Queen's day is a fantastic day, a real Dutch tradition with each and every city and village in the Netherlands chockfull with activities, flea markets, silly and traditional games for the children etc.
Our entire royal family, the Queen and her sons, their partners and children, usually visit two places and join the party as much as possible, and most people love it that they are so close to the public on this day, the family being almost one of them.
Yesterday, you may have heard it, a fool decided to change this celebration day and tried to attack the royal family by driving like a lunatic in his small car, hitting lots of people and finally coming to a halt against a monument. The royal family is safe, fortunately, but 17 people got seriously hurt, at this moment 6 have died, including the attacker. Holland is in shock and Queen's Day will never again be just a fantastic day of fun and celebration; it will have a bittersweet black rim forever by remembering the innocent victims of this year.
But: though SXM is still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, on this day it is Carnaval here!And with mixed feelings I walked to the place in our neighborhood where the groups gather and prepare for the Big Parade. I made a lot of pictures, abundant with colour, pictured lots of happy and proud people and seeing and feeling the joy of these folks made my day.
Look at these faces, these costumes!
And in honour of queen Beatrix of the Netherlands,we will have a orange party tonight at this beach,
it is one of my favorite places
Indeed, no single fool can keep us from this tradition!
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