Cemeteries on the Roodeweg

Mundo Nobo 2: The cemeteries on the Roodeweg

The Roodeweg ("Red Road") was formerly a little knoek street consisting of red rocky ground, discoloured by iron compounds that occur frequently in the limestone here, as at Tera Kora. The little street was also overgrown with columnar cacti.

The Roodeweg begins at the Breedestraat in Otrobanda and runs to the west, bordered by, among others, the neighbourhoods San Mateo, Baraltwijk and Mundo Nobo. At the end it borders (Seru di) Plantersrust, which is why the latter was also called Seru di Roodeweg.

Religion

The dividing lines between different religious beliefs were sharply drawn in the past, and every religious organisation had its own cemetery. Because the Roodeweg used to lie outside the city, the various cemeteries were laid out here, but through expansion of the city in later years they have come to lie in the middle of inhabited area.

Walking in the evening hours from the city to Mundo Nobo, Welgelegen or Plantersrust was avoided as much as possible in the past: it lay remote, there was no lighting, and one had to walk in the dark between two large burial grounds with tall rustling trees on either side. Moreover it was intensely haunted there: apparently the discussions between the different religious beliefs were continued from the grave tombs.

Chiké

Behind Catholic cemeteries built before 1955 there was always a separated section, the Chiké di porko, or pigsty. This was a piece of unconsecrated earth where criminals, prostitutes, non-believers and everyone who did not abide by the Catholic or social rules were buried. In 1960 all the chiké's were cleared.

Cemeteries were built as close as possible to the church, as the deceased had after all to be carried to the cemetery.

Because of the warm climate, the dead were also buried immediately: if you died in the morning you were buried that same afternoon; if you died in the afternoon, the funeral was already the next morning.

Apartment

Buried is actually not the right word, as the ground is too hard for that. People are actually interred in a vault. Each family has an "apartment" in the cemetery whose "rooms" are cleared every so often to make room for a recently deceased family member. The remains already lying there are put in a little bag in the corner. Hence people tell tourists: "In Curaçao you're buried in peace, but also in pieces."

In the past, too, you had better be on good terms with all family members; you never knew, after all, next to whom you would come to lie in the family grave.

Mausoleum

Driving west from the Breedestraat, there are Catholic cemeteries on both the north and the south side of the Roodeweg. On the south side, close to the Colon Shopping Centre and KFC, lies the old Catholic cemetery, Santana di Roodeweg, which formerly also covered the adjoining car park.

The Catholic cemetery on the north side is of more recent date. Striking here is the Mausoleum, at the back of the cemetery, where fathers, brothers, sisters and bishops are buried. To prevent vandalism it is separated from the rest of the cemetery by a sturdy fence. Not all religious are buried here; for instance, Monsignor Kieckens is buried in the Sint Elisabeth Gasthuis, of which he was the initiator. And Pastor Frie and the Sisters of Schijndel are buried at Santa Rosa and the Sisters of Roosendaal at Habaai. Also striking are the small little graves: body parts amputated because of illness were buried here and, after the death of the person concerned, "reunited" with the rest of the body. A number of these — empty — little graves can still be seen here.

Close to the northern Santana Katóliko also stands the centuries-old Indju tree, alias "Dakloos" (Homeless). When people formerly travelled from Bandabou to the city to sell fruit and vegetables, poultry, etc., they spent the night under this tree and moved on in the morning to the Brionplein.

Cemeteries on the Roodeweg

From Otrobanda to the west, one encounters successively on the south side of the road the following resting places:

• The old Catholic cemetery, next to KFC Colon, which formerly also covered the whole car park. It belonged to the Santa Anna church in Otrobanda, the first Catholic church on Curaçao. The cemetery was then called Sementerio di Pariokia di Santa Anna, later corrupted to Santana, the word we now use in Papiamento to designate a cemetery.
• The Commonwealth Cemetery, where soldiers from the Windward Islands who fought in the Second World War have found a final resting place;
• The Protestant cemetery, recognisable by the graves, which are always painted white;
• Then follows the Freemasons' cemetery, The Masonic Cemetery, where deceased of Lebanese or Chinese background have also been laid directly into the earth. Lebanese later got their own cemetery at Brievengat, where they are interred. Freemasonry is not bound to religion; anyone can become a member. The piece of land on which this cemetery lies is 7,340 square metres in size and was sold in 1868 by the widow of G. Hellmund, Henriëtte Catharina Raven. The buyer, Genereux de Lima of Lodge Igualdat, was a person of colour, for a long time owner of plantation Klein Sint Michiel and embroiled in a long-running dispute with the leaders of the Catholic church over rules laid down by them.

The purchase was described as follows: "To the Freemasons' lodge 'Igualdad' established here was sold a piece of land under the name 'Lientje Klaus' where some corpses are buried and burial vaults are present, nevertheless of the enclosed private cemetery, to be described hereafter, belonging to the family de Veer and Hellmund, which piece of land by survey letter (rooibrief) of 18.12.1871 was measured south of and against the Roodeweg, west of the Protestant cemetery, north and east of a piece of land called Mundo Novo, the property of the government." The cemetery of the Hellmund family is now enclosed on the east and south side by that of the Freemasons.

• Then follows, on the corner of Roodeweg / Boerhaavestraat, the family cemetery of the Hellmund family. Gotlob Wilhelm Hellmund (1802–1863) was the owner of plantation Mundo Nobo. In the 19th century he bought the piece of land here on which a few graves already lay, including those of Cornelis Anderman van der Burg and his wife Mentia Stroeff, who died in 1732 and 1720 respectively. It is probably the second-oldest grave still existing in the cemeteries in Otrobanda*. Cornelis Anderman van der Burgh was commissioner of the train and provisions, after the Governor the most important function on Curaçao. It was his task to provide all the necessities for the employees of the West India Company.

Besides Hellmund, members of the families de Veer (formerly also owner of plantation Mundo Nobo), Krafft, Spencer and van Lansberge are also buried here.

• Then follow a few dwellings and offices in Mundo Nobo. Just before Topogigio Snack and opposite the main building of the fire brigade, there finally follows a small cemetery where various soldiers are buried.

*The oldest grave in Otrobanda is said to be that of Juan Moyaert, from 1707, whose gravestone stands at the Curaçao Museum.

Also read the pages of Mundo Nobo, Baraltwijk and San Matheo, which lie partly on the Roodeweg.

Sources

• De Jong, T. and Hendrikse, N.: De gezegende erfenis, nalatenschap van 1200 Nederlandse religieuzen op Curaçao (The blessed inheritance, legacy of 1200 Dutch religious on Curaçao).
• Krafft, A.J.C.: "Het oudste graf van de Otrobanda pas ontdekt" (The oldest grave of the Otrobanda only just discovered), newspaper Beurs en Nieuwsberichten, 30 May 1947;
• Teenstra, M.D.: De Nederlandsche West-Indische eilanden: Curaçao;

With thanks to: Emlyn Pietersz, André Rancuret, Christel Monsanto, Frensel Mercelina, Mongui Maduro Library and François van der Hoeven.