In Search of the Dutch Lore of the Land

Inspired by The Lore of the Land, published by Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson in 2005, a Dutch version of this book, comprising local and regional legends, was published in the Netherlands in 2010 by Willem de Blécourt, Ruben Koman, Jurjen van der Kooi, and Theo Meder. The editors selected over three hundred and fifty legends, representative of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands, for the volume. Some were real ecotypes, having been appropriated by local communities and having led to the erection of associated statues, often for touristic and commercial purposes, as well as for shaping collective identities, while others were almost forgotten tales. The editors also found, somewhat unexpectedly, that quite a number of popular legends had been composed and constructed by romantic writers in the nineteenth century, and that these older legends were much more popular than the recently-invented ones. As the editors also included a number of contemporary legends, they discovered that one such legend had already become popular enough to have a statue erected and a song composed in its honour. Notes [1] This article is a reworking of the paper presented at the 28th International Conference of the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research, held in Amsterdam, 28 June–1 July 2010. [2] Apart from the four editors, eleven authors participated in this publication. [3] See De Blécourt et al. (Citation2010). [4] The editors decided to limit the number of legends included, and to present more in-depth research in respect of each. We also tried to achieve a representative distribution of tales and themes. Nevertheless, it was inevitable that a greater number of legends about saints would be selected for the Catholic provinces of North Brabant and Limburg in the south, than for the Protestant north of the Netherlands. [5] All of the cases presented in this paper are derived from De Blécourt et al. (Citation2010). As this book has attempted to deal with the scholarly literature on the topic as comprehensively as possible, only recent or recently-discovered articles on the subject will be mentioned here. Fairytale theme parks such as De Efteling (Kaatsheuvel, North Brabant) and Sprookjeswonderland (Enkhuizen, North Holland) are disregarded in this paper, although on a level of tourism or commerce they are extremely important. In Verhalen van Stad en Streek, these fairytale theme parks are treated under “Kaatsheuvel” (see De Blécourt et al. Citation2010, 504–7). [6] Mapes Dodge had not been to the Netherlands at the time when she wrote the story, and her Dutch informants in the USA, the Scharff couple, would not have told her the story either. [7] A second and different statue of Hans Brinker was placed in the harbour of Harlingen in Friesland in 1962. In 2006, a statue was erected to Hans Brinker in The Hague, near the entrance of Madurodam, a miniature representation of the Netherlands aimed at tourists. Finally, in 2008, Hans Brinker appeared as a Dutch icon on a Delftware paintbrush by artist Hugo Kaagman in Zuiderzeemuseum, the Open Air Museum at Enkhuizen (North Holland). [8] Ashworth (Citation2009) shows three strategies for place-branding, one of these being “personality association,” as in the case of Reynard. [9] The English equivalent is: “Who will not keep a penny, never shall have many” (Cox Citation1988, 281). [10] VOC, “Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie,” the Dutch East Indies Company. [11] Perhaps it is fair to say that the Flying Dutchman is also a (somewhat atypical) hero in the second and third parts of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. [12] Some Dracula legends are, in one way or another, connected to the novel by Bram Stoker dating from 1897 (Stoker Citation1897), so they are of literary origin. Other Dracula stories are based, to some extent, on the historical Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431–1476). Romania and Transylvania have sought to avoid or reluctantly tolerate Dracula tourism in the past for fear of being perceived as becoming too closely associated with superstition and horror (see also Light Citation2007; Koman Citation2010). [13] This legendary figure is claimed for several places in the counties of Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, most prominently for Sherwood (Forest)/Nottingham, Loxley/Sheffield and Wakefield/Barnsdale. See the Index in Westwood and Simpson (Citation2005) under “Robin Hood,” and see Lyth (Citation2006) and Ashworth (Citation2009, 12). In the Netherlands, the journalist Reggie Naus is trying to stimulate the exploitation of the relatively unknown legends about a local robber named Jacobus van der Schlossen for Ravenstein (North Brabant), in order to make him as famous as Robin Hood. [14] The Dutch Wikipedia once proclaimed the haunted farm of Brummen as one of the six most famous paranormal places in the Netherlands, but this entry was subsequently deleted. Now there is a more neutral wiki page on hauntings that mentions the farm in a list of ten haunted houses; see http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spookhuis; INTERNET [accessed 28 October 2010]. [15] The Syrup Pot from Texel, for instance; see De Blécourt et al. (Citation2010, 364–5). [16] Rixt van ‘t Oerd from Ameland; see De Blécourt et al. (Citation2010, 67–9)

Archaeology · Art · Art history · Honour · Legend · Literature · Statue · Classics · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Philippine History and Culture · Social and Cultural Studies

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