Koninginnedag

[Joke]

Tomorrow is koninginnedag, the day we celebrate the birthday of our queen. There are lots of activities in all cities and villages.
I wonder what people from other countries think about the way we celebrate our national day.

Joke

PS Koninginnedag is actually at April 30th, but not when that's a Sunday.

[jen]

Hi Joke,

I think that celebrating Queen Beatrix's birthday is awesome.

Its a normal thing to do when a head of state is a monarch. Being from Canada there is a day that we celebrate a past Queens birthday. We dont particularly celebrate Queen Elizabeth's birthday in Canada. However, this day is observed and noted in a television program or something to that effect every year. Dont get me wrong, the Queen is amazing but she (Elizabeth) is more of a symbol to Britain than to Canada.



Also a few years back here in Ottawa, we put on a little celebration for a Dutch princess. I am so sorry because I cant recall the name of the princess. (Could it be Margaret? ) I do know the story behind it though. This princess was born in Ottawa technically but there was actual soil from Holland in the room so that she could receive all the royal titles. This was during WWII so the family had to leave Holland for a while to stay safe.

Ever since then Holland sends thousands and thousands of tulip bulbs to Ottawa to show gratitude. With these bulbs, Ottawa is able to put on a smaller version of the Keukenhof. I go to the festival almost every year.

The Netherlands knows how to party !!!!!

Anyways I better end now

Take Care
Jen

[Marco]

It was prinses Margriet, yes.

Are you a fan of the royals?

[jen]

Abdolutely.....any royals are great!

[Vicky]

Ever since the Dutch consulate had been opened in my country (Kyrgyzstan) the Koninginnedag has been celebrated where all Dutch people working or being guests in the country are invited. I've been a representative of my daughter who is registered by the consulate as a Dutch citizen on this events. This year she went with me for the first time. It is a pity she cound't speak Dutch. I always wore something orange and my daughter too. It is a nice occasion to meet old and new people there, practice Dutch a little and just have fun.

The Dutch Consul left this year to NL for good. I don't know yet if the new one has been appointed because it is a position of a Honorary Consul. If not than unfortunately we won't have the Koninginnedag next year.

[cherie7]

I spent Koninginnedag only once in Holland and i really enjoyed it, but i was in a small town so i guess it was different than celebration in Amsterdm or other bigger cities...

The day was really nice ( although the weather was bad), there were people selling things they didnt need anymore, in stalls, i bought some nice stuff

and there were also people from other countries dancing their traditional dances...really nice day  :-D

unfortunately i wont be able to be there this year but i hope for the next

[Ome Jorge]

Om het nog ingewikkelder te maken het volgende. Beatrix is jarig op 31 januari. 30 april is de verjaardag van onze vorige koningin, dat was Juliana.

[kwalijkje]

It's been quite a while since Koninginnedag, but I was in Amsterdam for it this year.
I noticed on previous visits to Holland that the day before Koninginnnedag there are lots of people in the street with chalk and duc-tape marking spots for stalls. It never occurred to me that so many stalls can be squeezed in to such narrow streets.
But this year I wanted to try a bit of social experimentation. Me and a friend went out with tape and marked our own spot on the ground. We then went out parting, overslept and missed the first half of Koninginnedag, but I was amazed to find my space was still there. There were stalls pressed in as close as they could go to this space, but it was still there.
So we spread out a blanket and partied on the street. So many people joined us. It was like having a picnic in Vondel Park. With more music and more people.
Boy, the Dutch know how to celebrate. It was one of the best holiday/festivals I've been too.

[Charlieee]

Koninginnedag sounds great! Its nice that the Dutch people still celebrate their monarchy in this way (not that I am a huge fan of royalty). Its strange that over here in the UK where we have probably the most famous and well known royal family in the world, we don't have any days to celebrate them. Not even a bank holiday on the Queen's official birthday! Its a shame that, but I can understand as a lot of people don't take to the monarchy any more.
What is the view of the majority of the Dutch population towards their royal family? I remember reading somewhere that when Queen Juliana stepped down, there were riots in the Netherlands from people who wanted the royal family abolished. Is that true? Do people still feel that way now?

[Quetzal]

Koninginnedag sounds great! Its nice that the Dutch people still celebrate their monarchy in this way (not that I am a huge fan of royalty). Its strange that over here in the UK where we have probably the most famous and well known royal family in the world, we don't have any days to celebrate them. Not even a bank holiday on the Queen's official birthday! Its a shame that, but I can understand as a lot of people don't take to the monarchy any more.
What is the view of the majority of the Dutch population towards their royal family? I remember reading somewhere that when Queen Juliana stepped down, there were riots in the Netherlands from people who wanted the royal family abolished. Is that true? Do people still feel that way now?

Like in any monarchy, there are some who prefer a republic. But since Juliana and Beatrix were/are great queens, and Willem-Alexander and his wife seem rather promising as well, on the whole the Dutch monarchy is still fairly popular. Although there has been some debate about whether they should evolve to a Swedish model where the king/queen really has no power at all anymore (as opposed to the current situation in which the queen is still a member of the government). Same debate in Belgium, except we're rather less fond of either our king or the heir-apparent... and so the republican faction probably has a bit more popularity.

I'm sure our actual Dutch members will have more to say on this, though.