Dutch Queen's birthday: .much more important then a British Royal Wedding !!

The night before the queen's birthday, (which is actually the birthday of her late mother) all young guys in this village remove their motorbike's exhaust pipes and start crossing the streets on their motorbikes till appr. 4 am. The habit of making a lot of noise to keep the evil spirits away is an ancient and pagan one... and also one that prevends the rest of the village from sleeping... sigh!!


The closest thing to royalty I have ever drawn!!

All the children dress up and are walking in parade through the village accompanied by a brass band, which they will repeat in the evening with a lampion after dark.
During the entire day all kind of activities take place: free market all over the Netherlands (no taxes, no license needed) classic flowermarkets,  music bands playing everywhere varying from classic,heavymetal and hardrock, childrens games, demonstrations of old crafts and yes... lots of booze!! Great weather, sun is shining so everybody is happy!!
I have bought from a couple of kids, who had spread out their merchandise on a blanket, this necklace and bracelet for 1 euro!!! (Hope they didn't scavenge their mother's jewellery box without permission..)

I've asked a lot of people if they watched the British Royal wedding yesterday and most replied: No, just two people who were getting married so let them.... The dutch common sense approach to allmost everything that happens in the world, as I expected <<< fit of laughter!!
And now I am going to have dinner and visit another band tonight in the local pub, after I have watched a dance demonstration given by my daughter in law.

The entire article is first published on http://technorati.com/lifestyle/family/article/queens-day-in-the-netherlands/   Author: Nellisa Noordijk  Published: April 30, 2011 at 6:37 pm << US-time