For more than forty years, an Easter hump was constructed annually in Nieuw-Roden at the Poolswijk. But last year it was ignited for the last time. The land on which the Easter bump was made has been turned into building land and has become impassable. This puts a definitive end to the tradition in the village.
The Poolswijk neighborhood pulled the plug itself. “A very difficult choice,” explains chairman Janny Kuiper. It appears to be no longer feasible, both practically and financially. “The piece of land on which the bump was located belonged to a farmer. He sold the land some time ago, but until last year it was still grassland. It has since been turned into building land and is now mainly mud.”
The muddy surface causes major problems for the organization, because the terrain is now impassable, Kuiper explains. “We met a few times to discuss the question: ‘What should we do now?’ Then you would have to lay down a lot of road plates, but that costs a lot of money. We don’t have that.”
The fear is that cars will get stuck and have to be pulled out again. “There is also no more control during the week when people bring branches, because the former owner is moving. We are afraid that people will just throw the branches somewhere or that they will end up on the road.”
And so the board had only one conclusion: “This is simply not possible,” says Kuiper. “We think it is a great shame, a tradition of more than forty years.”
Moving the Easter bump to another location is also not possible. This has to do with the nitrogen crisis. In order to set fire to an Easter bump, organizers must be able to demonstrate that no nitrogen is deposited on nearby Natura 2000 areas.
To obtain an exemption from this legislation, the organization must be able to demonstrate that the Easter fire has been lit at the same location since 1994. And therein lies the crux: “It was still allowed where it was always held. But if we move to a new place, we have to make a new application and then it is no longer possible.”
Yet the decision is not entirely unexpected for them. “We kind of saw it coming when the farmer sold his land. But last year it was still grassland, but not anymore.”
Even if the mud puddle dries up before Easter, the board will stick to its decision, says Kuiper. “We can’t decide a week in advance to do it anyway, it’s quite an organization.”
After the community announced the decision, it was flooded with reactions. “There’s a lot involved. A lot of people think it’s a shame. It now appears to have meant a lot to Nieuw-Roden.”
Kuiper calls the fact that this tradition has finally come to an end in Nieuw-Roden a ‘bloodletting’. “There were always more than a thousand people coming, and the entire street was cordoned off. It was quite a large gathering. It makes me sad that so much is left behind.”
