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Hijum (Netherlands)

Leeuwarderadeel municipality, Fryslân province

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net
adopted 1996; Design: S. Postma.

Hijum village
Hijum Coat of Arms

See also:

Hijum village

Hijum (the Frisian and Dutch name are the same) is a village in the municipality of Leeuwarderadeel, Fryslân. The name means: "heem" - (farm)yard. It was built on a "terp" - mound, which has been nearly completely disappeared. The village has two churches, and there used to be the Aebinga-state (fortified stately house). The population is gradually decreasing (1954: 510; 1974: 421)
Coat of Arms: in gold a green mound issueing from the base, with on top two jumping green Frenchmen with open red mouths; the mound charged with a lying silver crescent below three golden pennies placed 2-1.
Flag: two wavy horizontal stripes yellow and green, proportioned 2:1; in the yellow stripe in the canton a jumping green frog with open red mouth. The frog with a height of 7/12 flagheight.
Hijum means: land bathed by water "door water omspoeld land" - the mound (terp) is evident in the arms. The crescent represents the convent Mariëngaarde and the family Æbinga (AE in one letter). The three pennies represents the patron saint of the church: St. Nicholas.
The frogs refer to the village nickname, "kikkerts", in use for over a century. (it possibly refers to the frogs in the water around the terp).
The flag is a simplification of the arms and shows only one of the frogs.
Design: S. Postma.
Source: Genealogysk Jierboekje 1996
Two Encyclopedies van Friesland.
Jarig Bakker, 25 Aug 2003

Hijum Coat of Arms

from Ralf Hartemink's site.