Your Dutch Roots

The story behind the footage of my grandfather… 🤍
Last Tuesday, I shared that beautiful fragment from an 8mm film where I was dancing with my grandfather as a little girl. It was truly special to see how deeply that video resonated with so many of you…

Today, I would like to share the story behind those images with you.
In the photo, you can see my poetry album where it all started for me. On this page, my grandfather wrote a short poem for me in 1967:

“Be pure like the flowers of spring…”
Signed by
Grandpa van Vliet. 🤍
Around my hand, you can see the silver bracelet he gave me back then.
I still wear it, all these years later, with so much love.

He and this poetry album were part of the reason I started my own Your Dutch Roots poetry album!

Because family history is not just about names, dates, and old documents.
It lives on in the little things.
A handwritten poem. A photograph. An old piece of jewelry.
Memories that connect generations with one another.

This weekend, when you are visiting family, ask them about their stories. Take an old album off the shelf. Ask about the stories of the past.
Because those stories, these moments, are the little things that can mean so much later on. 🤍
Have a great weekend!
👣
Love,
Yvonne

Did you know? 🇳🇱
When Dutch people turn 50, they don't just celebrate a regular birthday — men 'become Abraham' and women 'become Sarah'! It's an old Dutch tradition, often celebrated by placing a large doll or figure outside the house.
Here in Twente, things are done just a little bit differently: the night before, a 'living Abraham or Sarah' surprises the birthday person — with Jägermeister for Abraham, or oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts) for Sarah! 🍩
Abraham also receives a jar of mustard. As the Dutch saying goes: now you know where Abraham gets his mustard from — an idiom for knowing exactly how things work 😉
My brother turned 50 this weekend, so of course… we dressed up as Abraham! 😄 And here's me, years ago, when I became Sarah myself!
Just another fun, quirky tradition that makes Dutch culture so unique.

What's a birthday tradition from your own heritage? 👇

Liefs, Yvonne


Click on the photo
👇

Did you know? 🇳🇱 When Dutch people turn 50, they don't just celebrate a regular birthday — men 'become Abraham' and women 'become Sarah'! It's an old Dutch tradition, often celebrated by placing a large doll or figure outside the house. Here in Twente, things are done just a little bit differently: the night before, a 'living Abraham or Sarah' surprises the birthday person — with Jägermeister for Abraham, or oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts) for Sarah! 🍩 Abraham also receives a jar of mustard. As the Dutch saying goes: now you know where Abraham gets his mustard from — an idiom for knowing exactly how things work 😉 My brother turned 50 this weekend, so of course… we dressed up as Abraham! 😄 And here's me, years ago, when I became Sarah myself! Just another fun, quirky tradition that makes Dutch culture so unique. What's a birthday tradition from your own heritage? 👇. Liefs, Yvonne #YourDutchRoots #DutchTraditions #Abraham50 #Sarah50

AI vs. REALITY

Technology is fun. I have always really liked technology.
🖥
I even asked AI to create a cartoon version of myself as a child. Not a bad result, right?

But… AI initially thought I was in a regular playground.
Of course, the computer doesn't understand that this was actually the stairs leading up to the cable car by the Euromast, around 1965.

AI doesn't know the stories behind this photo.
It knows nothing about the tram rides we took with my mother, or what the storage shed downstairs at our apartment in Kreekhuizen smelled like.

But I do know all of that. Naturally, through the stories my mother often told us, though I can still very clearly remember the smell—and definitely that exact moment—in the shed.
It was the very last moment before we left with the moving truck, heading towards Nijverdal.

Finding your true Dutch roots requires more than just a lucky guess from a computer.
For that, you need a real human being, a real person who knows where to look.
The right archive, the right address, but most importantly: the TRUE story behind the photo.
👣
Curious about the story behind your own old family archives?
Feel free to get in touch!


Yvonne