Is today Rokjesdag?

by Stuart · April 18, 2018

Each spring I spend more time than I probably should trying to calculate the exact date Rokjesdag will happen. It’s not because I’m trying to plan my week around it or anything creepy like that. It’s just that as an expat blogger who writes about his experiences with Dutch culture it is useful to know these things. The trouble is Rokjesdag (aka: skirt day) is very hard to pin down. It never ends up being on anything even resembling the same day of the year. Most of the time it never happens in the same week of the year and in some extreme cases not even the same month. Rokjesdag is as unpredictable as the Dutch weather (for obvious reasons).

Then, even when it does happen, people disagree on whether the amount of ladies they saw wearing skirts was enough to make it official. I know many people who fiercely debate this topic each year.

We can’t easily predict when Rokjesdag will happen but is there a way to more officially recognize when it has happened? I will put my blogging reputation on the line and say today seems like it could be the day. So, is there a way to tell if today is/was Rokjesdag?

I had considered going out on to the street with a clipboard and counting the amount of ladies I saw wearing skirts for myself. It seemed like the best way to get an answer. However, it also seemed like the best way to get myself in a lot of unintentional trouble. I doubt the police would accept the explanation, “I’m doing a scientific study.”

So let’s take a different approach instead. Let’s put it to a vote and answer this question once and for all (for at least this year) and ask…