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Nijega (The Netherlands)

Fryslân province

image by Jarig Bakker, 21 Sep 2003
Design: J.C. Terluin.

Nijega village
Nijega coat of arms

See also:

Nijega village

Nijega (Frisian: Nijegea) is a village in Smallingerland municipality, Fryslân province. Population (1958) 593; (1974) 497. Here a blue stone was found with glacier-scratches, to which some local folklore is connected.
Nickname: "ligers" (liars).
Coat of arms: quartered I and IV black; II and III green, over all; a golden cross, charged with a shortened red cross; the golden cross in the first quarter with a golden eight-pointed star and in the second quarter with a golden eradicated oak tree.
Flag: quartered of black and green; over all a yellow cross with 1/5 flag height. The yellow cross charged with a shortened red cross with 1/50 flag height and a total height and width of 1/5 flag height; in the canton a yellow eight-pointed star.
The Coat of Arms of Nijega is based on its geographical location. The cross shows the roads, and is golden to symbolize the sandy soils. The small cross symbolize how the soil was formerly used: black for peat and green for meadows. The shortened red cross symbolizes buildings, and the church on the junction at the "Nijegeasterhoeke". The eight-pointed star refers to old hamlets: Eibertsgeasten, Stienkampen, de Nijegeaster Fennen, de Hege Wei, de Wieren, de Westerein, and de Tike.
The oak tree refers to the old forests here, and also to the region known as the Frisian Woods, where it is located.
The flag is a simplification of the arms.
Design: J.C. Terluin.
Source: Genealogysk Jierboekje, 2002.
Encyclopedie van het Hedendaagse Frieland, c. 1978.
Jarig Bakker, 21 Sep 2003

I do not understand Dutch or Frisian. Will you please list the eight hamlets again?
John Ayer, 20 Sep 2003

Eibertsgeasten (Storkghosts), Stienkampen (Stonecamps), de Nijegeaster Fennen (Niegeaster Fens), de Hege Wei (the High Road), de Wieren (the Mounds), de Westerein (the Westend), and de Tike (the Tick).
(translating errors possible).
In this village a special dialect is spoken, the "Heidtsjers" (heather-language): de *ij* is pronounced as *e*, and *ei* as long *a*,
some linguists surmise that "Ni-egeasters" is closely related to the Medieval language spoken by the Knights Who Say Ni...
Jarig Bakker, 21 Sep 2003

Nijega coat of arms

by Jarig Bakker, 21 Sep 2003