Now you should know that about four hundred years ago, when Oostzaan was still a tiny village, a little boy named Claes Compaen lived here. He was a rascal who became more and more mischievous as he got older. He was poor, very poor, and his parents complained bitterly that they had hardly any food and his mother occasionally cried when Claes got into the box bed again without food. “When I grow up, I will make sure my mom gets money to buy food,” Claes decided and he stuck to it.
He became a real pirate. He wandered the seas and hijacked many ships, throwing the crew overboard and becoming a greedy thief if the hijacked ship had a nice cargo. He sold it and the proceeds disappeared into a large cash box. “This is for my mother,” he sighed happily.
That chest was untraceable for years. No matter how people searched, it was nowhere to be found. But let Pastor Sjaak come across a very old money box in Jisp purely by chance! No one knows whether this was from Claes Compaen, but it could just be. Curiously, Pastor Sjaak looked to see if there was anything in the coffin…. And what do you think? Gold ducats, lots of them. How many? You have to guess that and whoever guesses correctly…. that one is the winner.
Will you come and watch and guess and who knows, who knows? At the church on Saturday, April 27 between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. And what’s nice… Claes Compaen himself is also there, although he is no longer alive, but he is buried there in the aisle. Just look for his gravestone: a sailing ship that he probably hijacked!
Barbara van Wijk
