Freedom, Flags, and… Canadians.
Dutch and Canadian Patriotism.
It starts with King’s Day and ends with Liberation Day. It’s the most patriotic week in the Dutch calendar. There’s also a surprising intertwined history between Canada and the Netherlands during this time.
Description: A small dog that looks like the love child of a chihuahua and a German Shepard is wearing an orange tutu feeling patriotic under a Dutch flag with a row of Dutch flags behind him that lead to the famous Brandaris Lighthouse on King’s Day 2023.
KONINGSDAG / KING’S DAY - APRIL 27th
The Netherlands has a royal family, they’re the reason the Dutch love the colour Orange because their last name is Oranje (which is not the Dutch word for the fruit but is the word for the colour). The Dutch Royal family came about because of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) back in the 1815’s when monarchies were all the rage. William of Oranje proclaimed himself the new king of Holland and everyone basically agreed to it.
The Dutch love their Royal family, it’s not quite as contentious as the British Royal Family. The monarchy has transitioned with the times quite well, they’re mostly a well loved wealthy family. The Royal family for the most part exudes the same Dutch cultural traits and humbleness that many Dutch people see in themselves. They don’t for the most part, come across as better than. They feel approachable.
King’s Day is the King’s Birthday. The Dutch go wild, they dress up in crazy orange outfits, there’s parties on the streets in the bigger cities. In smaller cities and towns, there’s more of a farmers market in the centrum with additional activities for the kids, like face painting, a disco (dance party), maybe some games. And a big tradition, kids setup their own little garage sales, selling their family’s used goods. We walked through Leeuwarden the day before King’s Day and kids were already reserving their “market stalls” by making chalk outlines and putting their intials in the middle. It was cute!
Flags: On this day, Dutch Flags are full mast proudly proclaiming that the residents are proud Dutchies.
DODENHERDENKING / REMEMBRANCE DAY - MAY 4th
Remembrance Day is fairly similar to Canada in its observations, it pays respect and remembers the sacrifices made for our freedom. To honor and remember those who served during times of war. The national commemoration mainly focuses on WW2 however this year there were other alternative ceremonies across the Netherlands that focused on more current wars, persecutions, and oppressions.
The National Ceremony happens in Amsterdam just before 8pm, the King and Queen lay a wreath at the National War Monument to pay the respects on behalf of the country. Then there’s 2 minutes of silence. These 2 minutes are observed even in the Dutch homes. In the past, The Sailor has often watched the National Ceremony on TV. This year, we were at his parents house visiting and just before 8pm, his parents turned the TV on and we all watched the ceremony and when the 2 minutes of silence happens, we also bowed our heads in silence to remember those who gave their lives and service.
In Terschelling and I assume across the Netherlands, there are volunteers who clean the headstones of fallen soldiers at their respective commonwealth or war cemeteries. The volunteers will also leave flowers. They do this at different times throughout the year but definitely ahead of May 4th and May 5. In Terschelling, there is also a Remembrance Day walk, where villagers meet at the war monument and walk through the village to the war cemetery. Together, they also observe the two minutes of silence together. I haven’t participated in the village service, so I’m not sure about what else happens.
Flags: On this day, Dutch Flags are at half mast in solemity of our fallen soldiers.
Description: The Dutch Flag at half mast in our front yard for Remembrance Day. You can see the corner of our brick house on the right in the foreground and the stone driveway along the left side to our fence, green grass everywhere else.
BEVRIJDIGSDAG / LIBERATION DAY - MAY 5th
Liberation Day celebrates the day the Dutch were freed from Nazi rule. And guess who freed most of the Dutch towns from the Nazis? THE CANADIANS!!
This isn’t some small footnote in their history either. The Dutch truly celebrate the Canadians who freed them during this time. We were walking in Leeuwarden the week before Liberation Day and there were Canadian flags (the small handheld ones) posted up along the canal in the centre. I asked The Sailor why, because it seemed a bit early, he said that some towns were freed earlier than May 5th and they celebrate their freedom on the actual day along with the national holiday later. So he thought the Canadian flags might be related to that.
Multiple towns across the country have parades and celebrate Canadians. In some of these places, you see more Canadian flags hanging than Dutch ones. To understand this connection there’s more to the story and it really makes me proud to be Canadian. I wish I had learned this in Social Studies in High School but it wasn’t covered.
During WW2, the Crown Princess was pregnant and since it was too dangerous to be in the Netherlands she had taken refuge in Canada. When it was time to give birth, there was a bit of a conundrum, you can’t give birth to a Dutch Royal heir in another country, they couldn’t have royal status. Imagine having a Dutch Queen with Canadian Citizenship, that’s apparently not legal. Canada stepped up, it created a War Time Act that essentially said that a bubble around the pregnant crown princess would remain Dutch, there was no time constraints (incase she had an unexpected birth at home or away from the hospital) so that wherever and whenever the baby princess was born within Canada would not be considered Canada. Her citizenship would be connected to her mother making her Dutch upon birth. It turns out this War Time measure came into effect twice, with two Dutch royal babies born during the war.
Every year, The Netherlands sends thousands of tulip bulbs in appreciation of how Canada helped them during WW2. These tulips are planted at Parliament Hill (see image below).
So the Canadian Soldiers not only liberated many Dutch towns, they also provided safety to the Dutch Royal family and a Dutch bubble around the pregnant Crown Princess so future royal members could be born Dutch. We were allies in more ways than one.
Flags: On this day, Dutch Flags are at full mast in celebration of freedom. Some places may have Canadian flags at full mast in gratitude of Dutch freedom.
CANADIANS VS DUTCH AND THEIR LOVE OF FLAG POLES
As a Canadian, flag poles and waving our awesome maple leaf flag isn’t really embedded into our nationality. Most Canadian houses don’t have a flag pole in their yard or on their facade. Most Canadians probably don’t own Canadian flags the size for flag poles. We do love our flag and you can usually spot a Canadian when travelling because they have a little flag sew on patch on their luggage or backpack. Most of use have a maple leaf / flag themed item of clothing which we wear on Canada Day, during the Olympics, and for some America vs Canada Hockey games. We are proud to be Canadians but we’re not flag pole patriotic.
In contrast, most Dutch houses have flag poles either in the yard or sticking out from their houses facade. Most Dutch families have a Dutch flag and probably their municipalities flag or their provincial flag. And most Dutch people seem to understad the rules of flagging (is that a verb?).
The Sailor is REALLY into flag flying (maybe that’s the verb?). Our house came with a flag pole, this was an upgrade from the house facade pole at his previous house. The very first project the Sailor did on this house when we moved in was fix the flag pole. I’m serious, we bought a fixer upper, there were multiple projects to start with and he thought “the flag pole is my top priority.” He ordered new parts, painted it, and fixed the base. We had an ornamental cherry tree close to that pole which interfered with the flag flying so that first summer, the tree was removed, how dare it get in the way of our flags! In fairness, that tree looked mostly dead for 10.5 months of the year.
The Sailor loves flags so much that when I first visited him in the Netherlands he hung the Canadian flag behind his bed on the wall as a way to welcome me for my visit. Yes, that is true Dutch Romance, getting it on under the maple leaf 😂. He thought I felt the same love of my national flag as he does his, I guess. I thought he was being quirky.
Now, we have a tradition when Canadians come to visit where we raise the Canadian flag on our pole to welcome our guests. We also raise the Canadian flag on Canada Day most years, it really depends on my mood or whether the Sailors home.
FLAGS HAVE RULES…TRADITIONS
I tried to get into flag flying one year. I decided to blend in with my new country folk. The Sailor was on the ship and I would send him photos that would make him proud. It was King’s Day 2022 and I proudly put up the Dutch Flag along with the Terschelling flag that is smaller and looks like a scarf (the Sailor says it’s called a Wimpel or Vaandel flag in Dutch). It wasn’t very windy that day but you can see in the photo below that it’s at full mast and my neighbour has her flag up as well. My neighbour has an orange wimpel up which makes sense since it’s King’s Day.
Description: A screenshot of the image I sent to The Sailor on King’s Day 2022 of the Dutch flag with Terschelling wimpel on our flag pole. In the background is my neighbours flag pole with a Dutch flag and orange wimpel. It was not a windy day and our flags are a bit limp, but it’s the spirit that counts.
Since I knew that just around the corner would be Remembrance Day and another reason to have the Dutch flag on the pole, I decided to be really smart, I would leave the Dutch flag hanging all week. Be patriotic for the week. Normally the Sailor keeps the Terschelling flag or wimpel on the pole, not the Dutch one.
Imagine my surprise when I received the following message from my Mother-in-Law (MIL) -
“Hallo Michelle, everything allright with you? We saw the flag was still hanging😉.”
She sent this message to me after the flag had been hanging for 3 days, 2 days unnecessarily according to tradition. And then I was informed of the rules. But honestly, I didn’t really care and I left that flag up until Remembrance Day.
Description: A WhatsApp exchange between my MIL and I on April 30th 2022. It says -
MIL: Hallo Michelle, everything allright with you? We saw the flag was still hanging😉.
Michelle: 🤣 I thought I leave the flag until Liberation Day. Everything is good here, just working lots. And how are things for you?
MIL: 😀That’s smart thinking, but not the tradition. At the 4th of May you have to hoist the flag half way the whole day (that’s new, normally from 18.00 hour til sunset).
And then on May 4th when I went to move the flag to half mast, I couldn’t. I had apparently tied the flag to the rope wrong. On May 6th when it was time to remove the flag, I actually had to pull the flag pole out of the base and put it on the ground so I could untie the flag. There was a random older man walking by as I was struggling to do this and he tried to save this lady in distress. But apparently didn’t know how or what I did to the Dutch flag and so he left me in distress and I’m sure he shook his head at the crazy Canadian who didn’t know how to hang a flag properly.
I found this WhatsApp message to the Sailor which reminded me of this ordeal 😂.
Description: A WhatsApp exchange between the Sailor and I on May 4th 2022. It says -
Michelle: The papierbak is uit (the paper recycling is out). The flag is at quarter mast 😂 apparently I messed it up and it won’t come all the way down now. I need to get a ladder to undo it. This is why I shouldn’t flag.
Sailor: Haha. I’m happy about the container. The flag part makes me a little sad [sad crying teal gorrilla sticker]. But I’m happy your tried. 😘
This year, I learned that flags should always be taken down at sunset unless you have a light shining on them. So, in addition to my errors, I also messed that up. My 2022 venture into flagging was a huge fail. 😂
Over the years, I have tried to make the Sailor proud and it’s always at this patriotic week when he’s on the ship. However, it’s turning into a circus of lessons learned the hard way because unlike the Sailor, I don’t know the rules or traditions of flag flying.
I mostly decided flagging is just not for me.
EMBRACING NEW TRADITIONS AND PATRIOTISM
Instead, I have my own traditions to celebrate this patriotic week. I am a new citizen and I too feel proud to be Dutch even when that looks different than how the Sailor literally waves his patriotism in the sky. I like to dress Pablo up for King’s Day and walk through the village to see what’s happening and as we pass people and children they all smile or laugh at Pablo in his orange themed outfit. I buy a piece of the King’s Day cake called Tompouce with it’s orange icing. And I wear my Tompouce shirt from the Hema (Dutch Walmart type shop).
It’s on my bucket list to attend one of the Liberation parades where the villages are decked out in Canadian flags. I particularly, love this cross section of two nationalities.
Being an immigrant can often feel like otherism in the new country. What I have found works for me during weeks like this, is to find connection points where my history and the new country’s history have common ground or in this case shared stories. To find inroads in my identity with the new nationality. This week of Dutch patriotism (and it’s corresponding flag traditions) has become more than a national celebration, it’s a bridge between my roots and my new home.