Orangification of the Netherlands

It’s not new, and it’s certainly not going to go away. I’m talking about the ‘orangification’ (process of becoming orange) of the country as the football craze storms the country. Orange is the national colour (after the Dutch Royal Family, House of Orange-Nassau), so at any national event you’re bound to see sprinklings or whole stands of the colour.

Orangification is always simmering, but in a momentous event like the FIFA World Cup, it explodes! Whole streets have orange banners, flags, posters and other orangified merchandise on display. Windows of some households let you take a peek of how orangified the family has become (when the cat has been dyed orange, that says something…). And in stores all sorts of commercials, give-aways and souvenirs are on offer. Packaging of foodstuff and drinks have been orangified and football-ised to latch onto this great commercial wind-fall. Beer, chips, bread, yoghurt…hats, cups, underwear, scarves, fast-food meals…whatever you can think of that can be sold has taken on a coat of orange.

Shows with how much passion the Netherlanders love their country.

Here are some shops you can indulge in orange-fever.
Oranjefan
Oranjeartikelen

The Heineken website has an excellent interactive page where you can follow ‘Dutch spies’ trying to infiltrate the German nation. One of their secret weapons is a hat which looks like a traditional German ‘Ganzehut’, but it stretches to become a loudspeaker.




Football fan




Street scene