19 Strange Dutch Habits and Customs
If you’ve only just arrived in The Netherlands or been in the country for a while there are a lot of strange Dutch habits, customs traditions to discover. Here are just nineteen of the weird things the Dutch get up to.
1) Cycle everywhere without bike helmets
Maybe it is cycling from a very early age that makes the Dutch very confident when it comes to getting about on two wheels. Not only are they able to multitask while cycling but they do so without even wearing bike helmets (and think it’s strange if anyone does).
Read more: How To Cycle Like The Dutch
2) Eat very salty liquorice
If a Dutch person ever offers you liquorice (Dutch drop) be very careful. It could be a trap. Some types of Dutch liquorice have a very extreme salty taste that will make everyone of your taste buds scream out in horror. It’s hard to understand how the Dutch can love the stuff so much.
Read more: The Horrors of Dutch Drop
3) Ignore emergency alarms (if it’s on the first Monday of the month)
On the first Monday of every month, at noon, a rather scary sounding alarm screeches over the whole of the country. The Dutch ignore it though since they know it is just a scheduled test. But what happens if there is a real emergency on the first Monday of the month at noon?
Read more: The Emergency Alarm
4) Use the Dutch word ‘dus’ for everything
The Dutch word ‘dus’ (which mean ‘so’ in English) is very flexable. It can be used to communicate a wide range of thoughts, feelings and emotions. It can be everything from an angry stop word to a suggestive come on (and more). That’s why it is best not to get the intended meaning mixed up.
Read more: The Many Meanings of Dus
5) Celebrate birthdays by sitting in a circle with tea, coffee and a slice of cake
If you only consider a party to be a party if the music is too loud, the police have been called three times and someone is passed out in the corner you are going to be slightly disappointed by a Dutch birthday party. It mostly involves sitting in a circle and drinking coffee. Even on this list it is one of the most strange Dutch habits.
Read more: The Dutch Circle Party Tradition
6) Go camping in style
When the Dutch go camping they go camping on their own terms. Why should getting in touch with nature be done without indoor plumping, a fridge/freezer, washing machine, heating, a home entertainment system and the other luxuries of home?
Read more: A Dutch Guide To Camping
7) Greet each other with three kisses on the cheek
If a Dutch person suddenly kisses you on the cheek three times don’t get any romantic ideas. It is just their way of saying hello (and goodbye). It’s usually reserved for close friends and family so don’t go over using it yourself. That would just be odd.
Read more: The Dutch Three Kiss Rule
8) Understand the use of ‘de’ and ‘het’ even though the rule makes no sense
Most Dutch people will tell you there is a very simple rule for using the words ‘de’ and ‘het’ (which both mean ‘the’ in English). Then they remember all the times the rule does not work and admit you just have to be Dutch to understand it.
Read more: The Great Dutch Mystery – De and Het
9) Celebrate the Kings birthday (or anything else) by dressing up in orange
Whenever it is celebration time in the Netherlands the Dutch will go orange crazy. It’s no surprise since it is the official colour of the Dutch royal family (house orange). It must be a very confusing time for anyone who suffers from colour blindness.
Read More: The King’s Day Guide
10) Put lots of mayonnaise on their fries
The Dutch love mayonnaise. They love it so much that every chip shop in the land will automatically add it to your order if you don’t explicitly tell them not to. Anyone who does request not to have it is seen as an oddity. In The Netherlands mayonnaise is basically considered its own food group.
11) Drive on the right (which is weird if you are British)
Never get into an argument with the Dutch about which country drives on the correct side of the road. You will lose. They will use your own language (English) against you to explain why driving on the right side of the road makes them right and you wrong.
Read More: Driving in Holland
12) Sometimes live in dangerous houses (especially in Amsterdam)
Old Dutch houses have a lot of charm and character, which is a polite way of saying they can be incredibly dangerous. Spiral stairs so steep they can be classified as twisty ladders, fuses that would withstand a lighting strike and mice as house mates are just a few of the strange things you might find.
Read More: The Dutch House Guide
13) Ignore all the rules of queuing
When it comes to queuing in The Netherlands there are no rules, only survivors. It is every man, woman and child for themselves. Anyone who has ever tried to board a busy train in the Netherlands will be very familiar with this (and probably still suffer from flashbacks).
Read more: How To Queue Like The Dutch
14) Wait ages to be served by waiters
The biggest mistake you can make when trying to get served by a Dutch waiter is trying to get served by a Dutch waiter. They are masters in finding other distractions. They will only serve you when they are ready and there is not a damn thing you can do about it.
Read More: The Trouble With Dutch Waiters
15) Recognize the official start of spring based on ladies fashion
It is not the appearance of the first tulip or the first baby bunny that ushers in the start of spring in The Netherlands. It is Rokjesdag, the day Dutch ladies start wearing short skirts again (and the day most guys start accidentally walking into lamp posts).
Read More: What is Rokjesdag?
16) Celebrate New Year’s Eve with a lot of very big explosions
Most countries will have a few safe firework displays on New Year’s Eve. Holland on the other hand actually tries to blow itself up. At the stroke of midnight it is as if someone tosses a lit match into the countries entire supply of fireworks (and it does not run out till at least 2am).
Read More: How The Dutch Celebrate New Year’s Eve
17) Are un-phased by parts of their country being seven meters below sea level
If you lived with the constant risk of your country being reclaimed by the sea you would probably be a little nervous. Not the Dutch. Most of them don’t even think about it. Maybe it’s because to them The Dutch are not below sea level, the sea is above Dutch level and they are the masters of it.
18) Eat lots and lots of chocolate for breakfast
The Dutch love sweet things on their bread for breakfast. Chocolate paste, chocolate sprinkles, chocolate shavings and more. What could possibly go wrong with giving children (and adults) a massive sugar rush every morning?
19) Celebrate Sinterklaas on the 5th of December
Sinterklaas might seem like a serious copyright infringement to anyone who gets their gifts from Santa on December 25th, but don’t be mistaken. Sinterklaas is the original. Santa is the copy. In this case it is the rest of us that are being weird.
Read More: The Sinterklaas Guide
Are there any strange Dutch habits, customs or traditions missing from the list? Let me know in the comments below.
I love this. I’m an expat married to a Dutchie we have had these conversations 😊ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
My wife is Dutch too so that’s where a lot of these come from :)
They don’t use to put curtains in the windows; The lighting inside the houses is poor and indirect, mostly lights are on the wall, not in the ceiling…
The curtains thing has always surprised me a little.
Why strange? Because it’s different?
I don’t mean strange in a bad way. I’m just having fun with it. We Brits are just as strange, maybe even more so.
Would be nice if you stop confusing the foreigners with the incorrect name of the country Holland, The only correct name is the Netherlands ;)
That is true. Unless it is the world cup when the Dutch will happily shout ‘Hup Holland Hup’. but you make a very good point and you’ve given me idea for another one to go on the follow up list :)
When the temperature rises above 16 degrees Celsius, it is almost compulsory to queue in massive rows on the roads leading to the beach. And on public holidays families love to hang in home maker centres like Ikea…
Always ask “Why” if you’re told to do something
3. At least in parts of the North of the Netherlands they stoppe this about 30 years after WorldWar II
6. camping in a small tent is also very usual.
7. That habit started not before about 1975 and might have been an influence from the South of the Netherlands, which was in general not very popular in the North. Also Carnival is such a souther vulgar habit.
8. This just shows the weakness of the English language. All more civilized European language make more or less difference between male, female and neutral words.
11. Again it is England that is deviating from all normal and more civilized European countries. Lack of civilization is likely one of the backgrounds of the idiotic Brex-shit.
12. Nonsensical ideas based on very little experience.
15. I do not think that many Dutch people have ever heard that word “rokjesdagâ€. I did not at least.
16. In many cities and municipalities blowing private fireworks is forbidden.
17. Well, the UK will sink under sea-level after the Brex-shit, apart from Scotland.
18. Just the fact that English do not know choclate sprinkles (by the way called “cocklate mice†is not justifying that eating this happens that much.
You realize that the fireworks are a custom that actually blew over from the former colonies, right? Same thing happens on the Dutch Caribbean islands, but we follow it with dancing till dawn, and the roads are all red the next morning (from the pagaras). In the U.S.A. people party till midnight, then go home. On the islands people leave home around 1 AM, after wishing the family a happy new year.
Flabbergasted with so much “facts” that are non-existent. Fireworks at new year happens in so many countries, to start with all over China. Wearing a helmet on a bycicle is something for US tourists, not for Dutch for sure. Not waiting in the row? Maybe only in Amsterdam, the rest is nicely queing up. So, the list may look funny but all are hardly correct.
We also like Chinese and Indonesian food. Especially saté sauce!
Once Indonesian had being one of our colonies. Also Surinam, The Nederlandse Antillen, Curacao, Aruba, Sint Maarten and Bonaire were our colonies once. Some still are. Anybody can tell me this?
Our grammar is very unlogical. Some words are the same but with a totally different meaning. The language in general is very difficult for strangers..
Haha this is lovely to read. Have you heard about carrots ans peas combined in a jar…and stamppot? Very popular here. ☺
Bring your own cake on your birthday
Plan everything in advance (no spontanious meetups, people will be fully booked for 3 weeks prior)
Hi Stuart,
I really like this post. I’m working at Intercultural Professionals (www.interculturalprofessionals.com). We give culture training like ‘Understanding the Dutch’, and I wanted to ask you if it’s okey if we write an article on our webpage about this post of yours, and link to your webpage of course. Please let me know!
Regards, Eva
Our grammar indeed knows several determiners for male / female (de) and neutral (het) nouns. Because a lot of Dutch people doesn’t speak normal Dutch and they know very little of our grammar and the history of the grammar, they are not able to teach this to not native Dutch speakers. I am very sorry about that.
Haha, funny and we have for sure some really weird habits. Specially the birthday celebration, which a lot of people celebrate as you described it. So boring ðŸ˜
But I’m sorry, mayo isn’t automatically add to fries, you have tot ask and pay for it and I totaly disagree to number 14 (and I’m not a waiter myself). Sometimes it happens, but even so in other Countries. The Dutch aren’t an exception