Ons Gelderland

Anthem of the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands

"Ons Gelderland" (Our Gelderland) is the anthem of the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. There are two versions of the song. The first, 'Ons Gelderland' is sung the most, but the second, 'het Geldersch Volkslied', is considered by many to be the official anthem. Since Gelderland is a province, and not a country, the officiality of either one remains undecided. Nowadays, the provincial government of Gelderland displays 'Ons Gelderland' on their website. In the past they have stated 'het Geldersch Volkslied' to be the official anthem. A remarkable detail to note is that each version can be sung to the same tune. Since the texts have already been put to different tunes, this is a surprisingly convenient coincidence for many songwriters in Gelderland.

Each couplet sings about one of the three part of Gelderland: first the Veluwe, then the Betuwe and lastly the Achterhoek or Graafschap (which literally means: County or Earldom). The song is written in a dated form of the Dutch language, with some remarkable Brabantic influences, possibly because Kleverlandish is one of the many dialects spoken in Gelderland.

The first couplet sings about the geography of Gelderland. The second sings about the history and the third couplet is more of a hymn to Gelderland, praising it as the Pearl of the Netherlands. This anthem is again written in an old form of Dutch, albeit somewhat more modern in language than 'Ons Gelderland'.

The last lines are disputed, and often sung differently. They talk about a kingdom of Holland, which essentially is nonexistent. Often, the phrase is sung "Van ons Neêrlands koninkrijk" which instead talks about the kingdom of the Netherlands, from which Gelderland is a province. Some people from the Netherlands living outside the provinces North Holland and South Holland strongly object against the use of Holland as pars pro toto when denoting the entire Netherlands (see also: 'Netherlands (terminology)'). This is often also the case in Gelderland, hence the alterations.