page_title: Koningsdag
section_title: Festivities
hierarchical_section_title: Koningsdag / Activities / Festivities
caption_attribution_description: English: Women dressed in orange during Queen's Day in the Netherlands. People dressed in orange in Amsterdam during Queen's Day in 2007. Koninginnedag 2007 in the Jordaan in Amsterdam. A groups singing the most famous Jordaan-song 'Geef mij maar Amsterdam' ('Just give me Amsterdam' or thereabouts). فارسی: مردم هلند با پوشش نارنجی رنگ در روز ملکه سال ۲۰۰۷ میلادی.
context_page_description: Koningsdag or King's Day is a national holiday in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Celebrated on 27 April, the date marks the birth of King Willem-Alexander. Until the abdication of Queen Beatrix in 2013, the holiday was known as Koninginnedag or Queen's Day and was celebrated on 30 April.
  The holiday was initially observed on 31 August 1885 as Prinsessedag or Princess's Day, the fifth birthday of Princess Wilhelmina, then heir presumptive to the Dutch throne. On her accession in November 1890 the holiday acquired the name Koninginnedag, first celebrated on 31 August 1891. In September 1948, Wilhelmina's daughter Juliana ascended to the throne and the holiday was moved to her birthday, 30 April. The holiday was celebrated on this date from 1949.
  Juliana's daughter, Beatrix, retained the celebration on 30 April after she ascended the throne in 1980, though her birthday was on 31 January. Beatrix altered her mother's custom of receiving a floral parade at Soestdijk Palace, instead choosing to visit different Dutch towns each year and join in the festivities with her children.
context_section_description: Koningsdag now sees large-scale celebrations, with many concerts and special events in public spaces, particularly in Amsterdam. An outdoor concert is held on Amsterdam's Museumplein, where as many as 800,000 people may gather. To aid visitors in returning home by train after the festivities outdoor events must end by 20:00, and the Museumplein show by 21:00. The city centre is closed to cars, and no trams ride in the heart of the city; people are urged to avoid Amsterdam Centraal railway station and use other stations if possible from their direction. International trains that normally begin or terminate at Amsterdam Centraal are instead directed to a suburban stop.
  In recent years parties and concerts have been held the evening before Koningsdag. Until 2013, nightclubs across the Netherlands organised special events for what became known as Koninginnenacht (Queen's Night). Many young people celebrate in the streets and squares (and in Amsterdam, the canals as well) throughout the night, and after all-night partying join the crowds at the vrijmarkt.
  While King's Day celebrations take place throughout the Netherlands, Amsterdam is a popular destination for many revellers. Often the city's 850,000 residents are joined by up to 1 million visitors. In recent years Amsterdam authorities have taken some measures to try to stem the flow of visitors as the city became too crowded.
  Those taking part in Koningsdag commonly dye their hair orange or wear orange clothing in honour of the House of Orange-Nassau, which rules over the Netherlands. Orange-coloured drinks are also popular. This colour choice is sometimes dubbed "orange madness", or in Dutch, oranjegekte. A local Orange Committee member said of Koninginnedag in 2011:
  Friendships—and community—will be formed. For me that's really what Queen's Day is all about. It's not an outburst of patriotism, it's not even about the popularity of the royal family. It's about a sense of belonging. For one day, everybody is the same in Holland. Bright orange and barmy.
  Children celebrate with a variety of games including koekhappen (in which they catch spice cake dangling from a string in their mouths) and spijker poepen (in which they tie string around their waist a nail dangling at one end, which they attempt to lower into a glass bottle).
caption: Revellers dressed in orange in Amsterdam, Koninginnedag 2007
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