Despite the fact that the Netherlands is a country in many respects specific, its people celebrate traditional holidays with pleasure.
New Year and Christmas
As in the whole Catholic world, the Netherlands are fond of Christmas. But here it is, rather, a fabulous holiday. Here they believe that on a holy night water turns into wine, and animals talk in human voices. The day following Christmas is given to St. Stephen the patron saint of livestock.
New Year in the Netherlands is called "Old-New" and is celebrated loudly, brightly and joyfully. The apogee of the holiday comes, of course, at midnight and is accompanied by numerous fireworks, howling of automobile signals and the explosion of salutes. Night clubs and discos offer festive programs, and those who wish can join the festive crowd on the street. For tourists it is especially interesting that all December stores are filled up with all kinds of gifts and souvenirs, you can buy them often at a miserable price.
Easter
Easter is celebrated for two days: Sunday and Monday. In these days, almost no shops work, all official institutions are closed, churches are decorated with white flowers, and whole families come to the solemn mass.
National Museum Holiday
It's hard to say whether it was lucky or, on the contrary, unlucky for those tourists who came to the country on the second weekend of April: more than 550 museums of the country are open for these days for free or offer huge discounts on tickets. Moreover, all museums offer special programs: various performances, installations, exhibitions of exhibits from storages, thematic expositions, excursions for children and teenagers.
These days it is important to determine your own priorities .Many are sent to one of the best museums in Europe, the Rijksmuseum, to enjoy the canvases of the great Dutch of the 15th and 17th centuries, and some go to the unique Hasheesh and Marijuana Museum, which is also free of charge on that day..The doors of the famous Anne Frank House, the Jewish Historical Museum, the museums of numerous diamond factories, and the museum of the Heineken brewery .The choice is difficult to make, but it is necessary: very many have a desire to join the Museum Weekend, so the queue is everywhere significant .
Queen's Day
But the most important, most cherished holiday in the country is the Queen's Birthday.
To this day a lot of Dutch people from all over the country come to Amsterdam on all types of transport. At the same time, each of them is dressed either in something orange, or in all orange - the color of the royal house of the Orange-Nassau. The streets are decorated with everything that you can: flags, garlands, posters, neckings, ribbons, balloons - the main thing is that it's orange.
In the morning on a festive Saturday traffic is blocked along the streets, from vehicles only barges and boats are left, which, incidentally, are decorated with orange. Streets are filled with folk festivals, performances, concerts in the open air. On Dam Square - the epicenter of the epicenter of the holiday - they dance, sing, and treat it to the local delicacy - Dutch herring for free. Groups of happy people move along the streets - on foot and on boats, and who can not move anymore, rest in the most unexpected places.
The police do not interfere in what is happening, and there is no need: the atmosphere of the holiday is very friendly and welcoming .Tourists caught in the midst of festive events, impressions and emotions waiting for an unlimited amount of $ $ .To this we must add that on the last day of April all stores are allowed to sell goods without value-added tax, with a 30% discount of .So, there is a celebration that lasts for the last weekend in April - $ .And by the morning of Monday the city again returns to its usual form, only here and there you can meet someone in orange ... A new working week begins, and hard-working Dutchmen hurry to take their jobs .
Gay Parade in Amsterdam - $
The time of this holiday is the end of July and the beginning of August. By the announced day, gays, lesbians, transsexuals and transvestites are coming to Amsterdam, without exaggeration, from all over the world. For many people, the phrase "gay parade" sounds shocking, but in reality everything turns into a bright, colorful holiday, a sparkling show, participation in which takes the whole city and its guests.
Columns of people dressed in imaginable and unimaginable costumes move around the city to merry music, the sounds of squeaks and ratchets, involving everyone in the immediate vicinity of the festive whirlwind. Boats and barges, decorated with such a flight of fantasy, are moving along the canals, which can be envied by outstanding theater artists. The atmosphere of universal fun and full relaxedness reigns in Amsterdam these days, and tourists who have visited this celebration of life, speak of it with undisguised admiration.
Day of the cyclist in the Netherlands
The holiday, in general, is absurd, because every day in Holland is the day of the bicyclist .Nevertheless, on the second Saturday of May each Dutchman considers it his duty to go somewhere on a bicycle .Being the most widespread transport in the capital, the bicycle became an integral part of the life of the Amsterdamers .With bikes often happen various incidents .For example, they are stealing .Often, not with malice, but because the circumstances have developed, or simply because it has become a national sport .Sometimes the scattered owner forgets where exactly he parked his vehicle, and the sad bike remains rusted under frequent Amsterdam rain .And sometimes bikes fall into the channels .However, judging by how the Amsterdamers answer the question about the depth of the canals - "Three meters of water and one meter of bicycles" - this happens quite often .
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