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Parrega (The Netherlands)

Wûnseradiel municipality, Fryslân province

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net
adopted 19 Apr 1955; design: Kl. Sierksma

Parrega village
Parrega Coat of Arms

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Parrega village

Parrega (Frisian: Parregea) had (1958) 658; (1974) 482 inhabitants. It is long village along the canal Bolsward-Workum, with the hamlets Angtrep, Zuidend, and Indijk. It is known for cattlebreeding; formerly fishing was going on in the former Parregaaster- and Workumermeer (made dry 1876-1879). The resulting Parregaaster polder is 2 meters below sealevel.
Nickname: "Marbotten" (lakeflounders), "Moddergatten" (mudholes), "Modderkluten" (mudclumps) - referring to the old fishing practices and the bad habit of Parregeasters of agriculture to make a living (in this mainly grassy region).
Parrega Coat of Arms: per fess 1. the Frisian eagle, black on gold; 2. black charged with three silver fishes with red fins, placed on top of each other.
In this village is on the church-choir a wheathervane charged with the village-arms. That is with the Frisian half-eagle (put wrongly on the shield) and three fishes on to of each other. The fishes symbolize the old fishing on the Parregaastermeer. The Frisian half-eagle occurs frequently in Fryslân, such as on the Workumer Coat of Arms, which may explain the occurence on the arms of nearby Parrega. The colors are unknown, but have been derived form the arms. The three waterlilyleaves ("pompebledden") represent the old lakes made dry. The clovers point at the cattlebreeding, which nowadays is the most important livelyhood.
Coat of Arms and flag can also be admired at this website.
Source: "It Beaken", Magazine of the Frisian Academy, Dec 1969.
Encyclopedie van Friesland 1958.
Groot Schimpnamenboek van Nederland, by Dirk van der Heide, 1998.
Jarig Bakker, 28 Sep 2003

Parrega Coat of Arms

from "It Beaken", Magazine of the Frisian Academy, Dec 1969.