Kingsday, every 27th of April it is time to celebrate the birthday of the King, is one of the few traditions we have in Holland, and I believe it is quite unique in the world. It is a day of joy, celebration and a day free of work for most people. There are plenty of festivals and flea markets. We do not feel really that much attached to our king but give the Dutch a reason to drink and celebrate, we will truly enjoy the opportunity. And as we are Dutch, we should celebrate dressed in orange.
My friends and I went to ''platte stenenbrug'' in a town called Alkmaar, since that was one of the festival locations near my hometown. which is a great place to celebrate the birthday of the king(although we rather use it as an excuse to party), we drink beer, dance to the music and talk to many old friends. It was especially enjoyable to me since I met many friends which I had not spoken with since I lived in Austria since December. The festival felt also kind of a reunion for me. Double reason to smile!
And this is a picture of the Birthday boy, the king. Heavily edited of course, as we are a very free country, where it is okay to make fun of the king, and he probably does not mind. Cheers on king willy! (His name is Willem-Alexander van Oranje-Nassau)
We got these flags from one of the party people, a really common thing at Dutch themed celebrations (Kingsday and important football matches of the Dutch team) but my drunk friend put mine upside down, I guess it was the beers
Animated GIF 
Not the best GIF, but a good memory ☀️
Orange is the Dutch color referring to the name of the royal family, with the last name being ''van oranje-nassau'' Oranje means orange, and that's why the color orange refers to the Netherlands. It is a color of national unity
How happy one can be with some Fries! It definitely is a good combination with the beers
Another thing that belongs to Kingsday is "The tompouce" is a very common delicatessen in the Netherlands, with a pink coating. When it is Kingsday, the coating is pink and therefore you can only buy the "oranje tompouce'' at kingsday, and when the World or European championship of football is held. Then we reunite, color the country orange, and somehow, we need the orange tompouce to celebrate (and beer)
For the best experience view this post on Liketu
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See you next time!
Regards,
Sascha
Hello I'm back happy festival there #xsasj, its look like in cebu city philippines putting rainbow color in there face during festival , you guys there are looks like covid free, and I hope philippines also the same like having festival in cebu 😊 stay safe there always and have fun 🤗🤗
Yay Jhonny Bee is back in the hive!
Right on and I can't wait to see more of your work..
Absolutely phenomenal post.
Incredible, and thank you for the history lesson!
I guess I missed Kings Day by just a few days. I actually went to Alkmaar today for the cheese market. I didn't know that it was a celebration but it looks fun. That cake looks good too. 👍
Ohh you are still in Holland? Too bad you missed it! They actually celebrate it through the whole country, only in Limburg province a bit less I have heard. How was the cheese market!
We came back for the weekend lol. The market was crazy busy and quite cold today but really neat. Loved the city of Alkmaar overall. Great town.
We are heading to Eindhoven now haha
Next time when you are in alkmaar, I recommend you to rent a boat(with a light engine) . They explain you in a few minutes how to drive it, and it cost just 40 euros for 2 hours, for a boat which is good for 4 people. You don't need a license since it is a slow boat.
Oh interesting. That sounds really cool. I'll definitely keep that in mind for next time. Thanks 😁
The best day of the year in the Netherlands. It's always so laugh. Only managed to get to one or two.
It is really fun indeed! If you wanna come again, make sure to get the date right! It used to be queensday, but she retired, so the king took over and the date changed.