19 Strange Dutch Habits and Customs

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.

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

203 Responses

  1. Ti says:

    Maybe in the northern part of Holland there is no alarm every first monday of the month. But in The Hague and Rijswijk it is still there.

  2. Dia Tamminga says:

    The cycling in the Netherlands is an art on its own. If you think you know the rules they don’t follow them but it is hard to figure out for someone not familiar where and when to go and stop and ride.

  3. siltje says:

    Don’t forget Gaypride parade!

  4. Karin Jongman says:

    a typical Dutch tradition is to have a birthday calender hanging on door of the toilet (inside) which you can study while peeing.

  5. Karin Jongman says:

    When a baby is born, we give all visitors Beschuit (round dry toast with butter) with muisjes (little balls of anise in blue or pink color mixed with white ones) depending on whether you gave birth to a daughter or son.

  6. Zayna says:

    Moved here 2 months ago. Experienced all but 2 of above. I would add
    – tiny bathroom sinks with only cold water
    – appointment must be booked for any type of meeting
    – lekker is used to describe a lot of things that are good, great or the best
    – another word that starts with G (that I can neither pronounce nor spell) that is used to describe an emotion or state that does not exist in the English language
    – milk is the beverage and of choice at adult business lunches or dinners

  7. Johnny says:

    We like to rephrase all kinds of Dutch sayings in bad English, using Dutch words and call it “Dunglish” and we laugh ourselves the balls out of our pants😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

  8. if rule nr 5 applies you need some new friends mate haha ;-)

  9. Ms.Hasham says:

    If a Dutch ivite you ti dinnet..you should be very careful. Coz most of the time you will have to pay your own meal and drinks. Thats why it is calked Dutch treat.

    All Dutch really has to have the last word and there is always a ‘ja, maar’ (yes, but)

    The Dutch Woman are the Boss, the man has nothing or very less to say.

  10. Cornelia Hughes says:

    You forgot the delicious bitterballen, the warme chocolademelk met slagroom, the ‘koffie is klaar’ signs outside small pubs in the countryside, everything being ‘lekker’, and the strange loos with the small raised platform in the middle!

  11. Cornelia Hughes says:

    Oh…and I LOVE pindasaus!

  12. Marieke says:

    Being told off for being too direct…Seems to be my issue where-ever I go…and work ! I Always see it as being effecient and not dancing around the ‘pot’ !

  13. NWanderlust says:

    But I still loge the dutch humor. nothing will beat the rudeness of a dutch 😂😂😂

  14. Debby Huiser says:

    There is nothing missend but you have used Holland somewehere, but the country is The Netherlands. Holland is only a small part of it officially.

  15. Such a timeless post! I enjoyed reading every bit of it, especially with the illustrations. Great work!

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