Once A Queen Always a Queen

The festivities in Delft for Queen's Day started as early as 8 in the morning with the free/flea market with people selling off their old household items. However, we joined the merriment only later around 11am. On the other commercial side of Oude Delft, as tradition, children made up the majority of the street peddlers selling their old and discarded playthings. Dolls, clothes, cot mobiles, books, and other toys were proudly displayed on nondescript blankets by the side of the long stretch of road. They were an unusual sight to behold!

As we walked further down towards the Old Church (Oude Kerk) area, the merchandise on sale changed from kiddie stuffs to an array of interior decorative items such as paintings, the famous Delft blue tiles, figurines, porcelainwares, scary aboriginal masks and statues and of course, antiques galore. There was also a handful of novelty stalls one of which is up my husband's alley - fossilized rocks and ammonites of diverse sizes and ages. And, street food was aplenty including 'Broodje Kofte' that we bought from the stall put up by one Turkish Muslim grocer we always frequent in Delft and Goreng Pisang (Fried Banana) from one Indonesian stall.

It seemed almost the whole town center (Delft Centrum') had turned into one big carnival for the joyous occasion of the Queen's Birthday. Stalls lined up the canals on Oude Delft, Oude Langendijk, Koornmarkt, Wijnhaven, Hippolytusbuurt, Vrouw Juttenland and Voldersgracht, amongst others. Delft was packed to the brim! This was the first time we had to steer our way out of the oppressive crowd! Luckily, our own 'queen' Sadia seemed to enjoy the air of merriment, at times even wiggled her body to the beat of a song!

Besides the drunkard revelry, freemarket and street games that define the holiday, another distinctive aspect to a nation-wide Koninginnedag celebration is live performing acts, big (stage) and small (street) and in every sense of the word. One amusing and creative act was the 'Lookalike Beauty Pageant' for one of Vermeer's famous paintings 'A Girl with A Pearl Earring'. It was thoroughly hilarious seeing a group of nubile, young ladies donned up in 17th century headgear and a feigned demure to match! Too bad it was only later in the afternoon when we headed out again to absorb the festival-like atmosphere that I brought the camera with me!

The book 'The Dutch, I Presume' that I've read highlights that the Nederlanders' fondness for street festivities is legendary and has been long ingrained in their culture. Without a doubt, it is nice to see, hear and taste a bit of Dutch culture during our short stay here!

By the way, one more thing - a lot of people add the color Orange into their clothings for this day to mark their respect and love for The House of Orange, the formal name of the Dutch royal family.