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Winsum (The Netherlands)

Littenseradiel municipality, Fryslân province

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.shipmate.nl/flags.htm
adopted 1999; Design: Rudolf J. Broersma

Winsum village
Winsum CoA

See also:

Winsum village

Winsum is a village in Littenseradiel, in Fryslân province in the Netherlands, not to be confused with Winsum municipality in Groningen province.
At this webpage is a description of CoA and flag of the village. Winsum was formerly part of the (dissolved) municipality of
Baarderadeel, and on the flag the main colors of the former municipal flag have been retained in a diagonal division.
The red pole on the yellow field is a "polsstok", a pole used for jumping over ditches. In Winsum the first pole-jumping (fierljeppen) competitions were held in the 1950's. Red is a color of the new municipality of Littenseradiel.
The three white disks are "keatsballen", used in the game of "keatsen", in French named "jeu de paume", something like playing tennis with your bare hand as racket, and the ball as small as a golf-ball, white, filled with horse-hair (and very hard!).
The cog-wheel is for Miedema's firm of agricultural implements. <Solid stuff, my dad used to rely on his carts etc.>
The name of the village is the same in Frisian and Dutch.
Jarig Bakker, 23 Jul 2003

What you described was known as "jeu de paume" (in English real or royal tennis, the "paum" being the palm of the hand). The game was very popular, with regional variants, but is now nearly extincted. However, the name of the game has remained famous because of the "Salle du Jeu de Paume" in Versailles. During the 1789 General States, King Louis XVI prevented the Deputies of the Third Estate to gather in the "Salle des Menus-Plaisirs", where they had started to gather. The Deputies moved to the real tennis hall, where they swore on 20 June 1789 "not to leave the hall before having drafted a Constitution for France". The oath is known as the "Serment du Jeu de Paume", or, at school, as the "Serrement du Jus de Pomme" ("Pressure of Apple Juice").
Ivan Sache, 23 Jul 2003

Winsum CoA

from this webpage.