Celebrations ! Expats be aware ;)

Dear readers,

As you might know by now by now I am and have been living in the Netherlands for more than 4 years . I myself, a ¨poor little naive Viking¨ from the Norwegian fjord of Odda had no clue about traditions or the celebrations in the Dutch culture when I came here. So I want to prepare all of you expats thinking of moving to this wonderful flat country ;)

The Dutch like to celebrate. In general if there is any kind of reason to gather around a coffee or dinner table they will. Or if there is any reason to scrabble down a poem or  add words of wisdom onto a card, then again they certainly will not let that occasion just pass! They do not celebrate like the English, which in their own way celebrate but somewhat different (vodka, Guinness, larger...anything goes!) 

No the Dutch like to celebrate rather different from the English (and the Norwegians for that matter). One example is Birthdays. Yes even at work you will not get away from it! Be prepared to be sung for and to supply others with cakes and candy on your day! You will get cards and presents (you do not need!) and they will gather around you to watch you blush and sink lower and lower in to you chair. If your friends and family are around they will be congratulated as well (on you birthday!) yes you heard correctly. One by one the Dutch will work their 3 kisses through the whole crowd of people that knows you. In the end I guess it is just to make a big fuss about someones life. Which is kind of sweet in a way, but even for this outgoing Viking, a bit over the top ;)

I like that they celebrate other people, do not get me wrong on that. It is fanfreakingtastic that they do all this, it just takes some time getting used to for a person from up North. The jantelaw lives to fresh in my mind and besides I do not like to be the center of attention, maybe I am getting old?

But you think it stops with congratulations and birthday celebrations? Oh no nono! They also celebrate if someone got a new job or lost it! I guess at least if you will be missed but even if you wont they might gather up (again around a table of some sort) and have speeches and give you cards, gifts or similar.

In Norway I also got presents when leaving a job (I guess I was special...;) However this is not the norm. Maybe a card at its best is common or flowers with a card. Mostly though you do not celebrate so much, because you do not wanna stick out....jantelaw (typical!).

Another thing you need to get into your system is that the Dutch loves to sit in their little circle whilst talking about the weather, politics, economy as well as books they read recently when they meet up to celebrate whatever occasion they have come together for. Just a short list of things you may expect to have to celebrate when you move to the Netherlands:

- starting in a new job

-promotions

-birthdays (in excess!) 

- someone died (celebrating their life)

- someone got pregnant

-someone got a baby

- someone graduated

- kings birthday

- kings birthday (night)

- new years (normal)

- Christmas (of course!)

- Easter

- someone got their driving license or some kind of license !

- The football world cup

- the Netherlands winning in any kind of sports.

- Saint Maarten (the saints of the poor people)

I am sure I could add more things which would mean I could sit here for a while, however these were the few that sprung to mind just now. There are many moments that are celebrated, my favorite must be Easter due to the Easter eggs hitting the shops ( so bad yet sooooo delicious!) 

The first time I celebrated a Birthday here in the NL, I expected that my colleagues would bring cake (like they do in Norway if they bring anything at all). There were some insulted faces awaiting me that lunch break when I had brought nothing on my own birthday I can tell you (although not everyone would get insulted by this of course hehe). It is also custom to bring cake if it is your last day in a job. 

You could be one of those people who think...ohwww I would never make much fuzz over these kind of things, well be prepared for still having to when moving to the Netherlands. You can probably get away with it in many other countries, yet not here sweeties! You are moving to the ¨lets-gather-around-the-table¨ nation and if you do not bring something to the table so to speak...you might have to consider a different country.

And with this, have a nice weekend.
XAnnie