Old and New: the Dutch New Year
Last Sunday, I was visiting some friends that live in a nearby city and we were discussing the fact that I’ll be going home for Christmas and then coming back to Holland sometime in early January. Because of that little go home vacation/trip I’ll be missing the New Year celebration. Benjamin (part of the family of friends) exclaimed, “Oh no! You won’t experience Old-New!” Old-New is what the Dutch call the New Year. I think it’s pretty cool that they call it Old-New. Anyway, I was then able to inform Ben that I’d already experienced Old-New because when I came to Holland last year I arrived on December 31st, which meant that my first night in Holland was my last night of the year. What a way to start a New Year! I mean, if you think about it, New Year’s Resolutions were made easy for me… “My New Year’s resolution is to survive living with a strange family, in a strange culture, and learn a very strange language.” I’ve never been more successful in my resolutions than this year (except I should have made a part of my resolution to not lose my own language…but that’s another story for another time).
After having that conversation with the Pluym family I realized that I’d never written about the Dutch New Year, which was very silly of me because it was my first IJsselstein experience and one that I’ll likely always remember. So, now, I’m going to express, to the best of my ability, the Dutch New Year.
I remember that on my first day here I wanted to stay up until midnight to bring in the New Year, but at the same time I was so exhausted from traveling that I had to take a nap. See, that’s because of the time difference. When I left Boston, Massachusetts it was noon on December 30th. When I arrived in Amsterdam it was 7:00 a.m. on December 31st. That means that I’d been up for a very long time (couldn’t sleep on the plane because there were too many people, not to mention that I was too scared and nervous about the year I was facing to get much sleep). So, the night of the day that I arrived I went to bed at about 9:00 and got up at around 11:30. I went downstairs to sit with the host family that I wasn’t yet acquainted with. Everyone was waiting. I think I drank a glass of wine with them as we waited. The kids slowly drifted to sleep, not surviving the late hour, with the exception of our brave and stubborn six year old, who was then still five years old.
Finally, it was midnight. The Old Year was gone and the New Year had come. And the instant that it was midnight the country erupted into a marvelous and impressive display of sound and light and colors. I went out into the cold night to take a look. What I saw was something entirely strange and stunning to me, due to my firework illegalized culture. In every direction I looked I saw fireworks displaying varieties of colors, shapes, and sounds. When I say every direction, I am absolutely serious. I looked to my right and saw all of my neighbors down the street lighting off fireworks. I looked beyond the soccer field that is across the street from us and saw fireworks being lit off up and down another row of houses. Literally every direction I looked it was alit with man-made beauty and genius. After a little while of standing in the cold air I came back in. The fireworks had quieted down quite a bit and I decided to call my parents, who were still living in last year. I thought it'd be fun to call them from the future. I remember telling them what I saw and that they were amazed. Being allowed to light off fireworks like that is unheard of where I come from. And I remember that I had also called my sister’s boyfriend, knowing that she’d be with him. I remember that they were at a New Year’s party and that a lot of my friends were there. I remember also telling them what I saw, and I remember them saying that they wished they could’ve been here for it also because their government lit fireworks weren’t so great (plus we live a great distance from New York City, so that’s also not much of an option). I remember that I learned later that my mom called and talked to my brother, who lives in a time-zone three hours earlier than her and that they made sure that he was still in the Old Year and they in the New Year. I think that it was one of the most memorable, or at least interesting, New Years I’ve ever had. And the only good thing about missing this upcoming Dutch Old-New is that I’ll be home with my family, not missing them.
After having that conversation with the Pluym family I realized that I’d never written about the Dutch New Year, which was very silly of me because it was my first IJsselstein experience and one that I’ll likely always remember. So, now, I’m going to express, to the best of my ability, the Dutch New Year.
I remember that on my first day here I wanted to stay up until midnight to bring in the New Year, but at the same time I was so exhausted from traveling that I had to take a nap. See, that’s because of the time difference. When I left Boston, Massachusetts it was noon on December 30th. When I arrived in Amsterdam it was 7:00 a.m. on December 31st. That means that I’d been up for a very long time (couldn’t sleep on the plane because there were too many people, not to mention that I was too scared and nervous about the year I was facing to get much sleep). So, the night of the day that I arrived I went to bed at about 9:00 and got up at around 11:30. I went downstairs to sit with the host family that I wasn’t yet acquainted with. Everyone was waiting. I think I drank a glass of wine with them as we waited. The kids slowly drifted to sleep, not surviving the late hour, with the exception of our brave and stubborn six year old, who was then still five years old.
Finally, it was midnight. The Old Year was gone and the New Year had come. And the instant that it was midnight the country erupted into a marvelous and impressive display of sound and light and colors. I went out into the cold night to take a look. What I saw was something entirely strange and stunning to me, due to my firework illegalized culture. In every direction I looked I saw fireworks displaying varieties of colors, shapes, and sounds. When I say every direction, I am absolutely serious. I looked to my right and saw all of my neighbors down the street lighting off fireworks. I looked beyond the soccer field that is across the street from us and saw fireworks being lit off up and down another row of houses. Literally every direction I looked it was alit with man-made beauty and genius. After a little while of standing in the cold air I came back in. The fireworks had quieted down quite a bit and I decided to call my parents, who were still living in last year. I thought it'd be fun to call them from the future. I remember telling them what I saw and that they were amazed. Being allowed to light off fireworks like that is unheard of where I come from. And I remember that I had also called my sister’s boyfriend, knowing that she’d be with him. I remember that they were at a New Year’s party and that a lot of my friends were there. I remember also telling them what I saw, and I remember them saying that they wished they could’ve been here for it also because their government lit fireworks weren’t so great (plus we live a great distance from New York City, so that’s also not much of an option). I remember that I learned later that my mom called and talked to my brother, who lives in a time-zone three hours earlier than her and that they made sure that he was still in the Old Year and they in the New Year. I think that it was one of the most memorable, or at least interesting, New Years I’ve ever had. And the only good thing about missing this upcoming Dutch Old-New is that I’ll be home with my family, not missing them.
posted by Sarah Riendeau @ 11/16/2005 04:52:00 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I remember this day well, it was the day I spoke with my daughter in the future and my son in the past. When I mentioned this to my son his comment was, "I bet you have been waiting all week to say that". He was right. I had!
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