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A14 LOCAL
Thursday 21 March 2019

Culture & Creativity our Identity

Maastricht – The month of March is a very cultural and festive month
for the Aruban community. After many weeks of colorful parades and
elections during the carnival season on the island, the fun does not
seem to slow down. March is a cultural and patriotic time for Arubans
as they celebrate the National Flag and Anthem Day of the coun-
try. On March 18th 1976, the Aruban flag and anthem “Aruba Dushi
Tera” made its first appearance in the Wilhelmina Stadium. A proud
moment for the Aruban people, in great celebration of their libera-
tion and independent identity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
When it comes to cultural and creative industries (CCI) culture rep-
resents a significant part of identity formation of a society and is im-
mensely important for cultural and social developments. Aruba has
numerous national symbols that reflect our culture, political journey
and heritage. These include our anthem, our flag, our coat of arm, our
native language Papiamento, our currency and lastly, our national
symbol; the Shoco (owl). For this week, let’s highlight Aruba’s national
anthem and flag.

The Aruban National Anthem
Aruba’s Anthem, “Aruba Dushi Tera” was composed by mr. Padu
Lampe, mr. Rufo Wever and mr. Hubert Booi. In preparation for Aruba
to receive its status aparte within the Dutch Kingdom, on January 21st
1976, the government installed a commission that received the task
to advise the government on what Aruba’s anthem would be like. On
March 16th 1976, it became official; Aruba received its own anthem.

The Aruban Flag
In the same manner of the anthem, on January 21st 1976, Betico
Croes installed another commission in charge of organizing the con-
gress within the community to design Aruba’s flag. The Aruban flag
consists out of the blue color, representing the ocean surrounding the
island. The position of the red star indicated the placement of the Many countries have national an international institution where
island in the ocean. The red color indicating the love of the Aruban holidays or celebrations that are I sit amongst colleagues from all
to its country and also to pay homage to the blood shed by the In- patriotic of some sort. Identity de- over the world, I can’t help but to
dians. The yellow stripes representing the color of abundance, which velopment is crucial especially feel tremendous pride of my cul-
complimented all economic industries Aruba has known and numer- when you are young and learn- ture, language and my identity. It
ous indigenous flora and fauna. Lastly, the white rim on the red star, ing who you are and where you is not until I was removed from my
representinf the white sand beaches that surround the island. come from. In kindergarten chil- environment, that I realized how
dren are so creative and are in- much love and respect I have for
tentionally exposed to this so they Aruba. The world has a shared his-
can learn these skills. Unfortunate- tory and a rich, diverse cultural
ly, even though this provides so heritage. This heritage is cherished
many benefits, as the child grows globally as an asset that belongs
up until adulthood, the less cre- to us all, yet gives our societies their
ative they are expected to be in a identity and binds them together,
learning environment. In the past nurturing a rich cultural and cre-
Artist Edition Series, we featured ative present and future.
some professionals that continu-
ously expressed the importance of Celebrating Aruba’s National Day
the CCI in their own life and how far away, really puts things in per-
they wished to have been more spective. Culture has been and
exposed to their culture. Studying still is the tool for dynamic con-
abroad really highlights this desire struction of individual and collec-
to another level. tive identities all over the world.

From a personal experience, living Continued on Page 15
in the Netherlands and studying at