How about celebrating in the summer instead?
The streets of Amsterdam are once again empty and New Year’s Eve will arrive promptly. It could certainly be argued that now, more than ever, we could all use a celebration. However, large gatherings of people will not be possible this year, and so things will inevitably be very different from last year’s festivities. In light of all of this, is New Year’s Eve a write-off this year? Well, The VCP, which is the umbrella organisation that oversees several Dutch trade unions, believes that we can salvage it. However, they have suggested that we celebrate in the summer instead.
Obviously, what we can and can’t do depends on a number of factors, including the status of the vaccine rollout, but hope is a beautiful thing. The idea was proposed by Marc de Natris, a Navy man, who is now chairman of the civil servants’ union, the CMHF. During his time in the Navy, it was normal for the ship’s captain and the youngest member of the crew to dive together into water, to bring their voyage to an end.
De Natris believes that this symbolism may eventually help us to gain closure, through celebrating the New Year once it’s safe to do so. He explains: ‘wouldn’t it be great if in the coming special year we could not celebrate the beginning but the midterm on June 30 or July 1 together. A summer party, with or without fireworks, in which we chase away the angry corona ghosts. It could be a good prospect in the dark days around Christmas.’ The government has not commented yet on this idea, and we will have to wait and see how things play out next year to ascertain whether or not large gatherings will be possible.