Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: The Moravians

Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: History of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Christmas Candles and Lights

Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Moravian Stars

Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Community Putzes

Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Religious Services

Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Concerts

Christmas in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Historic District

The Moravians are mainstream Protestant Christians whose denomination was established in 1457 in what is now the Czech Republic. Many died during religious persecutions that took place in the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century a German nobleman, Count Zinzendorf, undertook the protection of the remaining Moravians and allowed them to settle on his land. Seeking religious freedom and the opportunity to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ to American natives, settlers, and slaves, bands of Moravians began to emigrate from Germany to the American colonies in the eighteenth century.