Ons Vaderland

Ons Vaderland (Our Fatherland) is Lindenholt's national anthem. It was adopted in 1919, but had been in use since its first publication in 1853.

History
Before its adoption, Lindenholt had no official anthem. While Ons Vaderland had been a well-known patriotic march, its adoption as the national anthem came largely as a surprise. It was written in 1853 as a march for the Ellijn University Students Company. This popularised it among academics and students, eventually leading to it having become a familiar melody at the turn of the century.

At the time, the most frequently used song to represent Lindenholt was an instrumental rendition of the. This history can still be seen in the media today, as it is still used as a stereotypical tune to represent Lindenholt. Most often in cartoons. The Chanson de Fraïsgras, known in Lindian as Het Vrijgaat is a hymn about the kidnapping of Charles de Fraïsgras, lord of Grenûde in Umbrellia by Cramerist rebels during the War of Muddy Plains.

When Lindenholt's constitution was amended in 1919, the Royal Family expressed their wish that Lindenholt's national symbols and an anthem be codified in it as well. This came after the Labourers Party formally adopted as its anthem, pledging to give it legal status if the party got in to power. The song initially chosen was the Vrijgaat with slightly adapted and modernised lyrics.

While the Catholic party had not objected to the song being adopted as anthem at first, calls by the Catholic church caused them to reconsider this position. Liberals also objected to its adoption, as they feared it would imply that Lindenholt's existence as a nation state would be too much focused on (part of) it being Cramerist; whereas the socialists were against the anthem's adoption due to its references to God.

The Catholics and liberals amended the constitutional change to adopt Ons Vaderland instead, which caused a brief cabinet crisis and almost led to the entire constitutional change (which included women's suffrage) not being ratified. Broad political concessions by the liberals and Catholics to the Reformed party led to Ons Vaderland being adopted however.