Most countries with royalty celebrate their monarch's birthday with pomp and ceremony. The Dutch, in contrast, hold a giant open-air market. We browse through the offerings on Koninginnedag.

Queen Beatrix - then and now

International visitors arriving in the Netherlands on Koninginnedag often feel as if they have taken a wrong turn and ended up at a riotous Middle Eastern souk or bazaar.

Every inch of the pavement in every city, town and village in the country is taken up with people squatting on rugs and plastic selling off mostly useless but strangely intriguing bric-a-brac.

Well-used (broken) children's toys, chipped china crockery, vacuum cleaners and Hi-Fi systems that were state-of-art when Elvis was still playing Vegas — all this and much more is on offer at very low prices. And all the while semi-professional and terrible amateur bands blast out what passes for music from just about every street corner.

This year is no different, with the Queen's birthday being celebrated on Wednesday 30 April.

Market

Koninginnedag - or Queen's Day - is the one day a year that ordinary folk are allowed to set up shop on the sidewalk without a trading licence. A good thing too, as most of the bargains bought on Queen's Day will either end up in the garbage by 1 May, or be stashed away in an attic or garage until next year's festivities.

Marking territory

Traditionally in the days running up to Queen's Day, strange boxes are sectioned off on pavements around the country and marked with the word "Bezet", or occupied.

To the uninitiated, these markings in chalk or tape may appear to be some kind of bizarre crop circles. They are not, they are just an example of the assertiveness of the Dutch – if you want to sell items on Queen's Day you have to mark out your territory well in advance.

The Dutch are very assertive when it comes to free trade, but not so interested in tidying up afterwards, so that the "Bezet" markings tend to linger on long after Queen's Day and for months after that.

For the first time ever, Amsterdam City Council took the previously unthinkable step in 2004 of banning locals from reserving their patch. Anyone caught marking the pavement faced a EUR 110 fine. Now, in cities with a free market, it's first come gets a place, and selliing is permitted from 6am until 8pm.

One could argue that selling junk is a rather curious way to celebrate Queen Beatrix's birthday, especially given that her birthday is in January. But being the old sport she is, the Queen decided in 1980 when she ascended to the throne that Queen's Day would remain on 30 April in honour the birthday of her mother, Queen Juliana.

Guidebooks constantly marvel at the quaint Koninginnedag customs, when the supposedly-reserved Dutch let their hair down and toast the Queen and her Royal House by covering everything in orange, buying and selling as if it was still the 1600s and indulging in lots of music, street performances and alcohol.

Royals

Royal-spotting is an important element of Queen's Day and each year the Queen and other royals bestow an official visit on one or more parts of her realm to meet and greet her subjects. This year she will be be joining the celebrations in the province of Friesland, first in the town of Maakum and then Franeker. For more information on the Queen's schedule on 29 and 30 April visit www.koninklijkhuis.nl/ 

How to survive

There are several ways to avoid the crowds and even save a few cents. The faint-hearted can stay at home and watch the day's events on television.

There have long been complaints that the festivities are being marred by increased commercialisation and that the crowds in the big cities are unbearable. To avoid this, you might consider getting out your map of the Netherlands and picking a small town (one you have never heard of before) and going there. This is a great way to sample the "gezelligheid" (pleasantness) inherent in the festivities.

Alternatively, you could hit the streets of one of the big four (Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam or Utrecht) and dive right into the hedonistic indulgence of drink, music and the search for the bargain you never really wanted. If you feel really brave you could have your face painted orange to help blend into the local scene.

Amsterdam
Amsterdam is among the cities that have set aside certain areas for children to lay out their stalls. These are the north side of Sint Anthoniesluis and the north side of Leliegracht in the centre of the city (Centrum); an area in the Amsterdamse Poort centre in the South-East; the Dapperplein in East - Watergraafsmeer, Buikslotermeerplein in Amsterdam North and the entire Vondelpark in Old South (Oud Zuid). On 29 April the park closes at 8pm. In Osdorp the Stadspark is reserved for a children's market and activities (entrance between Meer and Pieter Calandlaan). For a full programme visit www.koninginnedagamsterdam.nl.

Most towns and cities have fairground attractions and music lined up, many kicking off on Queen's day eve (Koninginneacht) on Tuesday 29 April and bars and cafes can have extended weekend licenses of up to 2am. 

The Hague
Check out he Queen's night programme in The Hague at  www.koninginnenach.nl. 

The Queen's day programme is at www.haagsekoninginnedag.nl.

Rotterdam
Rotterdam's official celebrations are focused on Queen's Day, with the general market on the Coolsingel. Check out www.rotterdamviertkoninginnedag.nl for the full programme. 

Utrecht
The free market (vrijmarkt) in Utrecht begins at 6pm on Tuesday 29 April and runs until the same time on Wednesday 30 April. A lot of other festivities in the city also geared towards children, but Utrecht will also be filled with music – professional and otherwise – on most street corners and stalls selling the unwanted contents of the vendor's garage.

Because that is what it is all about – it is just a cover for the fact Koninginnedag is the one day of the year that singers and garage bands are actively encouraged to set up on each street corner to give passersby  their all and "traditional" Dutch ballads that have, thankfully, been relegated for the rest of the year to the special CD offers on the shopping channel.

The public don't seem to mind though. Anyway, everyone is jammed together like sardines so you can't escape Koninginnedag even if you wanted to.

Weather update: The current forecast predicts a sunny spring day for Wednesday... 

Check out Expatica's calendar and  www.uitburo.nl, www.internetwijzer-bao.nl/koningin/ or www.nl20.nl/ for an indication of the action near you. 

 Photo credits: Flickr: Erwin Boogert and .m for matthijs.

Load your coverage of Queen's day 2008 into our newly-created flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/people/expatica/. All contributed material will be credited accordingly.  We'd love to showcase your photos and videos after the event!  If you send a written contribution, please give a reference to your flickr account.

 [Copyright Expatica 2008]