Dutch New Year’s Traditions and Celebrations

Grab some Oliebollen and some fireworks as we get ready to explore the unique madness of Dutch New Year’s Celebration (or as they call it; Oud en Nieuw). It all starts with Oudejaarsavond (New Year’s Eve) on December 31st and ends with Nieuwjaarsdag (New Year’s Day) on January 1st.

1) Firing Off Lots of Fireworks

Most countries celebrate New Year’s Eve by letting off a few fireworks. They might have a safely organised display of a few brightly coloured rockets. Parents might (responsibly) light the occasional sparkler with their children in the garden and everyone will agree that ten to twenty minutes of celebration is quite enough to mark the passing of the year… Not the Dutch. The Netherlands descends into complete and total sparkly chaos. 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 until (at least) 2am.

The sound can be deafening as the night’s sky lights up with more fireworks than most non-Dutch people have seen in their entire lifetime. The result can probably be seen from space. Words alone cannot describe the madness. However, the word that comes to most people’s minds is “warzone.” It’s amazing that there is anything left of The Netherlands the following day beyond a smoking crater.

Bonus Fact: In Friesland there is a tradition called Carbidschieten. It involves filling a metal milk churn with carbide and water, quickly closing it and seeing how high the lid will blow off in the resulting weapons-grade explosion.

2) Eat Lots of Oliebollen

You can’t have a Dutch New Year’s Eve celebration without Oliebollen. The translation might not sound very appealing since it literally means “Oily Balls” but make no mistake; you will not be able to stop eating them. They can be best described as the result of someone taking the middle part of a doughnut, dropping it in the deep fat fryer and covering the whole thing in a lot of powdered sugar. The vast amounts of powdered sugar will make it look like you have a very serious cocaine habit if you are not careful when eating them (your clothes will get covered in the stuff).

Oliebollen can also be filled with other things such as: apple, pineapple, raisins (to name but a few). You can even mix the batter with beer for an extra kick.

3) Listen to the Top 2000 Songs of All Time

Each year the Dutch radio station ‘Radio 2’ starts their annual top 2000 songs of all time. The list is voted for by the Dutch public. The countdown kicks off on Christmas Day and ends with the winning song playing just before the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve.

The winner isIt is almost always Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. As a Queen fan, I don’t mind this fact at all. On the few occasions when a different song has won, I’ve been deeply shocked. When this happens my family is probably more relieved that they don’t have to listen to me singing along to it. The second place is almost always held by Hotel California by The Eagles (which I also sing along to badly).

4) Take a New Years Swim in The Cold Sea

As if to cool off from all the Dutch New Year’s celebration madness the Dutch like to start New Years Day by running into the freezing cold waters of the North Sea. They do this dressed in nothing but their bikinis, swimming shorts and a woolly (Unox) hat. The tradition has been going for almost 60 years. Most of the crazy participants gather at the Dutch seaside town of Scheveningen. It’s probably a very good hangover cure if you don’t die of hypothermia.

---

If you survive Dutch New Years check out the guide to a typical year in the Netherlands.