August 2016. In the Dutch late-night talk show Pauw, former television presenter of the game show Rad van Fortuin ('Wheel of Fortune'), Hans van der Togt, spoke about his hard and miserable life in the province of Friesland. In this blog post, we'll explain plainly and simply that it was Hans' pagan doom or destiny to end up in Frisia, despite the fact that he was born in the deep south of the Netherlands. This blog post is also instructive for other city folk who consider moving to the supposedly romantic countryside.
Hans van der Togt, born in 1947, presented the game show Wheel of Fortune in the '90s. The show was immensely popular. Not only because of Hans’ beautiful female assistant Leontine Ruiters, but also because of Hans’ genuine show-master talents. Really. Then, at the end of the '90s, he retired.
After years of silence, he resurfaced on national television on 23 August 2016. In the well-viewed talk show Pauw, he told the public about his life in the tiny village of Achlum in the northwest of the province of Friesland. Hans was invited to the show because a few days earlier he had given an interview in a Dutch newspaper about his lonesome life in the empty grasslands over the last three years. He explained that he had left the big city of Amsterdam impulsively and bought a lovely house for the proverbial "no money" in Friesland. The first year, he was euphoric. But then the ancient, harsh marshlands of Frisia hit him full in the face. To quote a line from the poem titled De Terugkeer ('The Return') by the Frisian writer Jan Jacob Slauerhoff (1898-1936):
Het lage land tot den einder kaal
The low land barren to the horizon
The long winters. The loneliness. The endless green. The smell of dung. The ever-chiming bells of the churches. The rainy grey days. Hans started missing the city. He started missing Amsterdam. But he had sold everything...
Divine wheels
Let's jump back 2,000 years. Archaeological research in the terp (i.e. artificial settlement mound) region in the northern Netherlands revealed well-preserved findings of wooden wheels buried under houses or homesteads, or in former wells from the period between the fifth century BC and the first century AD. Both disc wheels and spoked wheels have been found. These are all made of oak or taxus wood. Archaeological research suggests ritual disposition as a possible explanation.
From the same era, wheels have also been found in the province of Noord-Holland, near Uitgeest, and in the peatlands of the province of Drenthe. Also, a wheel has been found in a well of the Roman town Forum Hadriani near the modern town of Voorburg in the province of Zuid-Holland. Some historians suggest these wheels were offerings for a good harvest, or wheels of carriages left behind in the peatlands as unapproachable attributes in a sacral landscape (Van Eijnatten & Van Lieburg 2006).
Late-Iron-Age wheels. Two left from Ezinge and right from Voorburg
Besides these archaeological findings, the Germanic god Thor of thunder, also known as Thunor or Donar, had much in common with his Celtic thunder-colleague Taranis. Taranis was associated with a wheel, probably symbolizing the sun. The Celts symbolically offered wheels, gave symbolic wheels as grave goods, and wore miniature wheels as amulets. Celtic graves of important individuals regularly contained complete chariots with wheels, including horses, like the one found at Heumen near the modern town of Nijmegen in the east of the Netherlands. Possibly, the wheels and the chariot as such symbolized the solar disc, the chariot pulling the sun from east to west, symbolizing rebirth (Van der Tuuk 2017, Clerinx 2023).
The period during which the wheels mentioned above were buried in terp earthworks in Frisia was roughly between 500 BC and AD 100. The wheel symbols and rituals might have been copied or inherited from the Celts, who were still present in the wider region of Frisia during this era. Just as Thor was, in a way, the successor of Tharanis.
Wheels on the Cauldron – In 1891 in Gundestrup in Denmark, a richly decorated cauldron was found, dated the beginning of the first millennium AD. It's probably crafted in Thrace, current south-east Bulgaria. One image shows (half) a wheel being given to some kind of god.
Based on historical language research on vowel systems, the relation of Frisia with the Celts might even go deeper than copying or inheriting religious aspects. Frisians living north of the Roman limes ('borders') were, in fact, Celts. Of course, it might only have been limited to Celtic language influence and that the Frisians spoke a mixture of Celtic and Germanic languages. Or, another option, Frisians were bilingual. According to British research, everyday bilingualism—or even multilingualism—was widespread at that time, in this case among Britons. This was the case already during the Roman period and, again, after the Anglo-Saxons had settled during the fifth century (Oosthuizen 2017).
Concerning the classification of the Frisians (Frisii or Fresones) as being Germanic, it is important to take into account that it was the Romans who attributed this term without a grounded sociological theory (Van de Bunt 2020). Moreover, those Romans initially used the terms Celts and Germanic interchangeably for the tribes north of the River Rhine (Looijenga 2017).
Besides the fact that the vowel systems of the pre-Old Frisian language have similarities to the vowel system of the Celtic speech that used to be spoken in the area that is now the Netherlands, the names of the two Frisian kings might also reveal Celtic heritage or influence. They were King Verritus and King Malorix who went to Rome in the year AD 58 to plead in person with Emperor Nero himself. Their plea concerned the use of the land north of the limes, possibly the land surrounding the River IJssel (Van de Bunt 2020). Both king names are Celtic. Verritus means 'strong runner' and Malorix means 'praise king' in the Celtic language.
The journey of the two Frisian kings has been documented by the Romans. In our blog posts The Killing Fields, that of the Celts and Barbarians riding to the capital to claim rights on farmland we wrote more about the Frisii and their (partial) Celtic origin.
By the way, if the story of Verritus and Malorix gives the reader the impression that the presence of Frisians in Rome was exceptional, know it was not. For decades already, Frisians frequented this eternal metropolis. They even served as bodyguards of emperors, like the Frisian soldiers named Bassus and Hilarus. Frisians were horse guards in Rome too. Read our blog post Frisian mercenaries in the Roman Army for more intel on these guys in special forces.
Anyway, the conclusion is: wheels are divine.
Therefore, if after 2,500 years you think you can get away with hosting the profane game show Wheel of Fortune for years and years on end, and sacrilege divine wheels without feeling the consequences of the ancient Celtic gods, do think again! It's not sustainable, as they say in the second millennium. Like Hans van der Togt experienced, Tharanis and Thor will execute great vengeance upon thee.
Let this be a warning for other show masters presenting the game show Wheel of Fortune, like e.g. the Dutch singer and current show master of this game Dre Hazes, the British show master Nicky Campbell, or the German show master Jan Hahn. But the names of the show masters worldwide are infinite. And, Hans, be real and look at the original shape of your new hometown Achlum:
Lastly, we would suggest Hans van der Togt to read our blog posts Grassland conversations and What's hip and happening at the grasslands to help him survive in the remote and isolated Achlum, Frisia. Indeed, it's an acquired taste.
Note 1 – It's also for this very reason why walking the Frisia Coast Trail is the most safe means of movement as it involves no wheels. If for some reason you are required to make use of a car, bicycle or train, show no disrespect to the wheels.
Note 2 - As such, the combination of show master and grasslands is not impossible. One of the first public show masters comes from the province of Friesland. Only 17 kilometers as the crow flies from Achlum, in the village of Weidum Hanso Idzerda (1885-1944) was born. His full name was Hans Henricus Schotanus à Steringa Idzerda. Idzerda was a radio pioneer. From the city of The Hague, at Beukstraat St. 8-10, he aired in the evening on November 6, 1919 one of the first pre-announced (i.e. newspaper NRC the day before), public radio broadcasting worldwide ever. It was a weekly music programme, presented by Idzerda himself, and the music part broadcasted first was Turf in je ransel 'peat in your haversack', a grenadier march. His airings were received all the way in England. From 1922, supported by the Daily Mail, Idzerda also broadcasts an English radio programme. Hanso Idezerda announced his broadcasts in Dutch, French and English.
For more about this first, international public show master of the world, read our blog post What Killed the Radio Star. The Frisian claim for Radio Fame.
Note 3 – If interested in more pagan and superstitious practices of the Frisians in the Iron Age and Roman Period, check our blog post Groove is in the Hearth. Very superstitious is the way.
Note 4 - The village of Achlum, as tiny as it might appear, is the cradle of the big insurance companies we know today. It was even former president Bill Clinton who paid a visit to Achlum to commemorate this piece of history. Go to our blog post “I did not have financial relations with that village”. If you decide to pay Achlum a visit, do drop by the local chocolate factory as well.
Suggested music
George Michael, Spinning The Wheel (1996)
Ike & Tina Turner, Proud Mary (1971)
Further reading
Beers, J., Runes in Frisia. On the Frisian origin of runic finds (2012)
Betten, E., Terpen- en Wierdenland (2018)
Bunt, van de A., Wee de overwonnenen. Germanen, Kelten en Romeinen in de Lage Landen (2020)
Clerinx, H., De god met de maretak. Kelten en de Lage Landen (2023)
Dijkstra, M.F.P., Rondom de mondingen van Rijn & Maas. Landschap en bewoning tussen de 3e en 9e eeuw in Zuid-Holland, in het bijzonder de Oude Rijnstreek (2011)
Eijnatten, van J. & Lieburg, van F., Nederlandse religiegeschiedenis (2006)
Galestin, M.C., Frisii and Frisiavones (2016)
Koolhaas, M., Was Idzerda de eerste ter wereld? 90 jaar radio-omroep in Nederland (2009)
Laan, van der, J., De bijzondere houten voorwerpen uit de opgravingen in Ezinge (2016)
Langen, de G. & Mol, J., Terpenbouw en dorpsvorming in het Friese kustgebied tussen Vlie en Eems in de volle middeleeuwen (2016)
Lekkerkerker, L. (ed.), J. Slauerhoff. Verzamelde gedichten (2008)
Looijenga, A., Popkema, A. & Slofstra, B. (transl.), Een meelijwekkend volk. Vreemden over Friezen van de oudheid to de kerstening (2017)
Lugt, F., Rijnland in de donkere eeuwen. Van de komst van de Kelten tot het ontstaan van het graafschap (2021)
Nedelius, S., Early Germanic Dialects – Old Frisian (2019)
Oosthuizen, S., The Anglo-Saxon Fenland (2017)
Possel, P., Lockdown? Hier is het áltijd stil en leeg (2021)
Raatgever, S., Ik heb niemand om tegen te praten (2016)
Renswoude, van, O., Hoe Keltisch waren de Friezen? (2017)
RODI.nl, Archeologisch onderzoek J.E. de Witstraat (2023)
Schrijver, P., Frisian between the Roman and the Early-Medieval Periods. Language contact, Celts and Romans (2017)
Tuuk, van der, L., Thor en zijn buitenlandse collega’s (2017)
Versloot, A.P., The Runic Frisian vowel system. The earliest history of Frisian and Proto-Insular North Frisian (2014)