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Fierljeppen: Pole Jumping Over Ditches in the Netherlands
| Article
# : |
11884 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1987 |
4,511 Words |
| Author
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Egge O. Huistra
Egge O. Huistra has been a journalist for some twenty-five
years. He is an expert on fierljeppen and is the secretary
and acting chairman of the Frysk Ljeppers Boun. |
Ljep net fierder as dyn pols lang is translates literally as "Do not jump further than you jumping pole is long"; or, comparably, "Cut your coat according to your cloth." This well-known Frisian proverb expresses a wisdom, that the Frisians, living in the northernmost Netherlands province of Friesland, completely endorse. However, when it comes to the art of pole jumping over the ditches, they literally ignore the age-old and proven folk wisdom of the Dutch. They call it by its Frisian name fierljeppen, and although difficult to pronounce, it is by this term that the folk sport of pole jumping is becoming known the world over. With their jumping poles, which are 33 to 36 feet long, trained athletes easily reach distances of about 50 feet. The Frisian record is just less than 61 feet.
A country partly below sea level, the Netherlands is general and Friesland is particular, is a land of many ditches, canals, and lakes, which are characteristic elements of the Frisian landscape. In earlier times, specially engineered roads were rare in the swamp, reed fen, and mound area. To reach other groups of people, one had to use the jumping pole. It is no surprise that conquering ditches and canals has become ingrained in the Frisian character. The jumping pole was and remains an indispensable part of life.
In the course of history, a large assortment of games developed in which the jumping pole was the central element. Still every spring, when the days grow longer and the sun seems to linger on forever, young people, with poles on their shoulders, move out into the meadows en masse. Nienke van Hichtum, a famous writer of Frisian descent, mentioned this in her best-known novel Afke's Tiental, which was published in 1924 and appeared on the
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