Bevrijheid! Celebrating Freedam Day!

This past week has certainly been a week for national Dutch celebrations. Just five days after Koninginnedag in Amsterdam I join four girlfriends to Ede-Wareningen where the big Freedom Day festivities were taking place. May 4/5 was the weekend that everybody in Holland celebrated the liberation of Holland in WW2. In Canada, we have our Remembrance day on November 11 every year. I have to say, I was so impressed and intrigued by how the Dutch people celebrate this day. Back home, November 11 is always a very somber time, a time where quiet reflection and services are held to remember and honour those who fought in the wars. In Holland, the feeling is very different. Freedom Day is a much more lively, celebratory day where verterans are honoured in parades with thousands of people cheering for them. Of course, there is a moment of silence on May 4, but the feeling is no where near as somber as it is in North America.

Danni, Cheryl, Heather, Marjo and I took a two hour train ride to meet up with Danni's boyfriend and his friends in Ede-Wareningen. Like Koninginnedag in Amsterdam, there were various stages set up in the town for people to enjoy lots of live music. The town was incredibly picturesque with lovely cobblestone roads, stone buildings and a nice river. Apparantly this town had been a very strategic place during the war.

The highlight of the day was of course the big parade that went through the town. There were lot of old army vehicles and band and of course veterens. I was so excited to cheer for the Canadian veterans that were participating in the parade. It was incredible to watch how the crowd responded to the veterans - they were like celebrities. It didn't matter which nationality these soldiers were - all received an outstanding amount of cheers and applause. There were veterans from Britain, United States, Canada, Australia, Poland and of course Holland. I was so proud to see people in the crowds waving Canadian flags!


It must be a thing to give away a lot of free hats during celebrations because like Koninginnedag - we got more free hats! These ones were from an old children's TV series called Ome Willem - the hats had nothing to do with Freedom Day but Rene was really excited to see them!

After the parade we made our way back to the main stage to meet up with Rene and his friends. Now the saga continues of just how much Dutch people love their corny folk-like songs. Rene was so excited because the Sjonnies were performing that day. Apparantly the Sjonnies are one of the really popular 'oh-doh-dah' singing type kind of Dutch bands based out of Amsterdam. I was horrified when an old flashy man appeared on stage with sideburns to his mouth dressed in a metallic gold suit. He had the strongest Dutch accent I have EVER heard and his songs were incredibly hilarious.

The great thing about Dutch songs is that you don't really have to know the words. As long as you can loudly mumble some sort of Dutch type sounds you fit right in. We were all having a great time yelling and singing to the music. This act became even better after Rene and his mates told me what the lyrics meant in English. Some of my personal favorites were: 'I'd rather stay home with my mother than go on vacation with you' and 'If you have dandruff, use this shampoo; if that doesn't work, shave your whole head off.'

Wow..... at least I know what soundtrack to get my dad for a souvenier.