“Christmas can't start if we haven't been here.” With these words, mayor Arco Hofland van Rijssen-Holten made it clear how much the evening of lights at the Canadian Cemetery near Holten has become.

Around a thousand visitors saw how students Finn Klein Velderman from Holten and Erik de Wilde from Haskerhorne, together with mayor Hofland, placed the first reminder at Gaele Visser's grave.

Country of birth

Born in Haskerhorne (Friesland), this young man immigrated to Canada with his parents in the 1930s and returned to Europe during the Second World War. To liberate his homeland. He died a few weeks before Germany's surrender.

After Finn and Erik had placed the first light under the watchful eyes of the approximately thousand attendees, other students also provided the other 1393 graves with a memorial candle.

Tradition

In 1991, the light evening was held for the first time in Holten. It is a tradition that came from Finland and is now also being held in the Canadian fields of Bergen op Zoom and Groesbeek.

Marc Fraser, chairman of the Holten National Holiday Celebration, said it aptly: “The light of the candle illuminates the name of each soldier. That's how we keep the thought of them alive.”

Pictures: www.canadesebegraafplaatsholten.nl//en/christmas-eve 2019

Article source: www.destentor.nl/rijssen-holten/candles-illuminate-the-namen-on-the-1394-graves of the Canadian cemetery-in-holten

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