Winter in Holland by Robert

The Big Change

The Dutch winter takes as long as in any other European country, though it feels like it takes twice as long.

Dutch nature isn’t very overwhelming in wintertime. Nevertheless, we were able to skate on the ice for some days past winter. In winter our fields are frozen, as are the trees, as are the ditches and dikes. That’s why it’s far more interesting to tell something about the Dutch people’s behaviour caused by the change in weather. (Winter is no excuse though, for the funny behaviour among our people since there’s something to tell about us every very season)

The final cold months appear this funny, because human behaviour doesn’t synchronize to nature. Or maybe, that’s exactly what it does in an extreme way. In February, March and April temperature often stays below 10 degrees, but people love to dress like it’s summer already. If you’re a lucky tourist, you might see people in armless t-shirts and short pants wearing winter caps, scarves and gloves. A rather funny view, but somehow, we know how to keep it fashionable. Probably the freezing temperatures makes us stay indoors the whole winter thinking of what to wear when the first sunbeams will flow over Holland again.

There are some Dutch traditions in this time of the year as well. Such as selling tulips, the famous flowers being sold on every single corner of each Amsterdam street in a thousand different colours, flower bulbs in Nijntje covers, bought by adults as well and when the weather allows again we travel everywhere with our extreme number of bicycles, which are stolen, given, taken and dumped in a vicious circle! We all massively visit the so called ‘ giant garden centres’ to buy tens of plants, statues and hundreds of flowers. Even in a credit crunch these things are the most important things in our minds. Which to me, is a very beautiful, but rather funny tradition. We all love it! The thing is that we feel winter in our heads and feel spring in our hearts.

The attached pictures are taken in Amsterdam and represent some of these traditions.