Winter Events in Amsterdam
Winter is not often very cold in Amsterdam, the city with mild and rather humid sea climate usually without freezing temperatures. But if it happens and the canals freeze, the view of people of all ages skating on ice is unique. Winter is the most quiet time at the city usually crowded museums and tourist attractions, the New Year’s Eve festivities draw young people celebrating the occasion with fireworks and music. While Christmas is less important in the predominantly Protestant Amsterdam, the Saint Nicholas Day (December 6) is the day to remember as traditional occasion to exchange gifts.
December Amsterdam Events
Amsterdam Light Festival
1. December - 22. January
A walking path along the light sculptures installed at the Old Town canals for the time of the festival and the ‘Water Colours’ boat route along the light installations reflected in water.
Valhalla Festival
Saturday before Christmas each year: 17 December
A cirque animale of electronic dance music styles like deephouse and techno mix with a program of acrobatics, clowning, freak and peep shows and provide a bizarre ride through the classic circus culture and beyond. Tickets are available at the Valhalla website. Early tickets are around 50 euro.
Christmas Day and Boxing Day
December 25, December 26
If you find yourself in Amsterdam during Christmas, here are a few suggestions to pass your time and include a few Dutch culture events into your holidays.
New Year's Eve
December 31
New Year in Amsterdam is another wild celebration. The Dutch often stay home with their families until midnight, and many bars during these Amsterdam festivities open just then. The spots that are seriously crowded include Leidseplein, Rembrandtplein and Nieuwmarkt. Many venues offer New Year’s parties. From midnight the sky lights up as the whole of the city sets of fireworks. One of the most spectacular of the fireworks shows takes place each year on the bridge at the crossing of Prinsengracht and Bloemgracht canals.
January Amsterdam Events
National Tulip Day
every year on the third Saturday of January, 21 January
Official launch of the tulip season. Every year, on the third Saturday of January, Amsterdam’s Dam Square is filled with approximately 200,000 tulips. These tulips are specially arranged to make a giant temporary garden, which is open to the public for flower picking.
Amsterdam International Fashion Week
end of January each year, 25 January - 29 January 
Twice a year, these Amsterdam events present young and upcoming fashion in Europe. AIFW tries to establish Amsterdam on the existing fashion map where Paris, Milan and London dominate. The idea behind the Amsterdam International Fashion Week is to make a step towards art, and while showing new fashion collections and to create the whole range of events like fashion photography exhibitions, museum exhibits about clothing, meetings of retailers and of course parties.
Chinese New Year
Saturday, 28 January
Festival through Zeedijk and Chinatown.
Holocaust Memorial Day in Amsterdam
last Sunday of January each year: 29 January
An event reminding the anniversary of the liberation by the Red Army on January 27, 1945 of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz and Birkenau in the occupied by Germany Poland. The Holocaust Memorial Day (National Holocaust Verdenking) is celebrated at the Auschwitz Monument located at the Wertheimpark, at the beginning of Plantage Middenlaan street memorising thousands of Dutch Jews murdered by the Nazis. Celebrations usually start at the Stadhuis (Town Hall) on the nearby Waterlooplein with participating people marching in silence to the Auschwitz Monument. Important Dutch personalities with the current Dutch Prime Minister participate each year in this event.
www.auschwitz.nl