Of 'Turks' and Tea. Churchyard, Zuiderwoude, Waterland, The Netherlands
Halfway yesterday through my hike from Monnickendam to Broek in Waterland I came to the utterly quiet, little town of Zuiderwoude, picturesquely situated on the northeast shore of the small Kerk Ae, in fact a widened river. I'd meant to have some tea here, but found no such establishment catering to my desires or indeed to any.
Later I learned that town notable, Abraham Groenewoud (1690-1762), at some point a physician at Broek in Waterland just up the road, also wrote doggerel. One of his pieces is entitled De verloore diamantring, of De verkwistende theedrinkster (='The lost diamond ring, or The squandering teadrinker') (1719). It's a pretty dreadful play of 25 (!) short acts in rhyme berating the then just fashionable ritual of ladies' tea-drinking. One of their salon spilled so much money to indulge that she's had secretly to sell her diamond wedding ring to make good. Of course in the end all is righted and husband and wife are reunited, on her promise never again to pour tea. I myself wouldn't have given up a ring... but I was quite thirsty after my walk; thanks for bottled water.
Sleepy though it is today, Zuiderwoude in the seventeenth and early eighteenth century was prosperous through shipping. Ships with masters from the town plied the Baltic, to Surinam and the eastern Mediterranean. From the latter exploits its inhabitants are said to have been given the nickname of 'Turks'. Amsterdam in due course took over this economy and that of other towns of Waterland relegating them to rural slumber until the advent here of the modern tourist industry during Summer.
The present-day church (1870s) is built on the site of the eleventh-century chapel which was dedicated to St Catharine of Alexandria. The view from the churchyard is of the northern Kerk Ae. Look carefully at the headstones and you will note the peace of dairy farming.
Of 'Turks' and Tea. Churchyard, Zuiderwoude, Waterland, The Netherlands
Halfway yesterday through my hike from Monnickendam to Broek in Waterland I came to the utterly quiet, little town of Zuiderwoude, picturesquely situated on the northeast shore of the small Kerk Ae, in fact a widened river. I'd meant to have some tea here, but found no such establishment catering to my desires or indeed to any.
Later I learned that town notable, Abraham Groenewoud (1690-1762), at some point a physician at Broek in Waterland just up the road, also wrote doggerel. One of his pieces is entitled De verloore diamantring, of De verkwistende theedrinkster (='The lost diamond ring, or The squandering teadrinker') (1719). It's a pretty dreadful play of 25 (!) short acts in rhyme berating the then just fashionable ritual of ladies' tea-drinking. One of their salon spilled so much money to indulge that she's had secretly to sell her diamond wedding ring to make good. Of course in the end all is righted and husband and wife are reunited, on her promise never again to pour tea. I myself wouldn't have given up a ring... but I was quite thirsty after my walk; thanks for bottled water.
Sleepy though it is today, Zuiderwoude in the seventeenth and early eighteenth century was prosperous through shipping. Ships with masters from the town plied the Baltic, to Surinam and the eastern Mediterranean. From the latter exploits its inhabitants are said to have been given the nickname of 'Turks'. Amsterdam in due course took over this economy and that of other towns of Waterland relegating them to rural slumber until the advent here of the modern tourist industry during Summer.
The present-day church (1870s) is built on the site of the eleventh-century chapel which was dedicated to St Catharine of Alexandria. The view from the churchyard is of the northern Kerk Ae. Look carefully at the headstones and you will note the peace of dairy farming.