If you have ever
watched the Dutch national soccer team play anywhere in the world — or if you’ve been in
Amsterdam during Holland’s annual Queen’s Day celebration1 — you may wonder why nearly all Dutch people dress in
orange during such occasions. After all, the colors
of the official Dutch flag are red, white, and blue.
The answer is simple:
Orange is the color of the Dutch Royal Family,
which hails from the House of Orange.
More specifically:
The House of Orange-Nassau (in Dutch: Huis
van Oranje-Nassau), a branch of the German House of Nassau, has played a
central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe
— since William I of Orange (also known as “William the Silent” and “Father of
the Fatherland”) organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after
the Eighty Years’ War led to an independent Dutch state.
- Source: Wikipedia, last accessed June 10, 2008
- Source: Wikipedia, last accessed June 10, 2008
Wikipedia also notes
that “Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally
associated with the Principality of Orange,
in what is now southern France. There’s a whole bunch
of dry to very dry history behind all of it. Suffice it to say that
to this day members of the House of Orange are extremely popular in the
Netherlands. The color orange has come to symbolize the country, and to signify
national pride.
On royal birthdays, the Dutch tricolor is flown
with an orange pennant above it. Each year on April 30, Amsterdam — and indeed the
entire county — turns orange. Revelers
can be heard to sing, “Oranje boven, oranje boven. leve the Koningin!” (Orange
on top, Orange on top. Long Live the Queen!)
Oranje, Dutch for orange, is
the nickname of the Dutch national soccer team. Bonus fact: During
WWII, Dutch housewives often made sure that laundry was hung out to dry in a
particular pattern: something orange, something red, something white, and
something blue…
2 Bonus points to Pam Keller (Netherlands) - I was wondering about this in the Opening Ceremony!
No comments:
Post a Comment