Quick tip – New Years’ traditions

Different areas in the Netherlands have different New Years’ traditions.

Making a lot of noise is pretty universal. I recall my grandfather showing me his too-short finger on New Year’s Eve to warn me about the danger of fireworks. It had cost him the tip of his finger so he only had half a nail. Another one of my ancestors was fined for shooting his gun at midnight on New Years’ Eve, the precursor of modern-day fireworks.

In the eastern part of the Netherlands, people baked New Years’ cookies using special irons. Some of them are centuries old and even have genealogical information on them. Read more about New Years’ irons.

Firemen eating ‘oliebollen,’ a traditional Dutch New Year’s treat, 1973. Credits: Nationaal Archief