What is King’s Day? | A Cartoon Guide to Koningsdag

Koningsdag (otherwise known as King’s Day) is simply put; the biggest party ever in the Netherlands. It is the day when the whole country goes nuts celebrating the birthday of the Dutch King, Willem-Alexander.

It’s been a Dutch tradition since 1890. Of course Willem-Alexander wasn’t around back then so it was originally known as Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day). It started as a celebration of Queen Wilhelmina’s birthday and then Queen Juliana’s. Queen Beatrix skipped it (keeping the date on her Mother’s Birthday) but now it is her son’s turn. As such the date of the celebration has moved about a bit but it is currently held on the 27th of April (or the 26th if the Koningsdag falls on a Sunday).

History lesson aside, the celebrations have only become crazier with each passing year. So here are a few of the things you need to be aware of during the madness that is known as Koningsdag.

1) During King’s Day Orange fever grips The Netherlands:

Everyone in the Netherlands goes orange crazy (oranje gekte) to show their support for the Dutch family (The House of Orange-Nassau). There are orange banners, flags and decorations, orange coloured foods and drinks, orange dyed hair and lots of orange clothes and crazy accessories. It’s possible that the entire Dutch economy gets a sudden boost from the sales of all the orange novelty items alone. It must be a very confusing day for anyone who suffers from colour blindness though.

2) Navigating any Dutch city is almost impossible:

The streets become packed with people celebrating and moving from open air concert to open air concert. Navigating Dutch cities such as Amsterdam in large groups on Koningsdag becomes an impossible task. The current of the crowd is too strong and before you know it part of your group is washed up on Dam square while the other half is being dragged towards Museum Plein at a speed of 12 knots.

Forget about using public transport too. Buses and trams don’t even try entering the city. The metro becomes a social experiment, studying what happens when you put as many drunk people as possible into a confined space. Which brings us to…

3) There will be lots and lots of alcohol:

Most parties involve lots of alcohol and King’s Day is no exception, unless you count the fact that the drinking starts around 9am. Beer stalls pop-up all over the city as if strategically placed to be there when your previous beer runs out. It’s as if someone has calculated the perfect drinking to walking ratio.

No matter how hard you try not to you will end up covered in beer, even if you are not drinking it yourself. It’s a side effect of inebriated people trying to carry more beer than they have fingers.

Under-age drinkers will attempt to join in on the festivities too by concealing the alcoholic drink of their choice within innocent looking fizzy pop drinks bottles. To them this is the height of deception and completely undetectable by even the greatest of minds. To the rest of us it is extremely obvious due to their loud giggling, singing and constant fighting over the contents of the bottle and the fact that Dr Pepper has suddenly become strangely fluorescent blue in colour.

4) You can find lots of strange stuff in the King’s Day vrijmarkt:

On King’s Day the ban on free trade is temporarily lifted, creating the Vrijmarkt (free market). This means the Dutch can and will gather all the unwanted items from their house, take them outside, dump them on the street and use any means necessary to sell them to passersby for a few coins. Crack addicts trying to score money for drugs have more subtlety and dignity. It’s not unusual for people to camp out overnight to claim the best spot to sell their stuff either (or to just leave it on the street at the end of the day if they can’t sell it).

Amongst the many items available in the vrijmarkt it is often possible to find things such as 80’s aerobic workout VHS cassettes, top of the pops music cassette tapes, 2D game floppy disks and other discontinued entertainment media formats. It’s entirely possible that these items have been changing owners every King and Queen’s Day since 1985.

5) The kindermarkt is a defining moment in the life of any Dutch child:

During King’s Day Vondelpark in Amsterdam becomes a children’s market (a place where children sell their unwanted toys, not where parents sell their unwanted children). This makes it possible for parents to see all the money they spent on toys for the last couple of Sinterklaas pakjesavonden get traded in for Pokemon cards.

Selling toys at the children’s market is a defining moment in every Dutch child’s life. It hints at the kind of adult they will become. Will they be honest and generous or will they try to sell those free McDonald’s Happy Meal toys for 2 euros each?

Children will also sing, dance, juggle, mime, play musical instruments, recite poetry, re-enact Shakespeare or simply stand on their head in an attempt to earn extra money.

6) King’s Day ends sooner than you think:

By the late afternoon King’s Day is more or less over. Everyone is far too drunk (or hung over) to do anything. That’s the side effect of the entire population drinking from the moment they stepped out of bed. The streets are suddenly empty. The music has died down. Crushed plastic beer cups and discarded orange novelty items are all that remains. It’s like some kind of bizarre post apocalyptic movie scene (possibly one about drunk zombies gate crashing a street party).

7) Even the Royals know how to party during King’s Day:

The madness of King’s Day is a further proof that even the Dutch royal family hate Dutch circle parties and will do anything to make sure their birthday is a lively one.