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Fochteloo (The Netherlands)

Ooststellingwerf municipality, Fryslân province

image by Jarig Bakker, 31 Aug 2003

Fochteloo village

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Fochteloo village

Fochteloo is a village in the municipality of Ooststellingwerf, Fryslân province. The explanation of the villagename is: "Focht" = German "Fichte" is a fir tree, and "loo" is the designation of a forest. The village was on the edge of a large marshy area (hoogveen in Dutch), and it was cut in two by a small underground river "Vogelreyd", "reed-bird". In Frisian this is the "reidhintsje", moor-hen.
The colors of the flag reflect the former "Fochteloër Veen" - the marshy grounds of Fochteloo. The colors black and brown symbolize the marshy grounds and the peat.
The combination of colors clash with all banistic <= vexillological> principles. The flag was designed by Mr. Bontekoe.
Quoth Mr Piet Bultsma in Vexilla Nostra nr. 104/105, 1979.
However Mr. Bontekoe strongly denied in a later article in VN, that he had anything to do with the design of villageflags, let alone with the combination of brown and black - who needs brown anyway on a flag?
I have tried to make a decent gif - aided by Mr. Pascal Gross, who drew the flag of the Polish city of Wegrow, with a combination of gold (dark-yellow) and brown, which resulted in one of the best designs I've ever seen, so there should be hope for lost causes :-)
Jarig Bakker, 31 Aug 2003