Redheads gather in Netherlands for special day
- Published
Hundreds of redheads from around the world gathered at a festival in the Dutch town of Tilburg on Sunday to celebrate their hair colour and their community!
The group - of all ages - come together every year for a three-day gathering of people with this unique trait. At the festival redheads meet and chat and do activities - including trying to identify their own special shade of red and hair texture!
Attendees also got to take part in arts and craft events and even in a special photoshoot. Some people said, while they are usually in a minority in ordinary life, it's great to be in a group where everyone shares the same unusual trait. "It's very rare to have red hair, and we see that people that have something very special, once in a while they love to be in the majority," said Lena, "We have this funny connection with others, you meet a lot of people, you can come alone. It's just special."
Even though the festivities were pared down for covid safety reasons, people said that by gathering together they felt a sense of belonging.
They even wore stickers to show which country they came from. Organiser Bart Rouwenhorst said: "With hundreds and hundreds of redheads together, that's a special feeling for people. For example, we have an Egyptian redhead who said, 'In my home country, I am the only redhead in the city, but here, I see my family, my worldwide family.'"
Lori Christine Wengerd from the United States attended the festival and took a portrait dressed like an old painting: "I personally feel something when I see redheads or red-haired people, I feel like effectively we belong to a certain community, there is something that brings us together, I would say."