Sexbierum

Sexbierum
Village
Country Netherlands Netherlands
Province Friesland Friesland
Population
 • Total c. 1,800

Sexbierum (West Frisian: Seisbierrum) is a village in the municipality of Franekeradeel, in the central north of the Netherlands. The village is famous for its contraction of the words "Sex", "Bier" (the Dutch word for beer) and "Rum". Because of this, the traffic sign of the village is subject to street sign theft.

Sexbierum is located in the province of Friesland and located about 7 kilometres north-east of Harlingen, about 7 kilometres north-west of Franeker. Distance to Amsterdam is about 100 kilometres.

In the Frisian language the village is called Seisbierrum. The village consists of approximately 600 houses and 1799 inhabitants, including the twin village of Pietersbierum.

History

In history the town is mentioned as Sixtebeeren (1322), or Sixtusbarra. The name Sixtebeeren is thought to derive from a combination of the name of the pope Sixtus II and the Old Frisian word for house, barra.

Seventeenth century admiral Tjerk Hiddes de Vries was born in the village.

There was a station on the North Friesland Railway which opened in 1903 and closed to passengers in May 1935. Final closure took place in December 1961.

In the late sixties of the 20th century, Sexbierum and the adjoining village of Pietersbierum merged.

Culture

Frisian is the main language in Sexbierum, but the Dutch language has an increasing influence. Circa 1972 the primary schools in Sexbierum switched to Dutch as the main teaching language, instead of Frisian. Before 1972 the only lessons taught in Dutch were the Dutch language lessons.

Sexbierum has three major religious groups: about 1/3 are non-religious, about 1/3 are Nederlands Hervormd and about 1/3 are Gereformeerd. Even though the latter two churches merged in 2004, this still plays some role in day-to-day society. Some of the clubs and foundations stipulate in their statutes that the representative-background must be according to this division (see also Pillarisation).

Gallery

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sexbierum.

Coordinates: 53°13′N 5°29′E / 53.217°N 5.483°E / 53.217; 5.483

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, January 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.