‘northern’ part of Virginia, the Pilgrims soon found themselves floundering on the deadly shoals off Chatham at the elbow of Cape Cod. Unable to clear this ‘graveyard of sailing ships’, they turned northwest around the hook of the Cape and found a safe harbor and fresh water in what is now called Provincetown.”。美国第一部宪法写道：“Almost before the ‘Saints’ refreshed themselves, they saw to the law. Unable to sail to their ’legal’ destination, they held representative meetings, came to an agreement drafted’ to combine themselves together into a civil body politic’ which they called the Mayflower Compact, but historians call it our first constitution.”。

我在《崛起》一书中对于五月花号船有较为详细的叙述，“这些‘移民始祖’在马萨诸塞湾的科德角登陆，建立了以普利茅斯命名的定居地。在上岸前的11月11日，41名成年男子签署了五月花公约，宣布自愿结成平等的公民政府，制定自己的法律、章程和官职机构。这些‘移民始祖’大多是信奉受迫害的清教的贫苦工匠、农民和订有契约的契约佣仆。他们主张个人直接祈祷，反映了在上帝和法律面前人人平等的资产阶级法权观念；主张建立纯正廉洁的教会，反对教会勒索和繁琐的宗教仪式，反映原始积累时期资产阶级积累资金的要求；主张以资产阶级共和制原则改革教会，反对偶像崇拜。”（第52页）看完五月花号船，接着在旁边看了Plymouth Rock，似乎J对此也不屑一瞧，好在我胸中有数，只用不到5分钟看完了这块历史的见证石。对于这块奠基石，介绍写道：“Plymouth Rock is the symbolic stepping stone from the old world to the new. Plymouth Rock’s existence was first recorded in 1715. When it was described in the town boundary records as ‘a great rock’. The only testimony of the rock’s attribution, however, was given by Thomas Faunce, elder of the Plymouth Church, who in 1741 identified the rock as the Pilgrims first landed”。

https://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=415&do=blog&id=1390729