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Twijzel (The Netherlands)

Achtkarspelen municipality, Fryslân province

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net
adopted 1998; design: Mr. J.C. Terluin of Beetsterzwaag.

Twijzel village
Twijzel Coat of Arms

See also:

Twijzel village

Twijzel / Twizel (1089 inh) - Its old name was Optwizel, meaning: at the junction. The road from Groningen to Leeuwarden runs through the village and forks with the old road from Groningen to Drachten. This fork is symbolized in the flag. The Coat of Arms has a nice rendition of the most useful FOTW-animal.
The gaff is black, because the old roads were nearly always black by mud, while modern roads are black because of asphalt. The ywlloe color points at the sandy soil. On high grounds was agricultural land, mostly west of the road, where formerly rye was grown. In the dexter part of the Coat of Arms is therefore an oar of rye. East of the road most of the ground was meadow-land, wherefore on the sinister part of the arms a green clover-leaf is depicted.
In Twijzel were formerly two mills: a "pelmolen" for buckwheat, and a rye-mill. To remind of that a grain of buckwheat has been put in the top triangle. The Twijzelaars were formerly nicknamed "wezelingen", and this is represented on the red heartshield in the center of the Coat of Arms Red for the village itself, the silver weasel for the inhabitants. The colors red and silver/white are derived from the Achtkarspelen Coat of Arms. The flag is a color-representation of the ar,s, in which the gaff is the main symbol.
Source: Wapens en vlaggen in de gemeente Achtkarspelen, Buitenpost 1999.

Whow!! This flag is almost exactly the same as the South African national flag, apart from the different colourscheme. I would love to know who the designer of this flag was and which of the two flags saw the light of day first.
André van de Loo, 9 May 2003

The arms and the flag for Twijzel were designed in 1998 by Mr. J.C. Terluin of Beetsterzwaag. The flag is based on the arms and it is per chance that it resembles the flag of South Africa. The designer did not have the South African flag in mind when he drew the flag for Twijzel. Only when the design was discussed by the Fryske Rie foar Heraldyk (Frisian Heraldic Council) was the resemblance mentioned. Because the flag of Twijzel deviates sufficiently from the South African flag, the Council did not feel that there was sufficient reason to necessitate a change in design.
Rudolf J. Broersma, designer Fryske Rie foar Heraldyk, 12 May 2003

Twijzel Coat of Arms

from the Achtkarspelen municipal website.