Throughout the province we are working hard to build Easter humps. Dozens of hills will go up in flames next week during the Easter weekend. But organizing this Easter tradition is proving to be an increasingly challenging task.
“Arranging an Easter fire is not that difficult,” says Barry Gepken, organizer of the Easter fire at Erica. “People do bring branches. But the laws and regulations are becoming increasingly difficult.” An exemption is required, a nitrogen calculation and recently also an environmental permit. That costs a lot of time and money for the organizers.
It is therefore becoming increasingly difficult to find a location where you can comply with all the rules that are imposed. “We have been doing this for over ten years now and are really committed to maintaining the Easter fire tradition,” says Gepken. “But when I see what has changed in those ten years, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a place.”
They were all too aware of this regulatory pressure in Nieuw-Roden. They had to move from their original location because that site was sold. The organization did not want to look for a new location. “Then you have to submit a new application and with those new rules that wouldn’t work anyway,” explains Janny Kuiper of the Poolswijk Buurtschap. After forty years, the tradition in the village comes to an end.
In the municipality of Noordenveld, where Nieuw-Roden is located, the number of Easter fires has halved in the past ten years. In other municipalities it remains stable, but tradition is under pressure. For example, new places may not be designated in several municipalities.
Yet Barry Gepken looks optimistically at the future of the tradition. “I’m not afraid. This tradition is so deeply ingrained in people. And I also think this is too important to let it be lost.”
