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Beetsterzwaag (The Netherlands)

Opsterland municipality, Fryslân province

image by Jarig Bakker, 14 Sep 2003
design: Mr. Jelle Terluin.

Beetsterzwaag village
Beetsterzwaag coat of arms

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Beetsterzwaag village

Beetsterzwaag (Frisian: Beetstersweach or De Sweach) is the seat of the municipality of Opsterland, Fryslân province. Population (1958): 1468; (1974): 2759. It is Fryslân's answer to Palm Springs, Versailles, and such posh places. Near Beetsterzwaag is the great hotel Lauswold with the only golf links in Fryslân (but you have to prove that an ancestor of yours was fighting in Damiate when we clobbered the Saracenes during one of the Crusades). For the rest it is a little sleepy place, where my uncle and now my cousin was guarding the lush forests.
Nickname: "Bôllen" (loafs), "Bôllefretters" (breadeaters), "Boltsjekappers" (roll-cutters) - all symbolizing that they could eat bread, a privilege in the 19th century for the well-to-do (poor people had to do with "brea" (rye-bread).
Beetsterzwaag coat of arms: per chevron 1. in blue a golden, red lined ancient crown of seven points, with below two golden clovers; II. in gold a green tree on a green base, and at the height of the stem with two red acorns.
Flag: a hoist of blue and yellow; on blue a yellow red lined ancient crown of seven points, and below it a yellow clover; a fly of yellow and red.
In 1975 Beetsterzwaag got its coat of arms and flag. Originally the name of the village was "Bextersuach" (say: Beeksterzwaag) - the beek (brook) was the "Ouddiep", also named Koningsdiep, which was one of the "royal streams", open for everybody. The color of the top of the coat of arms is blue, symbolizing that water, and the crown is of the K(on)ing, who granted that privilege to all.
A "zwaag" is a meadow, and the clovers symbolize meadows.
The chevron refers to the position of the village on a low sand ridge.
The tree symbolizes the law administered here (first in Beets, laterr in Beetsterzwaag), while the acorns refer to the forests around Beetsterzwaag.
Design: J.C. Terluin (living in Beetsterzwaag)
Source: Genealogysk Jierboekje 1976.
De Woudklank (local newspaper) 9 Jul 1998.
Encyclopedie van Friesland, 1958.
Groot Schimpnamenboek van Nederland, by Dirk van der Heide, 1998.
Jarig Bakker, 14 Sep 2003

Beetsterzwaag coat of arms

from De Woudklank (local newspaper) 9 Jul 1998.