Page 13 - HOH

A8 LOCAL
Wednesday 8 OctOber 2025

Cas Floria: The Decorated Houses of Aruba

He also had his own cre-
ations and systems, while
Leoncio and Bonifacio Hen-
ricus produced their own
fantasies. This is what made
these decorations popular:
many people could turn
their imagination into expres-
sive art.

(Oranjestad)—There may However, the decoration said, he learned this from his It was also said that these
be as many as 200 to 300 Leoncio (Joonchi) Henricus of houses was not originally grandfather, who in earlier designs had a certain kind
houses in Aruba that have of Pos Chikito learned the Janchi Christiaans’s idea. times had built the first light- of voodoo purpose, to keep
beautiful decorations, in- work from Janchi Christiaans Janchi was a disciple of his house at California Point. away the spirits of the Indig-
cluding curtains, stars, flow- and, together with his son father, Hose Christiaans, and enous people who were bur-
ers, half-moons, etc., placed Bonifacio (Bonny) Henricus, of the Donati family, from After comparing his informa- ied in the neighborhoods
on the corners or the upper continued decorating hous- Italian ancestors. They also tion, Ito Tromp wrote that where the houses now stand.
parts of the house. es in Pos Chikito and Sabana made these decorations, Hartog was right concerning However, this has almost
Basora. though without using any the period when decorated completely disappeared.
These houses can be found patterns, simply designing houses began in Aruba in
everywhere, in nearly every Janchi Christiaans, Goy and applying them with 1820. However, it was not As for the continuation of
district of Aruba. People Semeleer, and others from common plaster as the ma- people from Curaçao who these designs from family to
always thought that these Noord, such as Hilario Chris- terial. started it. Victor Tromp, who family, this is a cultural heri-
designs came from an In- tiaans, Victor Tromp, Ge- Using Dr. Johan Hartog’s Aru- was 87 years old at the time tage that is no longer estab-
digenous culture; possibly, rardo Jacobs, and Corne- ba, Breve Historia as refer- of writing, was a member of lished. For this reason, in ear-
the star design resembled lis Rosa, brought the same ence, I noticed that he also Janchi Wolff’s family. lier times, every young man
the way it was shown, similar decoration to houses in writes that these designs are who married had to have his
to the “God Sun” of the In- Noord and Paradera. In not Indigenous symbols, but Julio Maduro said that in own house; otherwise, there
digenous people. However, 1927, Janchi Christiaans built only decorative fantasies. 1920 they began again would be no marriage.
the history of this decorative a house for Julian Tromp in One point of disagreement with this type of decoration.
system does not go very far Buguruy. is that he wrote that in 1820 In general, there is no spe- The designs were created
back in time. someone from Curaçao be- cific year (up to now) when according to the individual’s
In his book Millefiori di Aruba, This was the first house in gan this type of decoration Arubans first began with this imagination. If he saw, for ex-
Father Nooyen declares that Noord to receive this type in Aruba. decorative artistic expres- ample, six pairs of birds on a
the first house to receive this of decoration. Later, those sion. It is interesting to know tree, he would then paint six
type of decoration was the in Paradera, Santa Cruz, and This means that, according that these decorations are pairs of birds on a tree. If he
home of Mr. Bernardo Eman Savaneta copied the house to Father Nooyen, who de- a kind of symbol for several wanted to express his love
Croes in Pos Chikito. Julien decorations. They practiced clared that it began in 1920, generations. for his twin children, then he
(Janchi) Christiaans and these systems up until 1944. it would have actually start- designed a twin.
Gregorio (Goy) Semeleer ed 100 years earlier. As part For example: Decorations
built this house in 1920 and Even today, the patterns are of his research, Ito Tromp that appear on the house of Nowadays, if you want to
created the decorations well preserved and protect- also interviewed Mr. Julio the Arends family could also use these designs for your
on the upper corners of the ed, but they are no longer Maduro of the Department be seen on the houses of the house, don’t worry—you can
house. Other people in Pos used. of Labor at that time, who Bermudez or Croes families. simply copy them and paint
Chikito, who saw this beau- told him that around 1880 This was because parents al- them.q
tiful work, also wanted their Janchi Christiaans began Johannes (Janchi) Wolff ways gave a specific sign to
houses decorated in the cutting the patterns out of began with house decora- their sons or daughters when Source: E casnan Decora na
same way. zinc plates and cardboard. tions. And as Janchi himself they were getting married. Aruba (1976) by Ito Tromp
Important PSA regarding fake ED-cards online

(Oranjestad)—We recently tribution for the improvement, attention that many visitors are ence on the island, so we high-
have been made aware that updating and maintenance of falling for scams online, where ly advise to be aware of these
visitors are still being scammed the waste water plant, RWZI. they are presented with varios scams. ‘Arubaedcard.nl’ and
out of their dozens or even hun- fraudulent websites that sell the ‘embarkation-aruba.com’ are
dreds of dollar for an ED-card. This fee is paid once every year ED-card (sometimes looking among the many fraudulent
and is exclusively available identical to the official web- websites still in operation, sell-
In July 2024, the Aruban govern- through the official website site). ing fake ED-cards at exorbitant
ment implemented a sustain- www.edcardaruba.aw. and inconsistent prices. If you
ability fee for all visitors of the is- The Aruba Today team cares notice a fake website, please
land, which include a $20 con- However, it has come to our deeply for every visitor’s experi- report this to authorities. q