Holland

Big Orange Celebration

If you are after a fun outdoor tradition that you won’t find elsewhere, I highly recommend Queen’s Day in Amsterdam – you won’t be disappointed. Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag in Dutch) is a national holiday in the Netherlands to celebrate the Dutch monarchy, Queen’s birthday. It´s a tradition that began back in 1949 on April 30 when Juliana became the new Queen of the Netherlands. Fortunately her daughter, Queen Beatrix decided to maintain her mother’s birth date, as her own birthday falls in the miserable cold month of January.

Queen’s Day is one big happy party – where the streets become a sea of people dressed in orange due to the tradition colour of the Dutch monarchy as well as the national colour of the Netherlands. It’s the only day of the year that anyone can sell anything on the streets without a permit. Everything is set up outside so you can just wander aimlessly, and find activities, street theater, open air concerts – all spread out throughout the city. People get there early to set up their stands on the streets. I´m always amazed what you can find – most of the time its stuff you don’t really need. Still, it’s really entertaining to see everyone including kids getting involved, trying to be original and creative while having fun making some money. Overall it’s a lot of fun and worth the experience!