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Hilaard (The Netherlands)

Littenseradiel municipality, Fryslân province

image by Jarig Bakker, 8 Sep 2003
adopted 1999; Design: J.C. Terluin and R.J. Broersma.

Hilaard village
Hilaard coat of arms

See also:

Hilaard village

Hilaard (Dutch: Hilaard, Hijlaard, Frisian older name: Hilaerd), a village in Littenseradiel municipality, Fryslân. It used to be in the former municipality of Baarderadeel; population (1958): 364; (1974): 306. Church with saddle-roofed spire from the 14th century, with patron-saint: St. John. In Hilaard was Tsjessinga-state (fortified stately house), where the famous van Aylva-family lived. In 1742 the "state" was pulled down, except for the gate. That was 26 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 24 feet high...
In the hamlet Hoptille a customhouse ("tolhûs") with the coat of arms of Bolsward. There was a dairy-factory "Hoptille" 1899-1936, and a flax-factory "Hoptille" 1936-47 - in 1947 the factory burned down. The "Doleantie" split the village in two (Doleantie = complaint-movement) is difficult to explain in English: the Reformed (Gereformeerde) (Protestant) Church split off from the Reformed (Hervormde) (Protestant) Church - this split not only affected this village, but most of Frisian families and communities <mine included - we were not allowed to visit certain relatives>
Nickname: "Prommeiters", "Prommen" - plum eaters, plums - the Hilaarder fair was held on 12 Aug, when the plums were ripe. It is said that the Hilaarders laugh only once a year, but everybody has forgotten the date...
(the citizens of the Belgian Vliermaal got the same nickname: "Pruimelaren"; that was not the only nickname of the Vliermalers, the other was "Mennekes" (little fellows); the Plums and the Little Fellows regularly fought it out with their brass bands (fanfarecorpsen), occasionally using their fists, sometimes in a less musical way their trumpets, tubas and heavy drums, to prove some point... Vliermaal is in Kortessem municipality, Tongeren arr., Limburg province, Belgium.)
Hilaard coat of arms: bell gable-formed divided a. in blue two fleurs-de-lis; b. in gold a facing black cow head with a white blaze (kylblês); in chief red with a silver cross.
Flag: yellow with a red bell gable, standing on the hoist, connected to the flag top and -bottom, of which the dividing line starts at 1/5 flag length, and of which the top is at 3/5 flag length; the bell gable lengthened with a blue stripe of 2/15 flag length; the red charged with a yellow lily of 1/2 flag height.
The bell gable refers to the church tower of Hilaard. The cow's head refers to the main industry in the village: cattle-breeding and the former dairy-factory. The lilies are from the arms of the coats of arms of the Van Aylva's and Mockema's who lived on Tsjessinga-state. The church is devoted to St. John the Baptist. His symbol is Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).
That sign, but with changed colors (red with a white cross) is in chief of the coat of arms.
In the flag the blue stripe symbolizes the Hilaarder feart (canal), in the good old days the main means of communication with the big bad world out there. The lily from the arms is towards the hoist in red. The yellow fly symbolizes the fertile meadows surrounding the village.
Design: J.C. Terluin and R.J. Broersma
Source: Genealogysk Jierboekje, 2001.
Encyclopedie van Friesland, 1958.
Groot Schimpnamenboek van Nederland, by Dirk van der Heide, 1998.
Baerderadiel: in Geakunde, 1977.
Jarig Bakker, 8 Sep 2003

According to Guide Vert Michelin Hollande (yes, shame on Michelin, they do seem to ignore that the Netherlands are bigger than Holland :-), a Protestant proverb says:
"One Dutchman, one theologian; two Dutchmen, a Church; three Dutchmen, a schism".
[To which I could add "nine Dutchmen, a defeated football-team"].
The Guide says that the Nederlands Hervormde Kerk, founded during the Dordrecht synod in 1619, has about 2.5 million members, whereas the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, founded in 1892, has about 820.000 members.
Ivan Sache, 11 Sep 2003

Hilaard coat of arms

from Wapens en Flaggen fan Littenseradiel, booklet of the municipality.