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Creil (The Netherlands)

Noordoostpolder, Flevoland province

image by Jarig Bakker, 16 Aug 2005
adopted: 1979; design: Jacco Wallinga & Stichting voor Heraldiek en Banistiek

Creil village
Creil village Coat of Arms

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Creil village

Creil is a village in the Noordoostpolder in Flevoland province. Stefan Lambrechts spotted the Creiler villageflag at this website.
The flag is based on the village arms. Designer: Jacco Wallinga, refined by the Stichting voor Heraldiek en Banistiek, date of adoption: 1979, the year in which Creil celebrated its 25 year of existence.

Info from Anton Jansen's "Vlaggen", no. 91 (1996): 1293:
The Creiler arms were designed by a youngster in 1978. the main element is a lozenge; it contains a red-white-blue half (Holland) with a half tree-of-life, and a blue-white-red half (Fryslân) (part of the polder of Creil was managed by Fryslân) with a half fleur-de-lis (a half "pompeblêd" (waterlilyleaf) would have been less recognisable). The top of the lozenge is surrounded by a golden ring, with two silver ploughshares. Below the lozenge is a silver anchor, as symbol of the sea-bed, now dry, to which Creil is "anchored".

The tree can also been seen as representing the famous "Creilerbos", a major bone of contention between Holland and Fryslân. This was not a forest but a band of marshy land, used by Frisians to hunt Hollanders and vice versa. Mr. Gale Iges Galama managed to catch Count Floris II (the Fat, 1091-1121) (or vice versa), while quarrelling over hunting rights. The Creilerbos was between Enkhuizen, Staveren and Texel. It disappeared in the 14th century in the Zuiderzee.

Stefan added info from an article in the Deventer Courant: a married couple in Creil took care that the Creiler flag was wappering every year at the occasion of the village-feast - but so far nobody noticed. This year was special, and the society for village-interests was wondering what happened to the legendary villageflag. They had a hunch that Mr. and Mrs. de Jong knew something - and they were right.

This will remain a mystery forever: Mr. Anton Jansen has been chasing Noordoostpolder villageflags in the late 1990's and thought he struck gold in Creil - but he didn't (he only uncovered the arms) - wily villagers probably hid the truth from the shrewd city-dweller. In plain Dutch: de hufters!
Jarig Bakker, 16 Aug 2005

Creil village Coat of Arms

image by Jarig Bakker, 16 Aug 2005
adopted: 1979; design: Jacco Wallinga & Stichting voor Heraldiek en Banistiek