How important is the Frisian flag to the residents of Friesland? What emotions does the Frisian flag evoke? Groningen student Edo Pot is researching how strongly Frisians respond to their provincial symbol.
Translation by Hans de Preter
According to the Leeuwarder Courant, Edo Pot (23) from Groningen is doing the research as part of his master’s thesis in cultural geography. Pot was born in Amsterdam and has lived in Groningen since he was six, but he says that he has always had fascination for flags.
“I noticed that you often see the Frisian flag flying in Friesland, so I wondered: what do the Frisians actually think of it? Do they feel connected to the flag? Does it have meaning for the Frisians, or do they just see it as a piece of fabric?”
Campus Fryslân
Pot is studying at the University of Groningen (RUG), but is following his master’s degree at Campus Fryslân in Leeuwarden and attending lectures in the Tresoar building. As part of his research, he has developed a questionnaire to try and get to the root of how locals feel about their provincial symbol.
The questionnaire gets a little bit into the symbolism of the flag – the seven lilypads (pompeblêden) which refer to the seven Frisian Sea countries – “But those facts say nothing about the feeling that people have with it. That is what I want to figure out.”
