Mindful of our military contribution

By Wendy Elliott

The Advertiser/NovaNewsNow.com

Editor’s note: On special assignment to The Advertiser Wolfville residents Liz Kosters and Dick Groot visited the Holten War Cemetery in the Netherlands Dec. 24 and Groot took photos.

Holten Military Cemetery sits in the middle of Dutch farmland. Over 1,300 of the 1,394 war dead buried there are Canadians who died during the last stages of the Second World War.

The Dutch are very mindful of the contribution of the Canadian military, but Holten is the only community that visits the cemetery on Christmas Eve.

The tradition of lighting candles at each grave dates back about 15 years, Kosters discovered. “There was a Dutch lady, Leena ten Dam, who was born in Finland where on Christmas Eve they burn candles on graves, and she thought this was a fitting thing to do for those who rest here.”

The candles are designed especially for the occasion, Kosters learned. “They burn (some of them as long as 48 hours) inside a glass and with a ‘lid’ with holes in the side to keep out the rain. Children from Grades 5 and 6 from all the schools in Holten participate in the event.”

The cemetery is located in one of those rare wooded, quite rural and deserted parts of the Netherlands. “We took the train from Amsterdam. The railroad station at Holten is very idyllic, I’ve always thought it’s probably the prettiest rail road stop in the country. “From the tiny station, one walks uphill for about half an hour from the fields into the woods. Originally laid out on a bare hill, but it is now totally in the woods, Kosters said. “We got to the cemetery by about 4 p.m. It was still light, although it was one of those typical Dutch overcast days. People were assembling and there were lots of kids. We estimated there were about 1,000 people. “I think the Canadian Ambassador was there and one or two Canadian military and Legion representatives. An occasional Dutch military person, the rest were mostly families and we guessed they were mostly the families of the kids who participate. We didn’t hear any English.”

Bagpipers in battle dress

There were three bagpipers in Second World War battle dress. “A woman, in her 50s, spoke briefly. It was a very good speech. She alternated between Dutch and English and at a certain point said that she wanted to address just the children, and therefore would speak just in Dutch. “She reminded all of us that this is a piece of Canadian soil, that this is a place of rest for those who cannot rest in their home country and who died for our freedom. Then she spoke about Christmas being the feast of light and peace and she briefly talked about the meaning of this in the face of war and death. She concluded that peace really wasn’t a noun, but a verb conveying commitment, hard work, trust and sacrifice. “Then she told us that this past summer, a Canadian veteran came to Holten with his daughter. The daughter is a teacher on a Cree reserve in northern Alberta. They visited the grave of his brother, her uncle. It was their first visit ever.

When the daughter heard that Dutch school children place candles on the graves of Canadian soldiers on Christmas Eve, she decided Canadian school children could help.” Upon her return to Alberta, she set to work with her

class to decorate 12 candles and sent them to Holten. They were shipped from Alberta Nov. 9, but had not arrived.

The organizing committee decided to do something anyway. A special candle in a lantern set on the commemorative cross was lit on behalf of the Cree children. After this was done, all children were invited to place the candles. “All candles had been burning since we got there; they stood in clusters at the beginning of each row of graves,” Kosters added.

Amazing, and very moving

While the speeches took place, it had gotten totally dark and, as the kids started placing the candles at each grave, the light slowly spread across the cemetery from the center to the edges. It was amazing and very moving.

The bagpipes played and so did two ‘midwinterhoorns.’ A mid winter horn is very long wooden horn, traditional to this region, it only has about four notes. The horns called and answered each other across the cemetery. “All together we weren’t there more than an hour.

There were no national anthems or prayers. Then we walked back to the station through the pitch-dark forest. It was very special and a really good way to spend Christmas eve.”

Johann Plantinga, who is the principal of one of the schools in Holten, said in a recent e-mail, “planning is already underway to see what can we do better next year.”

Plantinga said the schoolchildren carefully put candles on each grave. With the complete darkness in the tranquility of the forest around the cemetery, the tunes of the medieval horns and the lonely piper sounding through the night, he stated, all the spectators leave filled with emotion.

The website of the Holten cemetery is: http://home.planet.nl/~heike/.