This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website
Aalsmeer (The Netherlands)
Noord-Holland province
Last modified: 2003-05-10 by jarig bakker
Keywords: aalsmeer | raspberry | eal |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.shipmate.nl/flags.htm
See also:
Municipal flag
Aalsmeer in Noordholland is rather famous because of its flower-auctions,
from where tulips and hyacinths are sent all over the world in no time,
because of the close vicinity of Schiphol Airport.
It had (1 Jan 1999) 22.540 inhabitants on 21.88 ha., and consisted
of Aalsmeer (seat), Kalslagen, Kudelstaart, Oosteinde, and Vrouwentroost.
Ever since its foundation Aalsmeer had to struggle with the "waterwolf",
mainly the big Haarlemmermeer; after that inland lake had been made into
a "polder", Aalsmeer could develop into the thriving community it is now.
This struggle is more or less symbolized in the municipal arms: a red
lion on a blue field, holding an eal. The eal (Dutch: aal) makes the CoA
canting, but the slippery nature of that fish symbolizes also the often
apparent fruitless struggle against the water. The lion is of course the
Holland lion. The CoA was granted 26 June 1816.
The flag was adopted on 7 April 1976, and is described by Sierksma's
Nederlands Vlaggenboek [sie62):
"Three equally wide horizontal stripes of red, green, and black.
This flag is not official, but is used widely. It is a rather old flag,
as can be gathered from the explanation of the colors. These are related
to the cultivation of raspberries, a very popular product in Aalsmeer in
the 19th century, but now discontinued. Red symbolizes the raspberry itself,
the green its leaves and plant, and black to roots and earth.
There is no connection between flag and CoA."
Jarig Bakker, 7 May 2003
Aalsmeer CoA
image from this website.