Five Brothers and a War

Religion in the van Pelt House

Religion in the van Pelt household was a central force. As is typically true in religious families, the parents were the ones who were the true believers, while there was grudging acquiescence among the children. It was also important to surround the family with like believers. That meant that family members should not become too close with members of the variants of the Reformed Church, with non-believers, and especially with Catholics. The Dutch Reformed Church consisted of three main groups that had a different view of how to conduct a church service. There were the “Ethicals”- the ones that believed in God, but not to the extent it was necessary to be too strict about it. Next were the “Confessionals”—the middle of the road members, not too strict but also not too easy going either. The third group, the smallest, were very strict and were the “Orthodox.” Their beliefs were close to what the Bible literally teaches. Their services should always have a reading of the Ten Commandments, and only Psalms based on the Book of Psalms should be used for the song service. That was the van Pelt’s group. Every school the boys went to was a “Christian School” where Bible study was one of the subjects, and therefore a grade was given at the end of the term. At age 18 a youngster was expected to go to the local church’s catechism classes to become a church member. Before each meal, a blessing of the food was asked, often by one of the older boys. For younger children, the blessing could be the standard “ Heere, zegen deze spijze, amen ” (“Lord, bless this food, amen”), but as they became older, somewhat more was expected. Breakfasts usually included bread and cheese, typically Edam or Gouda. On weekdays and Saturdays, the family members would go down at their own time, but they would always eat at the dining room table. Weekday lunches would usually involve sandwiches, and this meal would also depend on where the children were during the noon hour. Dinners would be communal events with rare exception, and would definitely start with a blessing. Upon completion, Leendert would read a chapter from the Bible, with the children often seeking out the shortest Psalm in order to speed up the process. Before the family left the dining room, one of the older boys would have to give thanks to God for the meal. Sundays were quite different. Breakfast was served to the entire family, and eggs were always served, usually boiled eggs presented in an egg cup. At 10:30am, church services started. Each Friday, the churches would put out a combined newspaper detailing the times of their services, and the speakers. The presumably unintended consequence of this was that people went “minister shopping”, whereby a minister who was not up to snuff would not be visited. There were several churches available, including the Bethelkerk, which was only a few blocks from the Margrietstraat on the Mozartlaan (where Leen and Rita would live until Leen’s death in 1976). Another choice was the Bethlehemkerk , just around the corner from the Tomatenstraat, and the church the van Pelts attended while living on that street from 1930-1936.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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