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LOCAL Friday 7 November 2025

Cas Floria: The Decorated Houses of Aruba

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