King’s Day ~ The Dutch excuse to have the party of all parties while decked out in orange #ExpatLife #ThisisHolland #KingsDay2018

Today, April 27^th, is King Willem-Alexander’s birthday, which means it’s time for a party – obviously. The tradition of celebrating the monarch’s birthday in a country-wide celebration dates back to 1885 when a celebration for Crown Princess Wilhelmina’s fifth birthday was held on August 31^st. After she ascended to the throne, the name was changed to Queen’s Day and thus began the tradition of celebrating the monarch’s birthday. Until 2013, the holiday has always been Queen’s Day as the Netherlands only had female monarchs in the 20^th Century. (On a side note, Willem-Alexander has three daughters, so we will be going back to celebrating female monarchs after his reign.)

So, what do the Dutch do to celebrate the King’s birthday? The better question is what don’t they do? The first and most important thing is to dress in orange. The surname of the royal family, Van Oranje Nassau, happens to also correspond with the word for the color orange in Dutch – Oranje. (In case you’re wondering, the orange fruit in Dutch is a different word.) Everything is orange on King’s Day. Orange clothes. Orange hair. Orange face paint. Orange Streets. An orange pennant hung above the Dutch flag. Orange. Orange. Orange.

Now that we’ve established that everything is orange, what do people actually do on King’s Day? First and foremost, they sell junk, although I’m pretty sure they don’t actually use the word junk. On King’s Day, anyone and everyone can sell just about anything on the street. Seriously, nearly everything. The only things that are not allowed are alcohol (unless you have a permit) and spoiled food. Otherwise, it’s a free for all, although you do have to drink from plastic cups. I think I can handle that small sacrifice.

For those of us who don’t believe a party should be about shopping, there are plenty of other activities. The biggest attraction is musical entertainment. Although many partygoers head to Amsterdam where an outdoor concert draws 800,000 visitors, I avoid the city like the plague. The place is packed. Literally, you don’t walk down streets, you are jostled down them. My first year in the Netherlands, I insisted on going to Amsterdam. Big. Mistake. Gigantic. Huge. Mistake. By early afternoon, I was ready to go home, but we literally could not get anywhere. Not even on the side streets. Finally, I spotted a police officer (they’re easy to spot as the Dutch are the tallest people in the world). He was able to cut a path through the crowd and I was his tail. By the time we made it to the train station (luckily, the cop was going in the correct direction!), there was an entire parade of people following him. Never again.

But there’s more! Fraternities and sororities make up all kinds of drunken games to raise money. There are carnival rides. Here in The Hague, we even have an entire carnival. Of course, there’s lots of food and beverage as well. Because there is no party without the obligatory orange beer, right?

And what’s a birthday celebration without gifts? It turns out that each year Dutch citizens leave thousands of gifts at the gates to the royal stables for the King. These gifts are catalogued and placed in the Royal Archives – a place that is not open to the public, but I was lucky enough to tour last year.

There’s tons more going on, but it’s time for me to head to the party. Proost!