Easter (Goede Vrijdag, 1e and 2e Paasdag) takes place this weekend, so it is time for catch-up session in the Dutch News inburgering course. Easter Monday is a public holiday but Friday is a normal working day, apart from government workers, lucky things.
Lesson 37: celebrating Easter
The Passion
The Dutch Easter festivities kick off with the annual television spectacular The Passion – a live telling of the Easter story using celebrities and pop music at an outdoor location – this year it was Dwingeloo in Drenthe’s turn. It always takes place the Thursday before the Easter weekend, so you probably missed it. Next year, another opportunity.
Decorations
The Dutch are very keen on Easter eggs and spring-related decorations, and many homes will put up willow branches hung with tiny wooden eggs and bows. Over the years these have become bigger and more elaborate, the supermarket shelves are groaning under ornaments and soon they will resemble Christmas trees.
Egg painting
The Dutch also like to paint boiled eggs in pretty patterns. If you want to do this, be sure to buy a proper egg stand at Action or Intertoys so you can colour your egg without getting paint all over your fingers and the rest of the eggs in the box. Easter egg painting is number 5 on the Dutch folklore centre’s list of the top 10 Dutch traditions.
Brunch
Easter means an extended breakfast with all the family and friends on Easter Sunday – and possibly Monday if you are greedy. You will eat all sorts of rolls, cheese, ham, eggs, eggs and eggs. You may find the butter is in the shape of a little spring lamb (aah), a reference to the sacrificial lamb.
Brunch will also include Paasbrood. We are not sure what the difference is with Kerstbrood apart from the fact it is wrapped in a yellow bow rather than a red one. No Easter brunch is complete without matsos – the Jewish crackers.
The Easter Hare
Yes, the Dutch do have Easter egg hunts but don’t forget, the Netherlands has a Paashaas – Easter hare – rather than a bunny – well, it does rhyme better.
Flower at St Peters in Rome
The Dutch flower industry has for decades supplied the thousands of tulips and other flowers which are sent to Rome to decorate St Peter’s for the pope’s Easter day appearance. Every year the pope – wherever he comes from – says in his best Dutch “bedankt voor de bloemen” – the highlight of the Dutch television news coverage. It remains to be seen what the new pope will do.
Easter attractions
There are, of course, Easter markets, special Easter brunches at restaurants and Easter events at amusement parks. Many Dutch people also seem to consider visiting an out-of-town retail park selling furniture – a woonboulevard – to be a traditional Easter activity.
Paaspop
The Paaspop festival has taken place over the Easter weekend in the Noord-Brabant town of Schijndel since 1985. Di-rect, Antoon, Acda en de Munnik and many others making up this year’s line-up from April 3-5. Paaspop, which attracts some 15,000 people, is seen as the unofficial start of the Dutch festival season.
Easter fires
Easter fires are lit in various parts of Europe and probably have pagan origins. In the Netherlands, most are found in Drenthe, Groningen, Overijssel, Twente, Friesland and Gelderland but there are all sorts of regional variations about what is burnt and when.
St Matthew Passion
This work by Johann Sebastian Bach is always performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on Good Friday (two performances) and at concert halls all over the country. It is the sort of thing which people say you should have done once in your life.
More holidays to come
Depending on where you work, you have a bit more holiday to come in the next few weeks. Hemelvaartsdag (Ascension Day on May 14) and Pinksteren (Whitsun on May 25) are official days off. King’s Day revellers this year will also have a three-day weekend, given April 27 falls on a Monday. Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day on May 5) is not a public holiday this year.
