Emmeloord in the Noordoostpolder was dressed in Drenthe atmosphere. The Drenthe flag is proudly fluttering in top and nearby a group of pride is singing the Drenthe national anthem. They don’t just do that, this weekend the Drentse association ‘t Nije Landschap in Emmeloord is celebrating its 65th anniversary.
With quite a few fewer members than when they started at the time. Over the years, about 250 of the eight hundred members have left, and they have also become a lot older. Some have been members since the beginning, such as the hundred -year -old Mrs. Wilms. “You just went along at the time and that was very nice. The Neijaorsvisites were also very nice, then you saw each other again.”
Jantje Hepping also became a member in a similar way. “I became friends with someone who played a stage at the Drenthe association, then I had to come and I also became a member.” But she certainly doesn’t regret that. “You can also speak your own language, talk in Dutch and think it much more difficult.”
When the Noordoostpolder was drained, families moved to Flevoland from all over the Netherlands. But those people suffered from homesickness and that is why clubs were founded from where they came from. Chairman Roelof Jan Kruit remembers well. “In the 1950s you got a farm here, but if you come from the old country as we say, then you are strange. And your neighbor is a Brabander or a Zeeuw. You are looking for a piece of recognition. And that is why the Drentse Association was founded.
At that time there were few cars, and you couldn’t just go back to Drenthe to visit family and friends. Homesickness was lurking. “You still missed your background, your roots and your dialect,” says Kruit.
They don’t know how long the association will continue. Because the children and the grandchildren of the members of Drenthe do not have a binding Drenthe and do not become members. But it doesn’t matter to the people who do the party this weekend. Because you can get a Drent from Drenthe, but Drenthe not from the Drent. “They sometimes say what do you do, you’re a Flevolander?” Says chairman Kruit. “But my background is Drenthe, I will keep it until my last sob.”