Koninginnedag2007

Koninginnedag (AudioNl-koninginnedag.oggpronunciation) or Queens Day is a national holiday (public holiday) in the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba on 30 April or on 29 April if the 30th is a Sunday. Queens Day celebrates the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands (Monarchy of the Netherlands) and is supposed to be a day of national unity and "togetherness" (lang-nlsaamhorigheid). The tradition started on 31 August 1885, on the birthday of Princess Wilhelmina (Wilhelmina of the Netherlands), later Queen Wilhelmina. Since 1949, after the accession of Queen Juliana (Juliana of the Netherlands), Queens Day is Queen Julianas birthday on 30 April. Although Queen Beatrix (Beatrix of the Netherlands)s birthday is on 31 January, she officially celebrates her birthday on 30 April.

Queens Day is known for its "freemarket" (Dutch: vrijmarkt) all over the country, where everybody is allowed to sell things in the streets. Other activities during Queens Day are childrens games, individual musical performances, and music concerts. The night before Queens Day is celebrated too in most cities, and this is called Queens Night (Dutch: Koninginnenacht). The largest celebration of Queens Day is in Amsterdam, Queens Night in The Hague and Queens Dance (Dutch: Koninginnedans) in Rotterdam. During the celebrations as reference to the colours of the House of Orange-Nassau, people dress in the colour orange (Orange (colour)), which is sometimes called "orange craze" (Dutch: oranjegekte).