Koninginnedag
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Queen's Day (Dutch: Koninginnedag) on April 30 (or celebrated on April 29 if the 30th is Sunday[1]) is a national holiday in the Netherlands. It started as a celebration of the Dutch monarchy.
The holiday is celebrated on this date because it was the birthday of Queen Juliana (1909-2004). When Queen Beatrix succeeded Juliana on 30 April 1980, she decided to keep the holiday on April 30, as the weather on her own birthday, January 31, tends to prohibit the traditional outdoor festivities.
Prior to 1949 the holiday was celebrated on August 31, the birthday of Queen Wilhelmina.
On Queen's Day the monarch, Queen Beatrix, visits one or two towns where she is received with celebrations in her honor. These celebrations often involve traditional Dutch dances and demonstrations of old crafts.
The previous monarch, Queen Juliana, would welcome people who came to the Soestdijk Palace. She and her family would stand on a dais, and a long line of citizens would walk past, congratulating the Queen and presenting her gifts.
[edit] Activities
The color orange is a common sight on Queen's Day, as it represents the House of Orange, which is the name of the current Dutch dynasty. There are orange banners and flags, orange colored foods and drinks. Even the water in some fountains is dyed orange.
The holiday is also a "free market" day where people set up stalls at the roadside to sell household goods they no longer need.
In recent years, Queen's Day has become more and more of an open air party, particularly in Amsterdam, which attracts anywhere from 500,000 to two million visitors.
Since Queen's Day is a national holiday and thus a day off, many people also go out and party on the evening before Queen's Day. This evening is called Queen's Night or Koninginnenach in Dutch. The T is left out because the habit of turning the eve of Koninginnedag into a special event with free open air concerts originated in The Hague, where nacht is pronounced as nach. This tradition started in the early nineties when pre-Koninginnedag riots were an increasing problem in The Hague. The idea of convincing the rioters that a celebration is a much better way to spend Koninginnenach, proved successful. The event draws thousands of visitors every year.
[edit] See also
- Queen's Official Birthday, a similar celebration in the Commonwealth Realms and Fiji
- Grand Duke's Official Birthday, a similar celebration in Luxembourg
- Queene's Day, a celebration of the accession of Elizabeth I
