Pull your orange clothes out from the back of your closet and get ready for a big party, featuring street markets, live music on the streets, and lots of weird drunk Dutch people % the Queen’s birthday is celebrated on the 30th of April and the whole country’s joining in.
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The first thing that comes to many people’s minds when pondering on the subject of Koninginnedag is the junk markets that are held all over the country on this day. Amsterdam is famous for its free-on-the-street market. But don’t be surprised when you find much of the Dutch population there, according to several students. ”Amsterdam is packed on the Queen’s birthday. If you like that kind of thing, go there,” says Dutchman Job Bessems, an industrial engineering student.
Arno Brouwer, a Dutch aerospace engineering student, says that it’s a good opportunity to hunt for antiques. Evi Meilani, an Indonesian architecture student, who’s been here for a few years, has even sold old t-shirts at the market in Haarlem: ”It’s great that for this one day anyone can sell anything on the street.” Except food, that is. ”That’s been forbidden for hygienic reasons,” adds Peter van Dam, a visitor to the Aula canteen.
The Koninginnedag celebrations get a head-start the night before, on Koninginnenach (Queen’s night). ”The Dutch party on the streets in The Hague,” says Hapnes Toba, an Indonesian computer student who has been there, ”People are on the streets from nine ‘o clock onwards.”
Football match
”It’s definitely something you have to have experienced. It’s nice. There are free concerts. People get very drunk though, and it’s a good idea to take a bunch of friends with you % it’s easy to get lost, it feels like a football match,” says Cecilia Sroor, a Mexican, studying Technical Management. She’s planning a trip to Utrecht this year.
”There will be live music on the streets, and The Hague is famous for the most live music,” adds Brouwer. ”The only thing you have to take care of is not to go too late and return to Delft before midnight. By then, the train will be packed with drunken people and it’s not really nice.”
Dutch students mostly enjoy Koninginnedag as a day off from work. Brouwer, however, likes it because it’s a part of the Dutch national identity. ”It’s really special that we still have a Queen. Lots of people want to get rid of her because the monarchy costs too much, but I think it’s something uniquely Dutch.”
Oranjebitter
”It’s not really the Queen’s birthday on the thirtieth you know,” Van Dam adds. ”Her birthday is in January, but due to the bad weather the Queen’s birthday is still celebrated on her mother’s birth date.” He goes on to tell us how she visits different cities each Koninginnedag, though this year’s visit has been cancelled due to foot and mouth disease.
Delft too will be decorated in orange, not to mention live music in the city centre and a street market and fair at the Paardenmarkt. On this day, many old traditions are upheld, such astoasting the Queen with the special Koninginnedag drink Oranjebitter. The students of DSB student society will toast the Queen with every pedestrian passing by their house on the Oude Delft 123. Or you might bump into the male singers of student choir Le Bourdon, from the DSC student society. They serenade the female DSC members at their society building and afterwards tour the city centre singing a wide variety of songs.
No matter where you go the country is alive. Koninginnedag is an experience not to be missed.
Pull your orange clothes out from the back of your closet and get ready for a big party, featuring street markets, live music on the streets, and lots of weird drunk Dutch people % the Queen’s birthday is celebrated on the 30th of April and the whole country’s joining in.
The first thing that comes to many people’s minds when pondering on the subject of Koninginnedag is the junk markets that are held all over the country on this day. Amsterdam is famous for its free-on-the-street market. But don’t be surprised when you find much of the Dutch population there, according to several students. ”Amsterdam is packed on the Queen’s birthday. If you like that kind of thing, go there,” says Dutchman Job Bessems, an industrial engineering student.
Arno Brouwer, a Dutch aerospace engineering student, says that it’s a good opportunity to hunt for antiques. Evi Meilani, an Indonesian architecture student, who’s been here for a few years, has even sold old t-shirts at the market in Haarlem: ”It’s great that for this one day anyone can sell anything on the street.” Except food, that is. ”That’s been forbidden for hygienic reasons,” adds Peter van Dam, a visitor to the Aula canteen.
The Koninginnedag celebrations get a head-start the night before, on Koninginnenach (Queen’s night). ”The Dutch party on the streets in The Hague,” says Hapnes Toba, an Indonesian computer student who has been there, ”People are on the streets from nine ‘o clock onwards.”
Football match
”It’s definitely something you have to have experienced. It’s nice. There are free concerts. People get very drunk though, and it’s a good idea to take a bunch of friends with you % it’s easy to get lost, it feels like a football match,” says Cecilia Sroor, a Mexican, studying Technical Management. She’s planning a trip to Utrecht this year.
”There will be live music on the streets, and The Hague is famous for the most live music,” adds Brouwer. ”The only thing you have to take care of is not to go too late and return to Delft before midnight. By then, the train will be packed with drunken people and it’s not really nice.”
Dutch students mostly enjoy Koninginnedag as a day off from work. Brouwer, however, likes it because it’s a part of the Dutch national identity. ”It’s really special that we still have a Queen. Lots of people want to get rid of her because the monarchy costs too much, but I think it’s something uniquely Dutch.”
Oranjebitter
”It’s not really the Queen’s birthday on the thirtieth you know,” Van Dam adds. ”Her birthday is in January, but due to the bad weather the Queen’s birthday is still celebrated on her mother’s birth date.” He goes on to tell us how she visits different cities each Koninginnedag, though this year’s visit has been cancelled due to foot and mouth disease.
Delft too will be decorated in orange, not to mention live music in the city centre and a street market and fair at the Paardenmarkt. On this day, many old traditions are upheld, such astoasting the Queen with the special Koninginnedag drink Oranjebitter. The students of DSB student society will toast the Queen with every pedestrian passing by their house on the Oude Delft 123. Or you might bump into the male singers of student choir Le Bourdon, from the DSC student society. They serenade the female DSC members at their society building and afterwards tour the city centre singing a wide variety of songs.
No matter where you go the country is alive. Koninginnedag is an experience not to be missed.
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