Page 12 - AHATA

A9
LOCAL Wednesday 24 september 2025

Cas Floria: The Decorated Houses of Aruba

(Oranjestad)—There may
be as many as 200 to 300
houses in Aruba that have
beautiful decorations, in- Julio Maduro of the Depart-
cluding curtains, stars, ment of Labor at that time,
flowers, half-moons, etc., who told him that around
placed on the corners 1880 Johannes (Janchi)
or the upper parts of the Wolff began with house
house. decorations. And as Janchi
himself said, he learned this
These houses can be found from his grandfather, who
everywhere, in nearly every in earlier times had built the
district of Aruba. People first lighthouse at California
always thought that these Point. designs had a certain kind
designs came from an In- of voodoo purpose, to
digenous culture; possibly, After comparing his infor- keep away the spirits of the
the star design resembled Semeleer, and others from into expressive art. mation, Ito Tromp wrote Indigenous people who
the way it was shown, simi- Noord, such as Hilario Chris- that Hartog was right con- were buried in the neigh-
lar to the “God Sun” of the tiaans, Victor Tromp, Ge- However, the decoration cerning the period when borhoods where the hous-
Indigenous people. How- rardo Jacobs, and Corne- of houses was not originally decorated houses began es now stand. However, this
ever, the history of this dec- lis Rosa, brought the same Janchi Christiaans’s idea. in Aruba in 1820. However, has almost completely dis-
orative system does not go decoration to houses in Janchi was a disciple of it was not people from Cu- appeared.
very far back in time. Noord and Paradera. In his father, Hose Christiaans, raçao who started it. Victor
1927, Janchi Christiaans and of the Donati family, Tromp, who was 87 years As for the continuation of
In his book Millefiori di Aru- built a house for Julian from Italian ancestors. They old at the time of writing, these designs from family
ba, Father Nooyen de- Tromp in Buguruy. also made these decora- was a member of Janchi to family, this is a cultural
clares that the first house to tions, though without using Wolff’s family. heritage that is no longer
receive this type of deco- This was the first house in any patterns, simply de- established. For this rea-
ration was the home of Mr. Noord to receive this type signing and applying them Julio Maduro said that in son, in earlier times, every
Bernardo Eman Croes in of decoration. Later, those with common plaster as 1920 they began again young man who married
Pos Chikito. Julien (Janchi) in Paradera, Santa Cruz, the material. with this type of decora- had to have his own house;
Christiaans and Gregorio and Savaneta copied the tion. In general, there is no otherwise, there would be
(Goy) Semeleer built this house decorations. They Using Dr. Johan Hartog’s specific year (up to now) no marriage.
house in 1920 and created practiced these systems up Aruba, Breve Historia as when Arubans first began
the decorations on the up- until 1944. reference, I noticed that with this decorative artistic The designs were created
per corners of the house. he also writes that these expression. It is interesting according to the individu-
Other people in Pos Chiki- Even today, the patterns designs are not Indigenous to know that these decora- al’s imagination. If he saw,
to, who saw this beauti- are well preserved and symbols, but only decora- tions are a kind of symbol for example, six pairs of
ful work, also wanted their protected, but they are no tive fantasies. One point for several generations. birds on a tree, he would
houses decorated in the longer used. of disagreement is that he then paint six pairs of birds
same way. wrote that in 1820 some- For example: Decorations on a tree. If he wanted to
Janchi Christiaans began one from Curaçao began that appear on the house express his love for his twin
Leoncio (Joonchi) Henri- cutting the patterns out of this type of decoration in of the Arends family could children, then he designed
cus of Pos Chikito learned zinc plates and cardboard. Aruba. also be seen on the houses a twin.
the work from Janchi Chris- He also had his own cre- of the Bermudez or Croes Nowadays, if you want to
tiaans and, together with ations and systems, while This means that, accord- families. This was because use these designs for your
his son Bonifacio (Bonny) Leoncio and Bonifacio ing to Father Nooyen, who parents always gave a house, don’t worry you
Henricus, continued deco- Henricus produced their declared that it began in specific sign to their sons or can simply copy them and
rating houses in Pos Chikito own fantasies. This is what 1920, it would have actual- daughters when they were paint them.q
and Sabana Basora. made these decorations ly started 100 years earlier. getting married.
popular: many people As part of his research, Ito Source: E casnan Deco-
Janchi Christiaans, Goy could turn their imagination Tromp also interviewed Mr. It was also said that these ra na Aruba (1976) by Ito
Tromp