Dutch herring festival - 8th July 2022

Thousands of people flocked to the port of Scheveningen, in the Hague, for the opening of the herring fishing season.

The celebration, known as “little flags day,” was named after the tradition of decorating the fishing boats, with small colourful flags, as they returned to port, signifying a successful catch.

The festival, which like so many events, had been cancelled for two years, due to Covid, attracted over 200,000 visitors for its reopening.

Arthem, a fish market worker, loves watching foreign tourists take their first bite of this local delicacy.

Arthem: "Nice day and people are happy. And we are making herring for them, fresh herring, and give it away so that they can taste it. And the fun is, a lot of people who come here never tasted it before and they like it. So, then we have a good day also."

The herring are traditionally cured in salt. Before being eaten, they're dragged through shredded onion, then held above the mouth, and eaten head to tail.

Thilo's visiting the festival for the first time.

Thilo: "We're enjoying. We are here from Germany and doing vacation and we heard from this festival here. So, we're coming here. We enjoy it because it's a sunny day and to go out without any mask anything, it's great. We enjoy it."

What began life as a local celebration of the early herring catch is now as much a tourist event, revealing the region’s long fishing traditions. After this joyous start, the herring season will continue until September or October. It will resume once more, next May or June, once the fat percentage of the herring reaches around 16 percent.