Jeff and I knew we would like it here when we learned that the Dutch celebrate both of our birthdays with national holidays. But while I get stuck with St. Discrimination-klaus, Jeff gets street parties, music festivals, fun fairs, public drinking, party boats, and an entrepreneurial free-for-all.
One of the great mysteries of life is why no one seems to know about Queen's Day outside of the Netherlands: This should rank up there with Munich's Oktoberfest or St. Patrick's Day in Dublin.
First, you have to love a Queen who sacrificed a celebration of her actual birthday -- which inconveniently occurs on January 31 -- to continue the annual celebration of her mother's birthday, a much more pleasant April 30.
Second, you have to love a country that celebrates the monarchy with a nation-wide flea market: the government waives all VAT and permitting requirements for one day, allowing anyone who wants to to sell anything they wish to on the street. Kids sell "jewelry" they made over the winter; heaps of used clothing and boxes of books line people's front stoops; stores empty their contents onto the sidewalk and discount prices by 50% or more. It's a party that could warm the cockles of any capitalist's heart.
So here's the low down: The party starts on Queen's Night, April 29, with all-night revelry centered, conveniently for us, in the Hague. Six stages set up around the center provide live music all night long, while carnival rides and food stands line the "moat" in front of the Parliament. By midnight, the streets and "pleins" were packed like New Year's Eve in Times Square.
Queen's Day proper is celebrated around the country, but the place to be is Amsterdam. From early morning, families pour out onto the sidewalks in a city-wide garage sale. Jeff loved most the entrepreneurial spirit of little Dutch children: kids selling homemade cupcakes, manicures, friendship bracelets, and used toys, often with endearing hand-painted marketing materials. We saw several groups of kids -- we're talking 8- to 12-year-olds -- staging full band performances complete with electric guitar and bass, drums, keyboard, and vocals. Some were more gifted than others.
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| Rembrandt Plein well before noon. |
Elsewhere in the city, the revelry is more of the drunken variety -- but of the good humored and celebratory sort. Party boats clog the canals; the main squares, where there are more live music performances, are packed before noon. The city becomes one giant sea of crazy orange paraphernalia. Strangers become new best friends.
One of my favorite moments: Three young people simply threw open their kitchen windows (conveniently fronting a canal), decorated their windowsills with orange everything, and started selling freshly made pancakes to passersby.
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| Note our hand model's lovely orange nail polish |
In conclusion: The Brits can keep their prissy weddings - I'll take a country that celebrates its queen with an egalitarian, free-wheeling, fun-loving nationwide block party any day.
If you like people selling s#it on the street, voy al California, amiga! :-) We sell stuff on the street all day long (depending on the neighborhood).
ReplyDeleteAll kidding aside, Queen's Day looks like a fun time. Not to mention - it gives the average person a taste of entrepreneurship. The only thing it's missing is a mascot based on a stereotype!
Since it's Queen's Day, perhaps Kay Sedilla would do?