What do you get when you ask a Dutch person for advice on respecting their own country? A direct answer that is not quite what you expected. 😆
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be respectful to another country’s flag. If anything, many people would probably tell you that it’s a good thing. Heel goed!
But, if you’re going to ask a Dutch person for a thorough explanation of how to fold the Dutch flag, don’t expect any serious answers. 🤦🏻♀️
So how does one fold the Dutch flag in a respectful manner?
The tweet below shows a screenshot of a Reddit post by the user “Skeezysteev” in the r/Netherlands subreddit.
He explains that he’s American with a Dutch wife and asks how to respectfully store a recently gifted Dutch flag until they have the space to display it. 🇳🇱
The user “Rednitro” responds to him in utter seriousness and says: “You put it in the Albert Heijn tasje en then you pleur it in the kast”. 🧐
In case that sounds cryptic to you, he’s telling him to just stuff the flag into any old Albert Heijn shopping bag and keep it in the closet. 😅
And that was only one of the many comments that flooded this American man’s notification inbox:
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Another user responded with: “The Dutch way is to not care about being Dutch.” There’s that patriotic spirit we’ve been searching for! 😆
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Someone else commented: “I just shove mine in the closet till next year. Nothing some wind or an iron can’t fix.” What a helpful tip!
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One more user commented: “Hug it and kiss it everyday before slapen“, what a lovely bedtime routine. 🌙
Joost van Abeelen — the man who tweeted the screenshot — captioned it with: “Al 5 minuten in een scheur om deze“. This literally translates to: “I’ve been stuck in a crack for five minutes because of this”. 🤔
This is of course one of the many Dutch ways to say that they’re laughing really hard at something.
Okay, what’s the actual respectful way of folding a Dutch flag?
When it comes to flag etiquette in the Netherlands, there are no legal rules about folding the Dutch flag. Unless you’re part of the military. ✨
According to the Rijksoverheid website, there are certain customs and habits when displaying a Dutch flag. For instance, they mustn’t touch the ground or stop traffic.
READ MORE | Flags in the Netherlands: everything you need to know
Whether the Dutch really care for these rules, however, is another question. 👀
There are also no laws that dictate when people can hang their Dutch flags. For instance, it’s always allowed to hang them at a wedding, a school celebration or even a funeral — however, according to this subreddit another pride of place is the back of the closet.
Do you have a Dutch flag in your home? How do you display it? Tell us in the comments below!
