On Mon, 17 Aug 1998, Mnr AM de Lange wrote:
[snip]
>
> What I would like you to do, is to trace the history of "peetouers"
> ("godparents") among the lowlandic cultures (Dutch, Frisian and
> Saxon) and see what richness there was 500 years and MORE ago. I
> would appreciate it very much if you could lay your hands on
> information outside the spheres of the state and the church. With
> your insight on wholeness (and its associativity pattern X*Y*Z) as
> well as fruitfulness, I am sure that you will uncover some exciting
> and important information for all of us.
Dear LO-ers, dear At,
Thank you again AT, you helped me with some new fruitful connections
(much more than two, :-).
I reproduced only a very small part of your answer (see above).
Strange enough, in another message of your hand (LO 18891, the discussion
of hurting) you gave an example of introducing an 'extra' parent in the
education of children. It was the teacher Lynette who helped your daughter
Jeanette and you and your wife.
But now turning to the role of godparents in the lowlands. A quick look in
some dictionaries and other works and catalogues (lots of references to
Mario Puzo, godfathers and maffia (!)), I was not able to find some
reference outside the world of the church. All of the hints point to the
baptise ceremony of the young child. But At, I try to search further.
But maybe we can open the subject to a nearby direction: the role of
guilds in medieval times. The structure: master (meester) -
craftsman/journeyman (I don't know the proper translation of the Dutch
word 'gezel') - pupil (leerling). Guilds go back to the 5th century. In
medieval times they became diverse: guilds in merchandise, trade, art and
militaries. In Holland these old LO's were the birthplace of our so-called
'golden age' (17th century) with world-wide activities, world-famous
painters and so on.
I hope to find the time to study more on this subject (but shall not
forget the possible role of godparents in family-life).
dr. Leo D. Minnigh
minnigh@library.tudelft.nl
Library Technical University Delft
PO BOX 98, 2600 MG Delft, The Netherlands
Tel.: 31 15 2782226
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Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of ideas.
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--Leo Minnigh <L.D.Minnigh@library.tudelft.nl>
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