Eernewoude Flag Porcelain Thimble

The flag of Eernewoude

Eernewoude, in Frisian Earnewâld, lies in the municipality of Tietjerksteradeel. On 22 November 1984 the municipal council adopted an arms and a flag for the sixteen villages of the municipality. The design of the flag is by Piet Bultsma and was registered in 1984.

The layout is simple and strong: three horizontal bands in green, white and green, with a black double-headed eagle on the white in the middle. The eagle is taken from the arms the village has carried for centuries. The eagle is black rather than gold and stands on silver. The green bands represent the agricultural character of the village, but also refer to the wood in its name: Earnewâld is probably derived from earn, eagle, and wâld, wood. Eagles really did breed here in the past.

How the thimble is made

We apply the design to the porcelain ourselves. The thimble then goes into the ceramic kiln, where it is fired at 800 degrees. Because both the image and the firing are our own work, every flag produces a piece in its own right rather than a product from a single mould.

The village behind the flag

The village has just over four hundred inhabitants and was first mentioned in 1471, as Eerndwaud. Names such as Erendswolde, Erenwael and Eerenwolde followed. Since 1989 Earnewâld has been the official Frisian name. The village is known for its water, the surrounding canals and watersports.

The name is in fact a summary of the landscape: a wood with eagles. Exactly that story appears on the flag, in three colours and a single bird.

A shape from an old tradition

The thimble is one of the oldest sewing tools there are. It had to catch a needle travelling through thick thread, so it was made of metal, bone, ivory or porcelain. Here that tradition lives in the shape alone: the object has no task, but it does have the recognisability, the gloss and the weight of a genuinely made piece.

Collecting and gifting

Many Dutch villages have a flag of their own, so a collection is never quite complete. The thimble takes up very little room and fits into a row alongside other village flags, in a glass jar or on a display shelf.

As a gift it works straight away. Anyone who lives in Eernewoude or comes from there recognises the black eagle without explanation, and the object is small enough to fit in an envelope.