Information
| Dutch national Holidays |
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Queen’s Birthday
‘Koninginnedag’ actually started as Princess’ Day on August 31st, 1885, to honour young princess Wilhelmina on her fifth birthday. After king William III died in 1890, princess Wilhelmina became our queen and the name was changed to Queen’s Day, a title it retains to this day. In 1948 Juliana, Wilhelmina’s daughter succeeded to the throne and from 1949 Queen’s Day is celebrated on Juliana’s actual birthday, April 30th. Through the years more and more people had a free day from work which gradually made April 30th a national holiday. When Beatrix succeeded her mother on the 30th of April 1980, she decided to honour her mother to maintain this particular day as Queen’s Day. Since her own birthday was January 31st it didn’t seem as suitable for festivities in the open air, which have come to be associated with Queen’s Day. Queen Beatrix, together with many of her family members, visits one or two towns in the Netherlands. Many festivities are organized by the local Orange societies and enjoyed by Royals and citizens alike. Very traditional games and activities are planned, such as the children’s favourite ‘koekhappen’ (bite-the-cake), as well as musical recitals, sport demonstrations and traditional dances. Amsterdam is well known for its ‘vrijmarkt’, a kind of garage sale in the open air, where people sell their surplus goods. Each year about half a million visitors, many of which are foreigners, visit this city to witness this very attractive event. Queen’s birthday is officially a national day in Holland and people hang out their flags, often with an orange banner, as the Dutch royal family is the House of Orange. 5 May - Liberation Day
The Second World War in the Netherlands was fought between the 10th of May 1940 and the 5th of May 1945 and left deep marks in Dutch society. Before the celebration of the 5th of May, the national commemoration of the dead takes place each year on the eve of the 4th of May. The Dutch commemorate all civilians and soldiers who died since the beginning of the war by a two minute silence at 8:00 p.m. in the entire country. |
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After that the national anthem is played. The national flag hangs half-mast from 6:00 p.m. till sunset. One of the places where there is a commemoration is the Waalsdorpervlakte, right near Benoordenhout. It has become wellknown throughout the country because it is broadcast live on television. This ceremony is for everyone who wants to pay his or her respect, contrary to the official commemoration at the National Monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam. Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem Alexander and his wife, Princess Maxima, along with government officials and veterans participate in the ceremony. The Waalsdorpervlakte in the dunes was chosen because over 250 people were executed there by the Nazi’s. In memory of them, a monument was donated by the Hague citizens and placed on the very spot of the executions. On a dune overlooking this monument, a large Bourdon bell was placed. On May 4th eve, the bell tolls with its full, dark sound to make an appeal to the nation to think of all the people who gave their lives during the war years 1940- 1945 (in our country over 200,000 people died of which more than half were Jewish Holocaust victims). Everyone can walk along in this silent and impressive march to the monument and the bell on the Waalsdorpervlakte. The procession begins about 18:30 behind the TNO building on the Landscheidingsweg. On May 5th the liberation of the German and Japanese (in the then Dutch East Indies) occupation is celebrated. Since 1990, May 5th has become a national holiday every five years. The liberation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1945 is remembered. It is not necessarily an official day off. Employers and employees may decide for themselves what to do on this day. You will see flags hanging everywhere.
Flags and pupils
Another remarkable and certainly typical Dutch custom can be observed during May and June. When students succeed for their final exams of their secondary school, they hang their schoolbags, with or without our national flag, on the flag post! So you will always know when to congratulate your student neighbour! |
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| Benoordenhout International Expat Borrel |
| On Monday June 8th, on the initiative of two resident internationals, Tina Evans of Blue Lynx Employment (www.bluelynx.com) and Deborah Valentine of a hand in The Hague (www.ahandinthehague.com) , internationals living in the neighbourhood were invited for a drink and a chance to meet one another. The guest list was ‘compiled’ by spreading the word through neighbours each of them knew were internationals and asking them, in turn, to invite others as well. With the additional support of DenHaag.com (the editor of which is a neighbourhood international) and TheHagueOnLine.com the message got out and the guests arrived.
The event was so well attended, received and enjoyed that the second BIEB has been held on Monday, 21 September 2009 at the Park WW – a particularly welcoming and friendly environment in which to feel and become part of the neighbourhood. It was in fact a surprise element for some internationals that Park WW could also become their home away from home on those evenings when you just do not feel like cooking. For families and couples Denny and his staff are there to make you feel at home (www.parkww.nl).
Questions regarding the BIEB can be directed to ahandinthehague@gmail.com otherwise, mark the next Bieb meeting in your calendars for YOUR chance to meet some neighbours. |
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It may well become THE meeting place for internationals of Benoordenhout – people from somewhere else but who for one or another reason find themselves living in The Hague – and more specifically, in Benoordenhout. De bieb – in Dutch referring to the library, the biblioteek, could well acquire another meaning – for the Benoordenhout International [Expat] Borrel, a time and place for internationals of the area to meet and get to know one another, have a place from which they can feel part of the neighbourhood.
This should not be interpreted as an exclusive ‘expat’ affair for at the first of the BIEB, there was a health balance of internationals recently arrived, those long established, with Dutch partners, or without, Dutch who had had international experiences themselves – there was in fact as much Dutch spoken as English, Spanish, Russian, French and German. Furthermore representatives of the Benoordenhout Residents Association were on hand to answer questions and welcome their new neighbours. |
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| Interview with one of the co-founders of the BIEB, Tina Evans |
Little did she realise when she arrived in 1986 that that ‘je ne sais quoi’ which drew her here would result in settling, entrepreneurship and motherhood!
Following the completion of her studies in her native London, Tina travelled to The Hague, with 16 guilders in her pocket to catch up and spend some time with Dutch friends made during previous travels. There was something about the Dutch community that she had met overseas that drew her to them, and she followed this curiosity to learn more.
A week following her arrival, a job at Shell and an impromptu visit to Clingendael, sealed her fate, as it were. This was to be her home. Back then, more than 20 years ago, The Hague was anything but the ‘international city’ it has now evolved into. Expats were few and far between, as were the services available to this particular resident of the city.
Many a business success is said to be based on running with an idea in the right place at the right time. As the Founder, and now Managing Director, of Blue Lynx Employment, a recruitment agency specialised in multilingual recruitment, Tina took her experience as well as her knowledge of the local international market and with Blue Lynx has created a product, a service, which has served the city well.
The role of the temp employee to the stability and success of any business did not escape Tina.
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As the international business community grew Tina witnessed the growth of a market needing multilingual employees and provided a platform through which to “… provide a top notch recruitment service for international business professionals seeking employment within international companies in the Netherlands.” For Tina, it was not just about the internationals already living in the Netherlands looking for an employment opportunity which capitalised upon their multilingual skills, it was also importantly about Dutch job seekers wishing to spread their wings in an international environment. For Tina, it is about all about bringing people together - employer and employee, as well as neighbours. With the same motivation which led her to set up Blue Lynx Tina Evans is also co-founder of the neighbourhood’s most recent initiative for internationals.
The Benoordenhout International Expat Borrel (Dutch for drinks), otherwise known as the BIEB, is another opportunity of bringing people together. In this case, not at the office, but in the neighbourhood she fell in love with on that first visit to Clingendael in 1986. Tina has lived a total of thirteen years in Benoordenhout with a gap in the middle when the family migrated to Leiden, only to return to Benoordenhout with her Dutch husband, Willem Stein (himself a Benoordenhout native), and son Max because she was, well, “… homesick”.
Deborah Valentine |
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2011-04-27
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