Archive for January, 2011
Literacy: from luxury to everyday commodity
Friday, January 21st, 2011
Hurray, for mister Van Houten!
by Elias Spanier, 1874
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
Today, we almost take it for granted that we can send our kids to school at no cost at all. To be precise, we must send them to school: education is mandatory for children between 6 and 17 according to Dutch law. Home teaching is not allowed, and keeping your child at home for trivial reasons as an extra holiday can result in serious fines for the parents. It’s clear that education is taken very seriously in the Netherlands. However, it has not always been like that. For many of our ancestors, learning to read and write was a luxury far beyond their reach…
Middle Ages
Up until the late 1500s education was a rich man’s thing. Among the nobility it was customary to educate the firstborn son as the successor of his father. Private teachers would educate him in the art of reading, writing and calculating (all needed to run the estate he was to inherit) and politics, discussion and noble manners (needed to deal with political intrigues and acquiring a strategically chosen spouse). The second son would receive a decent military training, also given by private teachers. The third and other sons could opt to go into a monastery in order to get a proper education, which involved a generous donation to the monestary by their dad.
Daughters would be trained in music, dancing, reading and writing in order to become suitable spouses for financially interesting noblemen. Becoming a nun was a popular way to escape being married off and dedicate a life to science and art.
Ordinary people usually did not master reading and writing. They did not have much need for it either. Books were scarce and in everyday life it served no practical purpose. Youths would simply learn a craft by starting to work as young as possible. Fathers would teach their sons their own craft or send them of to be taught by a master craftsman. Daughters would be trained at home by their mothers to become mothers and housekeepers themselves. For both, calculation (by head) was a far more important skill to master than reading or writing. After all, that was a skill you needed to make money and spend it wisely.
“Noaberschap” or the value of good neighbors
Monday, January 10th, 2011
Dutch dirt road, by Meindert Hobbema, 1665.
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
When our first son was born, the neighbors treated us to a huge stork, balloons and other baby decorations that they put up in our garden as a surprise. A week later, all the ladies came to see the little guy at an event specific to the Twente region, called “kroamschudden”, which is pretty much like a baby shower. Since I am not from this part of the country, all this was new to me. Later I learned that this tradition is a remnant of what is called “noaberschap”.
“Noaberschap” was used to refer to a tight community of neighbors, mostly in rural areas. The members of such a community were called “naobers” and they all shared a community commitment called “noaberplicht” (neighbor duty). This “noaberplicht” obliged you to help other members of the community when they were in need. “Noabers” would help out at births, weddings and deaths, for example. They would report a death or a birth to the authorities, arrange festivities for the married couple, take care of each others’ home when someone had to leave town for a while, etcetera.
Living in a community did not automatically make you a member of the “naoberschap”. Once settled in their home, newcomers were expected to invite all neighbors they could see from their home and offer them to become mutual “noabers”. This offer could be accepted or rejected, for example if it was clear that you could not get along or because somebody already had accepted too many “noabers” to realistically be able to comply to the duties.
The person living closest to you usually became your most important “noaber”, and was therefore called “noaste noaber”. This would be your first contact in times of need. They would watch your home when you were not around, report your child’s birth to the authorities, make arrangements for funerals, etcetera. And you of course, would do the same thing for them.
Moving town did not relief you of your “noaber” duties if you did not explicitly terminate the agreement with all of your “noabers”. Some people kept their “noabers” even from far away, not so much out of practical reasons but because of the symbolic value of it. After all, a “noaber” was one of the few persons that you could rely on and often they became very close friends.
Today, “noaberschap” is rare and only occurs in remote towns of the northeastern parts of the Netherlands. However, in the 1700s and 1800s it was very common in these rural areas. This is not surprising when considering the deplorable state of the roads at that time and the lack of social security offered by the government.
Up until the 1850s the Netherlands’ only roads were dirt roads. Much of the country lies below sea level or was occupied by large swamps. Once the wet weather would set in (usually from September until March), most roads became useless. The western part of the country relied heavily on towing barges in the wet months, as long as the canals were not frozen. The northern and eastern part of the country, however, did not have a network of towing barges. As a result, most villages were cut off from other towns in the wet months. During that time, the communities had to rely primarily on themselves. “Noaberschap” was an excellent way to ensure that the poor, the elderly, the sick and anyone else in distress was properly looked after in a time when the government offered little to no help.
Sometimes, you can see traces of “noaberschap” on Dutch vital records. When you come across a birth or death reported to somebody other than a close relative, chances are they were a “noaber”…
