Tag: Dutch Canadians

The “Calvin Seminary Dames” – Part I

The “Calvin Seminary Dames” – Part I

“In the month of October 1927, Mrs. C. Bouma entertained the ladies of the married men of the Calvin Seminary.” So reads the first sentence “in the “Record Book of Calvin Seminary Dames” (aka, the club’s minutes book). “At this gathering they spoke somewhat carelessly 

Muck Farms and Dutch Immigrants

Muck Farms and Dutch Immigrants

The Dutch know muck. And they know how to grow vegetables and flowers in it. At least that was my experience growing up. “Muck farms” refers to agriculture in areas where wetlands were drained and the “muck” turned into productive “garden farms,” typically producing vegetables 

Play Ball? Sports, Religion, and Immigrants

Play Ball? Sports, Religion, and Immigrants

My title — “Play ball?” — really should have two question marks. I picked this topic because I’ve been watching to see whether North Americans will get major league baseball this Covid-19 summer. That’s one question. The other is whether Christian athletes should play on 

So, What’s Your Story?

So, What’s Your Story?

This post concludes a series of three blog posts on belonging and identity in the Dutch immigrant communities in Canada in the 1970s and 1980s. The first two posts– “Smells and Tastes” and “Dutch Bingo.” –explored how religious identities and ethnic identities easily get entangled. 

Dutch Reformed Bingo in Canada

Dutch Reformed Bingo in Canada

What shapes an identity and makes a community?  What did I experience in the Dutch Reformed immigrant communities that I grew up in during the 1970s and 1980s in southern Ontario, Canada? In last week’s blog post, I focused on the sounds, sights, tastes, and 

The Smells and Tastes of Being Dutch Reformed

The Smells and Tastes of Being Dutch Reformed

What shapes an identity? What makes a community? I grew up in Dutch Reformed immigrant communities in towns and rural areas in Ontario, Canada, in the 1970s and early 1980s. My father was the “dominee” in a series of congregations from the Ottawa region to 

Adjusting to Immigrants

Adjusting to Immigrants

“Immigration is taking place under greatly changed situations, and in a different land. So in that very real sense, history is not repeating itself.” If you read this quotation with current headlines in mind, you might have wondered whether it is about debates over immigration 

Dutch Frontier Women in the North American West

Dutch Frontier Women in the North American West

This blog post will resonate with anyone familiar with the Little House on the Prairie novels and TV series. The “little House” stories were based on the real history of the Ingalls and Wilder families but altered by Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter Rose 

The Strange Career of Pierre Van Paassen

The Strange Career of Pierre Van Paassen

Pierre Van Paassen lived a life of contradictions. He was a pacifist who set aside his principles to serve in the Canadian military and later returned to pacifism of a sort. He was a journalist who made up stories and bounced around jobs from Canada