Thursday, April 29, 2010

Koninginnedag! 30 of April...Yeah, Lets Party!!

Even Google is going Orange Crazy today.

Koninginnedag: Queen's day? Orange Craze?

Queen's day, or Koninginnedag as we call it, is a national holiday in the Netherlands. On this day we celebrate the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands. Although it's original the birthday of Queen Juliana (the mother of Queen Beatrix she past away a few years a go), not of Queen Beatrix, we celebrate her birthday on 30 April. Our Queen Beatrix birthday is on the 31th January, but winter isn't the time to party outside. Because of this, Queen Beatrix officially celebrates her birthday on 30 April, so we can party with (hopefully) better weather! Isn't our Queen lovely?

Queen's Day is also a typical occasion for the world-famous Orange Craze. On this day most of the people wear orange clothing and creative orange accessories. The colour orange is a ubiquitous sight, referring to the name of our royal family, the House of Orange. Everywhere in the city you'll see orange banners, orange colored foods and drinks. So don't forget your orange t-shirt when you join us in the Orange Craze!!!


Koninginnenacht: The night before, Queen's Night!

Because the Dutch people just like to party, we start celebrating Queen's Day already on the evening of the day before! Usually at 7 p.m. and we go on until the early hours of the Queen's Day. We call evening (and night) Koninginnenacht, Queen's Night. All the clubs in Amsterdam, The Hague and other big cities organize special festivities. Some of the best are outside and completely free for everyone! Especially for the young people this is the night to be in Amsterdam ot The Hague. Amsterdam and The Hague is very busy that night as many young people move across the city from one party to another, while others prepare the next day market, the so called freemarket!


Our Queen Beatrix
and the Royal Family

This alcoholic drink is called Oranjebitter
Freemarket at the Vondelpark in Amsterdam




3 comments:

  1. Onvoorstelbaar hoe heel Nederland meeleeft op koninginnedag! Waren wij in Belgiƫ ook maar zoveel betrokken... bij ons is iedereen een stuk meer op zichzelf. Zonde, niet?

    Groetjes en nog een prettige avond verder!

    Sabine

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ Sabine, ik weet zeker dat als er in Belgie een Koninginedag en/of Koningsdag zou zijn ook heel het land op de kop zou staan. Kom maar gewoon hier vieren hoor Sabine. Je bent van harte welkom volgend jaar! (of natuurlijk ook eerder als je zou willen)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing, it's always good to learn something new! :)

    ReplyDelete

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