Regional/Cultural Day
Lente
The spring equinox is celebrated with the arrival of the tulip season, and the flower fields in the Bollenstreek begin to bloom. The Netherlands produces over 12 billion tulip bulbs per year, and the tulip is the national flower. The tulip was introduced to the Netherlands from Turkey in the 16th century, and the Dutch tulip mania of 1637 was one of the first speculative bubbles in history. At the peak of the mania, a single tulip bulb could cost as much as a house on the canals of Amsterdam. The spring equinox also marks the start of the cycling season, and the Dutch take to the roads on their bicycles (there are more bicycles than people in the Netherlands, with 23 million bicycles for 17 million people).
