Where oh where Wednesday: Emmen

Where will Kings Day be held this year? In Emmen. Every year the king of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, and his wife Maxima choose a city in the Netherlands to celebrate the king’s birthday. This year they will celebrate in Emmen. This means that this city will ben looking forward to the arrival of the king and will plan all sorts of local activities to celebrate his birthday. The day itself is a holiday across the Netherlands and cities everywhere will hold markets where anyone can come and sell things. In Maastricht it will be in the city park. The cities will also be decorated in orange.

Emmen is a town in the province of Drenthe. It was a city that was formed by combining several villages and only had any real growth after the 2nd World War. It went from 3,000 inhabitants in the 19th century to the 56,000 living there now. Most people in the country know Emmen because of its zoo which welcomes some 1.5 million visitors a year. 

Emmen is the most populous city of the province of Drenthe, but that is not saying much since the whole province only has a population of roughly 500,000. Drenthe is the 3rd least populated province and is mostly known for its agriculture. Ir borders Germany in the east. The whole province, due to its sparse population and rural nature, is known as a cycling destination. 

So this year Emmen will color orange as it welcomes the king for his birthday. It will show off all its treasures and history and will enjoy a day in the spotlight that is different from the spotlight that has recently shown o the Dutch farmers who have been protesting EU regulations causing their farms to be shut down. 

Once upon a time Wednesday - King's Day

Next week Wednesday. April 27. Most importantly, it’s my mother’s birthday. But sharing her birthday is the king of the Netherlands, Willem Alexander. So April 27 is known in the Netherlands as King’s Day. 

Mind you, it was first known as Queen’s Day. That’s because it was a celebration of the birthday of the queen of the Netherlands. As mentioned earlier in this space, the Netherlands has had queens for quite some time. Willem Alexander is the first king since the beginning of the last century. 

When I first became aware of the Netherlands, when Shirley and I first came on a campaign as students at York College, Beatrix was Queen of the Netherlands. Queen’s day was April 30th every year. But that was actually the birthday of Beatrix’s mother, Juliana. Beatrix was born in January. But holding a Queen’s day in January would be abominable. 

You see, Queen’s day - or King’s Day as it is now called - is a day when everyone, young and old, puts on orange, figures out some sort of things to sell at a street market, and welcomes the royal family in the city the royals have deigned to visit that year. It is like a huge, national garage sale. Children are outside along the streets selling toys, or pancakes, or lemonade (if they drink lemonade). 

Willem Alexander was born on April 27. So that’s perfect. The day was moved up three days and everyone keeps doing as they are used to. This year the king and queen are celebrating in Maastricht. They were supposed to have come here in 2020 but a crown got in the way (or was it a corona?). Most in Maastricht thought that 2021 would be their day, but the royals chose elsewhere. So this year they decided they truly did have to come back to Maastricht. 

Shirley will miss going to the markets. She loves garage sales and has a lot of fun at them. But we are spending that day with friends elsewhere. We will have to see the king and queen some other day. 

King's Day

Next week the Netherlands will take a historic step that none alive have seen in the Netherlands. They will once again have a king instead of a queen. The last King of the Netherlands was Willem III who died in 1890. Since then there have been three queens. But on April 30 the monarchy will pass into the hands of Queen Beatrix’ son who will become King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

What is so great about a king (or queen)? Isn’t that what most countries without a monarchy fought to free themselves from? Of course, most modern monarchies are mostly ceremonial unless we look at some of the examples in the middle east. The monarch is beholden to the constitution and often has very little real power in the country, although he/she may have quite extensive wealth. These monarchs do have various forms of influence, however, which they exercise to varying degrees of success.

In Belgium, King Boudewijn had to step down for a day for a law allowing abortion to pass.This was a law the government had written and passed but which the king personally would not sign into law because of his beliefs. In Thailand, the king has often been called on to help settle political disputes between parties. Queen Beatrix in the Netherlands has always been seen as a powerful influence in getting Dutch companies good contracts around the world. Her networking is what makes the difference.

So next Tuesday, the Netherlands will turn orange (the color of the royal family, the house of Orange) as the country welcomes a new monarch. It is a time of parties, parades and plenty of fun for a day. And when, as happened in 2010, someone is unhappy and the day ends in tragedy, it is the whole country that mourns. Queen’s Day is a day of national unity, in joy and in sorrow. And now it will be King’s Day.

And because I come from one of those countries without a monarch, certain links between this and the King of kings, Jesus Christ jump out at me. Here are just a few thoughts:

- A king is not elected. He is king, whether we want it to be so or not. Jesus is King, not because we like him or want him. We can choose to accept him for our lives, but he is King whether we follow him or not.

- On King’s Day everybody (or almost everybody) is a fan of the king, at least on the surface of things. It is only after this day, in the day-to-day living that we see how much we really follow or rely on the king.

- Our kings are limited by us. Am I limiting Jesus’ influence in my life? Making him simply a ceremonial head of my days? Using him to influence business deals and parties, but not really paying attention otherwise?

- Can I be crazy for my King? Does it really matter to me so much what others think of me? Or can I put on His colors – act like Jesus in my daily life – and let people know who I belong to?

I will enjoy King’s Day next week and I will continue to allow it to remind me of who is really in charge, and who I really want to be in charge of my daily life.