“𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙤𝙡𝙡?”

“𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙀𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙨”

“𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙬𝙤”

“𝘿𝙤𝙣𝙚”

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐓-𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐄

Soon the streets will be a-bustling with people young and old in all the cities and towns in The Netherlands. As they walk along inspecting the second hand goods for sale at the flea-market. As it is the only day in a year when permit-free trade is allowed. Resulting in, all the attic and garage junk finding its way onto the streets of Holland, and then eventually finding its way to another attic or garage.

Also in my opinion a day when the thriftiness of the land is at its heights. As people rummage through loads of second hand goods, looking for a good bargain, making sure not to miss a single pile of goods laid out on the street by children and adults alike.

𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍’𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆’𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘

All this festivity is the result of a national holiday marking the King’s birthday, the 27^th  of April. Which, as a matter of fact, was a tradition started in 1890 by Queen Wilhelmina to mark her birthday, 31^st of August. Then the date changed to the 30^th of April which is the birthdate of Queen Juliana the daughter of Queen Wilhelmina. This date was valid for a long time since Queen Beatrix who succeeded Juliana in 1980 decided to mark this date as the Queen’s day as a tribute to her mother. Until 2013 when she abdicated the throne to be succeeded by her son King Willem- Alexandra the date was changed without much ado to the 27^th of April as King’s day as we know it today.

𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

Along with the flea-market flooding the streets and squares of every town and city, the daily tranquillity of the towns and cities will be disrupted by music, dance and partying. Turning the whole country into one big street festival of the year.

The royal family also celebrate this day with the people. By visiting a city, mingling with the people and playing traditional Dutch games with school children. A tradition also started by Queen Beatrix.

How is a city selected for the royal visit ? Well, every year city municipalities send a request to the King to come and celebrate his birthday in their city. The king along with his advisors then chooses a city where he will celebrate King’s day with the royal family. One of the criteria being that each time it is in a different province.

𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄

The whole country will be painted orange this day. Yes, orange is the national colour, so people go crazy with orange this day. Flags, clothes, toys, even food! The bakeries for example will offer orange coloured cakes or biscuits or… You just name it and this day it will be provided in orange. In other words there is no escape from orange this day!

So if you can’t beat them, just join them, just put on something orange and join the party everyone is welcome to this celebration. Above all, this is your chance to cross-culture the Dutch way, so don’t mis it.

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