Luxembourg’s Dutch community celebrated their national holiday King’s Day yesterday in glowing style.
While the Dutch Ambassador hosted an official garden party reception for this occasion at the Residency “Bricherhaff” for the dignitaries, politicians, diplomatic corps and local Dutch community on Wednesday 26 April, the Dutch Club Luxembourg took care of the festive part of the celebrations on the actual day itself.
Following tradition the party was held at the Tube bar in the city centre. For the party, sponsored by Vistra, the pub was painted Orange and Dutch tunes were played by Dutch DJ Jean-Pierre.
Koningsdag (King’s Day) is the national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and is celebrated on 27 April, the birthday of King Willem-Alexander who turned 50 this year, and is celebrated all over the world, from the Netherlands to the Caribbean, including Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Martin (Sint Maarten).
Previously the national Holiday was known as Queen’s Day and was celebrated on 30 April, for Queen Juliana, the current King’s grandmother. Since King Willem Alexander‘s accession to the throne in 2013 the day moved three days ahead.
In the Netherlands, Kingsday is known for its nationwide “free markets” when many Dutch people empty their attics and sell their secondhand items and also give the opportunity for the country to show the orange madness (“oranje gekte”) when the normally down to earth Dutch let down their hair, the latter often dyed orange for the occasion, and everyone and everything turns orange for a day.
King’s Day is also an opportunity for the Monarch to honour citizens in the “Order of Orange – Nassau” for their service to the country.
The Dutch Club Luxembourg is a very active social club organising events and activities throughout the year for all age groups. Currently the club has about 500 members (nvl.lu).
