Trace your Dutch roots

Reader's question: Roelfsema

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:54:00 +0000

Karin asked me:

How is it possible to find a Roelf Roelfsema who became the father of Gritje Cornelia born 8/3 1889?

Gritje Cornelia Roelfsema was born 8/3 1889 in Gravenhage as the daughter of Roelf Roelfsema and Christina Mathis. According to the family legend they were of Frisian descent.

Only a few acts from Den Haag (also known as 's-Gravenhage, or in English The Hague) are in Genlias, but The Hague does have its own database. I found the birth act of Grietje Cornelia Roelfsema in this database: Act 1080, 9 March 1889. Summary: Grietje Cornelia was born on 8 March at 3:30 pm. Parents are Roelf Roelfsema, 36, carpenter, and his wife Christina Frederika Matthijs, without occupation, both living in The Hague.

Note that 8/3 1889 means 8 March, not 3 August, 1889!

Roelf and Christina Frederika married in The Hague (marriage act 474, 1 June 1887): Roelf Roelfsema, 34, carpenter, born in Norg, living in The Hague, son of Kornelis Roelfsema (deceased) and Grietje Jans (without occupation, living in The Hague), married Christina Frederika Matthijs, 21, without occupation, born and living in The Hague, daughter of Johannes Frederik Matthijs (bookbinder, living in The Hague, present at the wedding) and Frederika Kaemmerer (deceased).

Note that Christina Frederika's father had to give permission for the wedding (as she was not yet 30), so the marriage act states he was present and consented. Roelf did not need parental permission (he was over 30), so whether his mother was present at the wedding is not listed in the marriage act.

In 1902 an interesting note was written in the margin of the wedding act: The marriage ended by divorce. The court declared the divorce on 17 December 1901, and it was registered in the margin of the marriage act on 17 February 1902.

You can continue the Roelfsema line on Genlias. As far as I can see, the Roelfsema's lived in Delfzijl (province Groningen) in the early 19th century. I don't see a connection with Friesland (yet).

Do you also have a question about Dutch genealogy that you want me to discuss? Leave your question in the comments below this post, or use the contact form.

Postcard from Scheveningen

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:15:00 +0000

Postcard of Scheveningen beach and the pier, sent in 1909.

Scheveningen was originally a small fishing village just outside Den Haag (The Hague). In the late 19th century it became a popular beach resort.

The pier on the postcard burned down in 1943. The current pier was built between 1959 and 1961.

Note the nice beach chairs on this postcard, and of course the (very formal) beach fashion of the time: Scheveningen was the resort of high society (a popular Dutch singer sang in the early 1930s: Er is geen zee zo distingué, Als de Scheveningse zee, Daar baadt alleen de haute volée. There is no sea as distingué as the sea at Scheveningen, only the haute volée (high society) bathe there).

Follow the Schaghen letter on Twitter

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:29:00 +0000

In 1626, Dutch settlers bought the island Manhattan for goods worth 60 guilders. We know that from a letter from Pieter Schaghen. This letter, the Schaghenbrief (Schaghen letter) will soon fly to New York for an exhibition.

The Schaghenbrief now has its own Twitter page, where you can follow its trip from an exhibition in Amsterdam, via its home in the National Archive in The Hague, to New York.

Image: Brief over de aankoop van Manhattan, 1626, Nationaal Archief (Letter about the sale of Manhattan, 1626, Dutch National Archive).

Reader's question: Origin of the Hartel surname

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0000

A reader of Trace your Dutch roots asked me about the origin of his surname, Hartel.

Hartel is an uncommon name, I have never encountered it before. There are only 67 hits in Genlias, without a clear geographic concentration.

The best place to find information about a surname is the Family name database of the Meertens Institute. About Hartel they tell it's a name derived from an address or toponym. In other words, the Hartel family originates from a place called Hartel (or something similar). Unfortunately, Meertens does not tell where or what that place was.

From the 56 Hartels in the 1947 census, 22 came from Amsterdam and another 17 from the rest of the province Noord-Holland. Similar names like Härtel (4 out of 7) and Hertel (33 out of 58) show a similar concentration in Amsterdam. So my next step was the Amsterdam registers.

The old marriage registers - which usually list place of origin of both spouses - are not online yet, but the Amsterdam baptisms are. There is only one Hartel baptism: Johanna Maria Christina Fredrica, daughter of Johan Gerrit Hartel, was baptized in 1783. One of the witnesses was Diedrik Philip Hartel. She was baptized by Wilhelm August Klepperbein, a German minister. This suggests the Hartel family may come from Germany. There are also a few hits for Hertel, most of them seem to have a German connection too.

I have no proof yet (for that I have to visit the Amsterdam city archive), but I expect the Dutch Hartel family originates in Germany. Just to be sure I checked the online German phone book and I found 687 hits for Hartel, 3744 for Hertel, and 2857 for Härtel.

So my hypothesis is that the Dutch Hartel family actually came from Germany. What Mr. Hartel needs to do now is confirm that he descends from the Amsterdam Hartel family, and then check the pre-1811 Amsterdam marriage books (this can be done in his local FHC) to confirm they came from Germany.

Do you also have a question about Dutch genealogy that you want me to discuss? Leave your question in the comments below this post, or use the contact form.

Dutch archive news June 2009

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:21:00 +0000

Several archives announced limited opening hours during the summer.
The Royal Dutch Library completed its Short-Title Catalogue (STCN), a complete biography of Dutch books printed between 1540 and 1800. The project took 15 years to complete. You can consult the database here.
Genlias added birth records from Groningen.
The Flevoland archive announced a new exhibition and website: Vergane schepen (Lost ships). The area that is now the province Flevoland was once the Zuiderzee, a small inland sea. 435 shipwrecks were found during the creation of the polders in the Zuiderzee. The website Vergane schepen shows a selection on a map, with images of and information about the wreck (in Dutch).

Image: de ventjager, an 18th century fish transporting ship, part of the Vergane schepen exhibition. Source: Press release of Nieuw land erfgoed, the Flevoland archive and heritage centre.

Postcard from Holland

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Many bloggers post a Wordless Wednesday article on Wednesday: An image that is strong enough to speak for itself so that it does not need any words (except maybe an attribution and a short caption). Wordless articles are not so suitable for genealogy blogs: Photos nearly always need some background information (at the very least, when and where the photo was taken). Geneabloggers solved that either by using more words than one would expect on a wordless article or by posting a new article the next day with background information.

I will start a new Wednesday image series, Postcards from Holland. Each Wednesday I will post a vintage card from my collection to Trace your Dutch roots. Most of the time these won't be Wordless Wednesdays articles - I will usually provide some background information.

We will start next week, on the beach in Scheveningen. Stay tuned!

Dutch archive news May 2009

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:54:00 +0000

The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Dutch Library, our national library) announced the project Dutch Prints Online. In cooperation with several Dutch university libraries, they will scan and publish 1.3 million pages from rare 18th century Dutch books. The scans should be available online in 2010.
Genlias added birth and death records from Groningen, and updated death records from Overijssel.
The Zeeland archive announced several events to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Hudson voyage, including the website Zeeland herontdekt Amerika (Zeeland rediscovers America, in Dutch).
The Amsterdam City Archive highlights a few documents related to New York from their collection, like the 1939 testament of Peter Stuyvesant, a 1794 city map, or a sales contract between the Holland Land Company and Seneca representatives.

Photo: Royal Dutch Library The Hague / Foto: Koninklijke Bibliotheek Den Haag

Readers' questions: Find a professional genealogist

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 18 May 2009 04:11:00 +0000

Bob asked me:

Can you recommend a person or service that would assist me (for a fee) in tracing our Dutch roots ? I have a family 'bible' from the 1700s written in old Dutch (German?)

And David asked:

I read some Dutch, and often can do a good job translating to English. But sometimes it would be helpful to have a native Dutch speaker check my translations. Do you know of any genealogists or translators who would be willing, for a fee, to take a look at a Dutch document and my translation? Do you have any other suggestions?

Most provincial archives have a list of professional genealogists working in their region. You can find addresses and websites of the archives in the regional genealogy section on Trace your Dutch roots.

The Central Bureau for Genealogy (CBG) also maintains a list of professional genealogists. You can find it here (PDF, you will need Adobe Acrobat or a similar program to read it). Researchers marked with an asterisk * do research in (post-1811) BMD records, researchers marked with two asterisks ** do research in all relevant archives. Region or specialty of researchers is usually listed. Bob will need a researcher marked with two asterisks, for David it depends on the type of documents that need to be translated.

A third option is to find someone on Genealogy Freelancers, but I don't know if they have any freelancers specialized in Dutch genealogy. I have no experience with this organization.

I would advise Bob to find out whether the text in the bible is Dutch or German before hiring a (paid) genealogist. Post a scan on the internet (for example on flickr) and ask people to look at it - ask at internet forums (see the regional genealogy section and the Getting help chapter on Trace your Dutch roots online for addresses; I recommend soc.genealogy.benelux), or ask the readers of this blog (leave a comment below).

David can also look for Dutch translators in his local yellow pages, or for English translators in the Dutch yellow pages. There used to be several free translation services on the internet (like e-transcriptum.net and Translate-Free.com), but they seem to have disappeared. Maybe a Google search will turn up similar services. If David does not have too many translations, he can also try internet forums like soc.genealogy.benelux.

UPDATE: Deborah Irwin, CEO of Genealogy Freelancers, informed me that they do indeed have Dutch researchers: "We do have researchers in the Netherlands so I hope we can be of service to your readers [...]."

Do you also have a question about Dutch genealogy that you want me to discuss? Leave your question in the comments below this post, or use the contact form.

Dutch traditions: 4 and 5 May

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 04 May 2009 02:42:00 +0000

As I told you before, 2009 is the Year of the Traditions here in The Netherlands. Number 13 in the top 100 of Dutch traditions is: 4 & 5 mei vieren, celebrating 4 and 5 May.

So what are we celebrating on 4 and 5 May? Actually, "celebrating" is a misnomer: 4 May is for commemoration, and only 5 May is for celebrations.

4 May is dodenherdenking, remembrance of the dead. Traditionally, it was the day we commemorated those who perished in World War II - soldiers, resistance members and civilians. Nowadays, for most people it is still the remembrance of World War II victims, but officially we commemorate "all, civilians and members of the armed forces, who have died in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere in the world, since the outbreak of World War II, in war situations or peace keeping missions". That includes, for example, Dutch soldiers who recently lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The flags hang half-staff on 4 May. Around 8 p.m., many towns have some kind of commemoration, often at a local monument. The main commemoration event is at the National Monument in Amsterdam. A few minutes before 8 p.m., the Queen will lay down a wreath at the National Monument. This is followed at 8 p.m. sharp by two minutes of silence in honour of those we commemorate. After the two minutes silence and the national anthem, members of the cabinet, representatives of the military, veterans, resistance movements and other groups will lay wreaths or flowers. Later, members of the public can do the same.

The two minutes silence at 8 p.m. is observed nationwide. Public transport stops, television and radio stations are silent, shops are closed this evening, many restaurants and bars are either closed or don't serve for two minutes.

4 May is followed by 5 May, Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day). On this day we celebrate the liberation from the occupation by Nazi Germany (1940-1945). It is celebrated every year, but a national holiday only once every five years. As Bevrijdingsdag is not a holiday, but is a school holiday, there are many events aimed at children on this day. Another popular bevrijdingsdag outing is a visit to one of the many music festivals that are held this day.

For more information, see the official website 4 en 5 mei (4 and 5 May, website is in Dutch).

Dutch archive news roundup: April 2009

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:04:00 +0000

Genlias added birth and marriage acts from Friesland, and birth, marriage and death acts from Utrecht.
The Dutch National Archive published new images on flickr The Commons, including a set of images related to New York.
The archives in Groningen opened a new image database: Beeldbank Groningen.
Drenlias, the database of BMD acts from Drenthe, added scans of death acts of the period 1943-1952. This includes the death act of the concentration camp in Westerbork, but also many death acts of Jews who died in e.g. Auschwitz or Sobibor. Death acts for these people were usually made up after the war in their last place of residence. These death acts often have supplements, scans of these documents are also online.
Last year, I wrote about the Archiefbank (Archives Database) of the Amsterdam City Archive. The Archiefbank recently became available in English. The Archiefbank was one of the winners of Best Archives Website, awarded by ArchivesNext.

Photo: Queen Wilhelmina visits New York and is welcomed by Mayor La Guardia. Dutch National Archive, on flickr The Commons.

Dutch archives on flickr and YouTube

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:49:00 +0000

Several Dutch archives are now present on the photo site flickr or the film site YouTube. I made a (probably incomplete) list.

Archives on flickr:

Dutch National Archive
Tresoar (provincial archive of Friesland)
BHIC (provincial archive of Noord-Brabant)
Schiedam city archive
Tilburg regional archive

Dutch archives with a channel on YouTube:

Dutch National Archive
Tresoar
BHIC
Wageningen city archive
Historisch Centrum Leeuwarden, the Leeuwarden city archive
Tilburg regional archive

Let me know if I missed an archive.

Image credit: Zeppelin bridge, St. Michielsgestel, 6 November 1934. BHIC on flickr, from the set Vught in beeld (Images of Vught).

Reader's question: From Holland to Australia in the 1960s

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:33:00 +0000

Scott asked me:

Could you suggest other on-line sources that can aid me in searching for my Partners grandparents whom migrated to Australia in the 1960's, as Genlias doesn't have them listed I just need their parents and I could go from there.

Marriage acts become public after 75 years, so you won't find any marriage acts from after 1934 on Genlias (or elsewhere on the internet). I expect your partner's grandparents married later than that? Most post-war archives are not accessible (and not published on the internet) due to privacy regulations. The usual way to reconstruct a family tree over this period is from memory or with family papers from the family's archive.

There are a few things you can try:

Do you know when and where they married? You should be able to order a copy of their marriage act from the town hall in the municipality they married (for a fee). If you know the town, you can find the municipality on the regional genealogy section of this website. You may have to prove you are related and that your grandparents passed away - contact the town hall for details. If you know when and where they were born you may also try to obtain a copy of their birth act in the same way. Both the birth and the marriage act will list the parents.
If your partner's grandparents migrated back to The Netherlands and died here, you should order their persoonskaarten from the Central Bureau for Genealogy (CBG).
Search the collections of the CBG, in particular their collection of birth, marriage and death announcements (partly available online).
A final tip: Don't forget to ask relatives. Someone is bound to have some document that provides a clue. Does your partner (or their family) still know relatives here in Holland? If so, write (or call) them!

If you have any further question, contact me or leave a comment below.

What should you do if your ancestors are not in Genlias?, in the January edition of the Trace your Dutch roots newsletter.
Destination Australia
Post-war emigration
Persoonskaarten
Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie (a review of their online resources)

Photo: Farewell of emigrants to Australia, 1953. Spaarnestad Photo/SFA001009985, on flickr The Commons.

Do you also have a question about Dutch genealogy that you want me to discuss? Leave your question in the comments below this post, or use the contact form.

Archive news roundup: February-March 2009

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:39:00 +0000

News from the Dutch archives

Genlias added new birth acts from Gelderland and Limburg, marriage acts from Limburg, and death acts from Gelderland, Utrecht and Limburg.
The Dutch National Archive created an exhibition to commemorate Hudson's voyage, exactly 400 years ago. The exhibition is now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and will move to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York in September. See my earlier blog post.
Several archives from Friesland participate in the new website Alle Friezen (All Frysians). The website aims to bring scans of BMD acts of the Frysian civil register online.
The Brabant archives revamped their online database. There is no English interface, though.

Return to Manhattan: 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:48:00 +0000

The Rijksmuseum, our National Museum for Art and History in Amsterdam, opened an exhibition earlier this week to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage:

"Starting on 1 April, Rijksmuseum in collaboration with the Dutch archives service Nationaal Archief will exhibit various documents related to the establishment of the Dutch colony New Netherland and the trading post New Amsterdam – which later became New York City – at the beginning of the 17th century. One of the highlights of the exhibition Return to Manhattan (Weerzien met Manhattan) is undoubtedly Nationaal Archief’s Schaghenbrief letter from 1626. One of the earliest documents to mention the purchase of Manhattan, the island on which New Netherland was established, the Schaghenbrief letter is not only evidence of the agreement concluded between the local population and the Dutch in 1626, but also of the first children born to the pioneers in the Dutch colony. Henry Hudson’s discovery of Manhattan Island 400 years ago, as an explorer working for the Dutch East India Company (VOC), will be celebrated this year."

The exhibition will be in the Rijksmuseum until 1 June. In September, the exhibition will move to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York, under the title The Island at the Center of the World.

Image: View on New Amsterdam, Johannes Vingboons, ca.1665, Dutch National Archive

Digitale Stamboom

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 06:02:00 +0000

The website

Last year we looked at the Digitale Stamboom (Digital Family Tree) of Rotterdam. Amersfoort, Leiden, Haarlem, Delft and Eindhoven have a similar Digitale Stamboom. The archives using the Digitale Stamboom system now offer a single search interface for their databases: Digitale Stamboom.

What do they have?

An index to BMD records and church books from the regions Amersfoort, Haarlem, Leiden, Delft, Eindhoven and Rotterdam.

Is there an English interface?

Yes: Click on English at the top right.

How do I use it?

The search interface is straightforward. Fill in some of the fields (as usual, watch out for the infix part of names like De Kooning), and press the search button at the bottom. Click on a name in the search result list for details.

The example above shows the details of the baptism of Sara van den Berg, on 18 May 1750 in Rotterdam. Watch out for the date format: 18-5-1750, and not 5-18-1750!

Click on Help at the top for more search tips.

How much does it cost?

Using the index is free. There are, of course, charges for ordering copies.

Future plans

None that I know of. In the list of participating archives, The Hague is listed. Does that mean that we can in the future also search in records from The Hague?

Conclusion

A useful site, as you can search some of the main cities that do not participate in Genlias (Rotterdam, Leiden and Delft). If you can't find your ancestors in Genlias, and you don't know where they lived, try the Digitale Stamboom.

Dutch archive news roundup January 2009

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:10:00 +0000

Genlias has added birth and marriage acts from Utrecht, and birth and death acts from Zuid Holland.
The Amsterdam archive published several new indexes, including a database of descriptions of criminals released from jail (1898-1917). Scans (with photos) are also available, for a fee (see the example scan).
The Rotterdam death index is now complete for the years 1811-1893.
The Rotterdam city archive is currently digitizing the passenger lists of the Holland America Line. Eventually, the passenger lists will be published on their website. In the meantime, passenger lists can not be consulted for a few months.

What should you do if your ancestors are not in Genlias?

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:35:00 +0000

I have never hidden that I'm a fan of Genlias. If you are looking for a Dutch ancestor, Genlias is the place to start your research - at least for 19th and 20th century ancestors. But what should you do if your ancestors are not in Genlias? Or maybe they are there but you can't find them?

I am currently writing an article on this topic. The article will appear in the next edition of the newsletter.

The newsletter is slightly delayed. I hope to finish it this weekend, and hopefully send it out Sunday. Subscribe now if you want to receive this issue and are not subscribed yet.

Top 10 Dutch baby names in 2008

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:24:00 +0000

SVB, the agency responsible for distributing child benefits in The Netherlands, publishes annual lists of the most popular Dutch baby names.

The top 10 boy names for 2008 (last year's position between brackets):

Daan (3)
Sem (1)
Tim (2)
Jayden (13)
Thomas (5)
Thijs (8)
Jesse (6)
Ruben (4)
Lars (11)
Milan (7)

The top 10 girl names for 2008 (last year's position between brackets):

Sophie (4)
Julia (3)
Lieke (5)
Emma (6)
Sanne (1)
Anna (7)
Lotte (2)
Eva (8)
Anne (14)
Lisa (9)

Just one of these names is on the list of traditional Dutch names: Anna. Other names, like Daan and Thijs, are also traditional Dutch names, though they were less popular than the traditional names listed. Many names on the list are new names, at least here in Holland - there were no Jaydens here until a few decades ago.

Links:
Kindernamen top 20 (Top 20 child names, in Dutch)
Traditional Dutch given names

Merry Christmas

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:03:00 +0000

A simple Dutch Christmas greeting may tell more about the sender than you realize. If your Dutch relatives wish you Zalig kerstmis or Zalig kerstfeest (blissful Christmas) they are almost certainly catholic (or at least live in a region that is mostly catholic). If you receive a Christmas card with the text Gezegende kerstdagen (blessed Christmas days) you may safely assume that the sender is protestant.

This distinction seems to be disappearing, though, and nowadays nearly everyone will wish you Prettige kerstdagen (pleasant Christmas days) or occasionally Prettige feestdagen (pleasant holidays).

New year's wishes are simpler. Most common are Gelukkig nieuwjaar (happy new year) and De beste wensen voor het nieuwe jaar (all the best for the new year). The latter is sometimes shortened to De beste wensen (all the best). Less common (and somewhat archaic) are Voorspoedig nieuwjaar (prosperous new year) and Veel heil en zegen in het nieuwe jaar (much hail and bliss in the new year).

My wife and I wish everyone who celebrates Christmas Prettige en gezegende kerstdagen and Zalig kerstmis, and everyone who celebrates something else Prettige feestdagen.

Trace your Dutch roots will take a break and return mid January. Thank you for reading the website, blog or newsletter in 2008, and I hope to see you all next year. Gelukkig nieuwjaar!

Dutch archive news roundup December 2008

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:36:00 +0000

The month is not finished yet, but I don't expect anything to happen between Christmas and New Year. If there is news, I will add it to the January news roundup.

Genlias added birth, marriage and death acts from the province Zuid-Holland.
The National Archive opened a new website, Afscheid van Indië (Farewell to the Indies), with resources from the time of decolonization of the Dutch Indies. The National Archive also added a Flickr photo set on the same topic.
The provincial archive of Noord-Brabant, Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum, started publishing photos from their collection on Flickr.
The city archive of The Hague started digitizing the Haagse Courant, the largest newspaper of The Hague. Digitized newspapers will be available in libraries and the archive in The Hague only, unfortunately there are no plans (yet?) to publish them on the internet or make them available outside The Hague.

Dutch archive news roundup: November 2008

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:08:00 +0000

Several archives have published limited opening hours during the December holidays and new opening hours from 1 January on their website.
The Dutch National Archive announced that their guide book Sources for the Mutual History of Ghana and the Netherlands: An Annotated Guide to the Dutch Archives Relating to Ghana and West Africa in the Nationaal Archief 1593-1960s has been awarded the Conover-Porter Award 2008 by the African Studies Association (ASA). You can read the announcement by ASA here.
The Dutch National Archive published photos from World War I on Flickr The Commons.

Sinterklaas, the number one Dutch tradition

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 06:44:00 +0000

Yesterday I showed you four of our five most popular traditions, based on the top 100 of most the important Dutch traditions. I still owe you the number one from that list.

Our number one tradition is Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas is a nickname for St. Nicholas, and we celebrate his feast every year on St. Nicholas eve (5 December).

Sinterklaas arrives about three weeks before his birthday (6 December), on a steamship, with his assistants, the Zwarte Pieten (sing. Zwarte Piet, Black Pete), his grey horse, and plenty of presents for all Dutch children. Each year, he arrives in a different town. This year, the arrival was in Almere, on 15 November. This arrival is broadcast live on Dutch television (it has been broadcast every year for decades). In the three weeks he is in The Netherlands, he visits every school, every shopping mall, and many homes and companies. If you are in The Netherlands this week, there is a good chance you will meet him - just visit the nearest mall. He will be sitting on a central spot, while his Zwarte Pieten are walking around the mall, handing out pepernoten (ginger bread cookies) to young children.

Traditionally, on 5 December, children would put a shoe near the chimney. They would then find a present in it on the morning of 6 December, St. Nicholas day. Nowadays, children leave their shoes several times between the arrival of the steamship and St. Nicholas eve. In modern houses or apartments without a chimney they leave their shoes near a small window. The children put a carrot or some sugar cubes in their shoe and a cup of water next to it (for the grey horse), and sing a traditional St. Nicholas song (loudly in case one of the Zwarte Pieten is on the roof, so that he can hear their songs). At night, Sinterklaas will ride over the roofs (on his grey horse), or send one of his Zwarte Pieten, to throw presents through the chimney into the shoes. If the children left something for the horse, or for Sinterklaas (some children make a drawing and put it in their shoes, as a gift for Sinterklaas), a Zwarte Piet comes down the chimney (however small the chimney may be) to collect it.

St. Nicholas eve is now pakjesavond, present eve. If there are small children, the family will get together and sing traditional Sinterklaas songs. After a while, there is a loud knock on the door, the door opens slightly, and the hand of a Zwarte Piet is seen. Zwarte Piet throws a handful of pepernoten into the room. The children first crawl around to collect the pepernoten, and then open the door to see if Zwarte Piet is still there. He never is, but they do find a basket full of presents that he left behind. (For some reason, Zwarte Piet always chooses a time when one of the adults has gone to the toilet, or gone out to get some fresh air. The adult is then disappointed that he missed all the fun...)

If there are no small children in the family, people will give each other gifts, usually anonymously. They will draw names to decide who gives to whom, and then put their gifts in a basket, and everyone will open their gift on St. Nicholas eve.

Gifts are usually accompanied by a short, simple poem about the receiver, often of a teasing nature (at least for adults and older children). The receiver must read this poem aloud before he is allowed to open the present. Also popular are the surprises (pronounced surpreeses): Either ingeniously wrapped gifts or little practical jokes.

According to our tradition, only sweet children get presents, while naughty children get a rod. Many Zwarte Pieten hold a rod, that they use to wave menacingly. Extremely naughty children go into the empty sacks that were used for transporting the presents, and they are taken away by Sinterklaas on his steamship. I've never heard of any children actually receiving a rod, let alone being taken away in sacks, so I assume there are only sweet children in The Netherlands.

Sinterklaas is an ancient tradition. Jan Steen, a famous painter from the Dutch golden age, painted The feast of St. Nicholas around 1665. Let's have a closer look at this painting (click to enlarge). We see the family gathered around the chimney. In the centre we see a happy little girl, she probably just received the doll she is holding. The boy on the left has probably been naughty, his sisters (gleefully) hold his shoe with a rod. But grandma beckons him in the background, maybe she has a little surprise for him hidden behind the bed-curtain. Notice the boy in the background, holding the baby. He is pointing to the chimney and seems to be explaining to his younger siblings how Zwarte Piet came down through it to leave the presents.

If you have Dutch roots, I would like to hear from you. Do you still celebrate Sinterklaas? Do you know something about your ancestors celebrating Sinterklaas? Places with strong Dutch roots often have a Sinterklaas celebration. Is Sinterklaas celebrated in your area? Please leave your stories in the comments below this post.

Traditions!

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:32:00 +0000

2009 is proclaimed Jaar van de Tradities (Year of the Traditions) in The Netherlands. After polling a large number of people, the organization of the Jaar van de Tradities compiled a top 100 of the most important Dutch traditions, which they published earlier this month.

Not all of the top 100 traditions are typical Dutch traditions. Some are international (decorating the Christmas tree at number 2), some are recently imported by immigrants (Ramadan at number 14), but many others I've never seen outside The Netherlands.

So, what are our most popular traditions? Let's have a look at the top five. If you have Dutch roots, I would love to hear in the comments section below if you recognize any of the Dutch traditions. Do you still celebrate these (or other) Dutch traditions?

The number five tradition is decorating eggs at easter. I think this is done in most western countries, it is certainly not a Dutch tradition.

Number four is a real Dutch tradition: Eating oliebollen on new year's eve. Oliebollen are basically deep-fried balls of dough, sometimes with raisins. They are eaten with powdered sugar. Many people make their own (and if they did you can often still smell the oliebollen days later in their kitchen), but in the last few days of the year they are also widely available from bakeries, supermarkets and market stalls.

At number three is the Vrijmarkt (free market) on Koninginnedag (Queen's Day). Koninginnedag is the celebration of the queen's birthday, traditionally a holiday in The Netherlands. In many towns, anyone is allowed to sell things on the streets, turning town centres into giant flea markets. On this day, you do not need a license to operate a market stall, or pay taxes over your sales. People just lay down a blanket on the sidewalk or on the street, and spread out their cast-offs. Many of the vendors are children. The largest and most famous Vrijmarkt is the one in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam.

The second-most popular tradition is placing and decorating a Christmas tree before Christmas. An international tradition, obviously: You probably do that as well every year.

Can you guess our number one tradition? It will be the topic of the next post, tomorrow.

The Friesland roots of Obama

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:44:00 +0000

This story popped up on several places over the last few days, even in Dutch national newspapers. It is a hoax, though (but apparently not all newspapers realized that).

Radio Netherlands Worldwide: "Local skating hero Lieuwe Obbema's grandpa Jelle apparently went to Kenya in 1870, where he established a successful peppermint business.

Friesian genealogists say Jelle Obbema was a ladies' man, with a particular taste for local Kenyan women. He is said to have sired a number of illegitimate children, who used their father's surname. One such child was called Sjoerd-Bark Obbema. Barack Obama's father is possibly a descendant of one of those children.

And that's not all. Back in Friesland, the Obbema family crest features two lilies, with its motto in Frisian, the local language, 'Ja wy kinne.' In English, 'Yes we can'.

Just for the record: As I stated above, the story is a hoax. To the best of my knowledge, Obama does not have roots in Friesland.

Dutch-American heritage day

h_vk@planet.nl (Henk van Kampen) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:21:00 +0000

Today is Dutch-American heritage day:

The Royal Netherlands Embassy - Washington DC: "On November 16th, Dutch-American Heritage Day, 8 million Americans of Dutch descent celebrate their heritage and the contributions they and their ancestors have made to the economic, social, political, and cultural life of the United States.

[..]

A large portion of the eastern U.S., stretching from New Jersey and Delaware through New York and from Connecticut and Long Island to central eastern Pennsylvania, was settled by the Dutch in the early-1600s. The area was once known as New Netherland, and many places--Schuylkill, Catskill, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Harlem, Wall Street, Coney Island, to name but a few---trace their names from this Dutch period. Over the next two centuries, several waves of Dutch emigrants settled in the United States and, today, most Dutch-Americans are concentrated in ten states: New York, Michigan, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Washington, Texas, Ohio and Illinois.

[..]

On Dutch-American Heritage Day we celebrate those ties and pay tribute to the mutual respect and friendship that animates the Dutch-American relationship."

Dutch-American heritage day is celebrated since 1991:

Proclamation by George Bush: "In celebration of the long-standing friendship that exists between the United States and the Netherlands, and in recognition of the many contributions that Dutch-Americans have made to our country, the Congress, by House Joint Resolution 177, has designated November 16, 1991, as "Dutch-American Heritage Day" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this day.

NOW THEREFORE I, GEORGE BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim November 16, 1991, as Dutch American Heritage Day. I encourage all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities."

16 November was the date of the first-ever salute by a foreign power to the flag of the U.S.A.: On 16 November 1776, a small American warship sailed into the harbour of the Dutch island of St. Eustatius in the West Indies. Only four months before, the United States had declared its independence from Great Britain. The governor of the island ordered that his fort's cannons be fired in a friendly salute.

Dutch-American heritage day is celebrated in regions with strong Dutch roots. New York City, for example, celebrates with 5 Dutch Days 5 Boroughs, while West Michigan "celebrate[s] the proud history of Dutch-American influence in West Michigan with a wonderful, traditional Dutch dinner, fun and festivities for all" (on 20 November 2008).