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Health & Fitness

Blog: Happy Queen's Day to all Dutch

Dual celebration for Dutch (Nederlanders) all over the world.

Having been born in Holland and having a Dutch wife (married in Holland) I want to wish all my fellow "Hollanders" a happy Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) in honor of our queen's (Beatrix)  birthday.

The national Dutch holiday is celebrated on April 30. It will be the last time that we will be able celebrate this day since as of next week we will have a king for the first time in over a century (after 3 succesive queens). As with tradition, our house and those all over Holland will fly traditional Orange flags (the royal family is from the House of Orange line of royalty) and the entire country will be adorned in orange. We have quite a large contingent of Dutch immigrants living here in So Pas.

We will also celebrate our liberation from Nazi occupation on May 5th, the day that American and Canadian troops liberated our country, thus ending WW II after much devastation and death. My parents were the sole survivors of large families, they survived by fighting in the Dutch underground.

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I myself was raised beneath a dog kennel for the German Army, where an underground sympathizer had carved out living quarters under the dog kennels for members of the resistance, unknown to the Nazis.

So May 5th has special meaning to all Dutch, from those ashes rose a vibrant new country.

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