Dutch Fireworks Mania: End of an Era

Dutch Fireworks Mania: End of an Era

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Around New Year’s Eve 2025–26, Dutch streets once again erupted in fireworks. I was able to witness it firsthand, both at Dam Square and at Museumplein, which is just a couple of blocks from the Vondelkerk church that was set on fire by fireworks. Private fireworks had become an entrenched, if relatively young, tradition. Today, the Netherlands leads the world in fireworks consumption per capita: no other country spends as much per person.

France banned the sale, possession and transport of fireworks for private individuals as early as 2023, and shortly after the New Year 2025/2026, Finland, too, reached the required 50,000 signatures for a citizens’ legislative initiative—within just a few days.

 

Deep Historical Roots

The Dutch fascination with fireworks has deep historical roots, but its modern intensity is a post-war and late-20th-century phenomenon rather than an ancient tradition.

Fire and noise have long been part of Dutch winter rituals. As early as the 17th century, loud celebrations, bonfires and public spectacles were used to mark important moments and symbolically drive away evil spirits at year’s end.

One of the best-known historical events took place in 1648 at Dam Square in Amsterdam, where fireworks were used to celebrate the end of the Eighty Years’ War, on the very same square where the turn of the year is still celebrated today. In earlier times, fireworks were associated not only with festivity but also with a shared sense of relief at the end of war and an experience of national freedom.

New Year fireworks at Museumplein, Amsterdam.

New Year fireworks at Museumplein, Amsterdam.

For centuries, however, fireworks were an elite pastime: invitation-only displays organised by city authorities or the wealthy. In the 19th century, fireworks began to spread more widely, and modest private use of rockets appeared in wealthier households. The decisive shift came after the Second World War, as prosperity grew and imports increased.

The real explosion in popularity occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, when cheap, mass-produced Chinese consumer fireworks flooded European markets. In the Netherlands, crucially, the state allowed private citizens to buy and set off fireworks during a short, legally defined window on New Year’s Eve. Unlike many neighbouring countries, this permission was broad and lightly regulated. Fireworks became democratised: not a spectacle to watch, but something everyone actively participated in.

I can imagine that for a generation that had lived through war, all that exploding must have been distressing. For us, however, raised on Commando war comics and various toy weapons, rockets and bangers were exciting.

This legal framework shaped behaviour. Because fireworks could only be used once a year, the tradition evolved into an intense, almost ritualised release. Streets became informal arenas of competition and display. Entire neighbourhoods took part. Spending escalated.

Culturally, fireworks became tied to Dutch ideas of vrijheid (freedom) and gezelligheid (shared social atmosphere). Setting off fireworks was not merely about marking midnight, but about asserting presence, autonomy and belonging in public space. The practice also blended with older rural traditions such as carbidschieten (carbide shooting), reinforcing a broader culture of noise and spectacle.

Young, wild men at Dam Square. Later in the night, police clashed with men fitting this description. News footage showed rockets being fired horizontally and police detaining hooded men.

World’s Highest Fireworks Consumption

In 2024, Dutch consumers spent a record €118 million on fireworks. Sales were brisk again this winter, as many treated the 2025–26 celebrations as the last New Year’s with legal private fireworks. Large crowds formed at pop-up shops and specialist stores, with long queues reported nationwide.

By law, fireworks could be set off from 6.00 p.m. on 31 December until 2.00 a.m. on 1 January. In practice, especially in large cities such as Amsterdam and The Hague, fireworks continued uninterrupted well past midnight, including in residential streets. At the same time, official municipal displays were cancelled in several locations due to strong winds. In Haarlem, by contrast, fireworks have been banned since 2021. I personally observed sporadic explosions in a neighbourhood near Amsterdam Airport already a couple of days before New Year’s Eve.

My last personal observation was closer to two in the morning.

Unrest in Central Amsterdam

Revellers began gathering already in the early evening at Dam Square, a few blocks south of Amsterdam Central Station. There was a large Christmas tree, an impressive light show with music, and occasional small rockets. Earlier still, near the station, young men threw bangers close to my group as they walked past. More explosives were tossed near pedestrians by young men sitting on the rear racks of bicycles coming the other way. They looked like entirely ordinary Dutch youths. I left Dam Square with my group at around 11.15 p.m., as the atmosphere was beginning to turn rowdy.

Later, the celebratory mood was shattered completely when serious disturbances broke out on Dam Square. According to police, revellers clashed with officers during the night, and fireworks were thrown towards police lines. Police intervened to disperse the crowds. Several people were arrested on suspicion of offences including disorderly conduct and violence against police. Videos circulating online show men firing rockets horizontally through the city rather than into the air.

Amsterdam police described the situation at times as unpredictable and stated that fireworks were being deliberately used as weapons rather than for celebration. Rescue and emergency medical services elsewhere in the country also reported encountering aggression while attempting to deal with fires, injuries and disturbances.

Dam Square has long been the focal point of New Year’s gatherings, but this year’s events reinforced the argument that large-scale private fireworks use in densely populated city centres poses a significant public-order risk.

Eye Injuries and Fires

Ambulance, near Dam Square.

My late mother worked at times at the eye clinic of Helsinki University Hospital, occasionally even on New Year’s Day. She made sure early on that I understood the dangers of explosives.

In the Netherlands, emergency call-outs once again continued nationwide without pause over the New Year. Hundreds of people suffered burns and other injuries. Particularly senseless are severe eye injuries, especially among children. Rotterdam Eye Hospital reported that around 85 per cent of patients treated for fireworks-related eye injuries were minors—an alarming trend. Fire and police services were overwhelmed with calls and emergencies. Rescue personnel also reported being deliberately targeted with fireworks.

In Amsterdam, a fire ignited by fireworks severely damaged the historic Vondelkerk church, whose tower collapsed. I was a few hundred metres from the site of the fire as the year changed.

Nationwide, hospitals treated more patients than in the previous year’s turn of the year. In Zwolle, for example, 30 people were admitted to emergency care, compared with 22 the year before. Streets were left littered with debris and burnt remains; smoke hung in the air for hours. The constant explosions caused distress to pets, infants, and people with trauma-related or sensory sensitivities. Across Amsterdam, including between tram tracks, I observed charred and still-smouldering large boxes, about the size of a shoebox—used for firing multiple rockets in sequence, known in Finland as Roman candles.

Tens of Millions of Euros in Damage

Euronews: Fireworks in Amsterdam

Euronews: Fireworks in Amsterdam

Dutch authorities are acutely aware of the problems caused by fireworks. They cause tens of millions of euros in damage every year. Windows are smashed, vehicles burn, fires break out, and the environment is left covered in rubbish. Noise levels are unbearable for many residents. Then there is the human cost: every New Year, hundreds of people are injured, often to the hands or eyes, sometimes with permanent consequences.

The strain on emergency services is particularly severe. Firefighters’ unions and police organisations have repeatedly warned that New Year’s Eve has become one of the most dangerous shifts of the year. For vulnerable households—such as those with autistic children, people suffering from PTSD, the elderly, and hospital patients—the night often feels like an ordeal rather than a celebration.

Dutch broadcaster BNNVARA summed up the shift in thinking in its reporting: tradition cannot be more important than the suffering of others. For this reason, a nationwide ban on private fireworks from the turn of the year 2026–27 onwards is justified on grounds of public safety, health and environmental responsibility. Fine-particle emissions, heavy metals and long-term environmental damage have also weighed heavily in the decision.

New Year fireworks at Museumplein, Amsterdam.

New Year fireworks at Museumplein, Amsterdam.

Dutch broadcaster BNNVARA summed up the shift in thinking in its reporting: tradition cannot be more important than the suffering of others. For this reason, a nationwide ban on private fireworks from the turn of the year 2026–27 onwards is justified on grounds of public safety, health and environmental responsibility. Fine-particle emissions, heavy metals and long-term environmental damage have also weighed heavily in the decision.

“Fireworks belong to New Year’s Eve”

Opponents of the rocket ban argue that fireworks are a matter of personal freedom. Surveys show a strong emotional attachment: 41 per cent of respondents still say that “vuurwerk hoort bij oud en nieuw” (fireworks belong to New Year’s Eve). Critics describe the ban as betutteling—paternalism—and warn of a growing black market in explosives. In a poll by AVROTROS, 59 per cent of current fireworks users said they would buy fireworks illegally after the ban, and 43 per cent said the ban would make them want to set off even more fireworks in protest.

Nevertheless, public opinion has clearly shifted. Around two-thirds of the population now support the ban, citing injuries, noise, pollution and public disorder. Some still consider the ban unnecessary; others see it as inevitable from a safety perspective.

Europe Tightens the Right to Set off Explosives

The Dutch decision is bold, but not exceptional. France has banned private fireworks. Belgium and Germany still permit private use but struggle with similar fireworks chaos. Belgian police have described New Year’s Eve as “a small hell”. Although people have died and hundreds have been injured in recent years in Germany, the country has not moved towards a full ban, instead relying on partial restrictions that are difficult to enforce.

Denmark has significantly tightened its rules, limiting fireworks to a narrow window around the New Year. In Finland, fireworks may only be used until 2.00 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, and age limits are strict. Sweden has effectively banned private fireworks without permits. Across Europe, the direction is clear: fewer backyard explosives, more professional displays.

Freedom Has Limits

Burned remains of a fireworks box, in Amsterdam.

Burned remains of a fireworks box, in Amsterdam.

The Dutch fireworks debate highlights a broader question facing liberal societies: where does freedom end when it becomes a burden on others? The Netherlands is known for permissiveness in many areas of life, yet even there policymakers have concluded that private fireworks crossed the line. When pleasure repeatedly leads to serious injuries, fires, fear and attacks on emergency workers, the social contract begins to fray.

The fireworks ban, approved by a broad parliamentary majority in 2025, reflects this reassessment. It is not a rejection of celebration, but an acknowledgement that unrestricted freedom can erode the very society that makes freedom possible.

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