It’s been a snowy weekend approach to Christmas here in Danmark. Maja and I have filled the past 10 days or so scouring festive markets, playing with sheep, touring western denmark, eating aebleskiver, and taking lovely strolls through snowy Aarhus. Although it hardly snowed when I studied here in 2008, an unlikely storm has struck the country and were knee deep in a picturesque winterland.
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Hyggeligt
[who-geh-lee (confused American pronunciation)]
Talking about holiday experience in Denmark without the word Hyggeligt doesn’t make sense and leaves a massive hole in the story. Roughly translated, the word means “cozy.” However, our word “cozy” doesn’t justify the meaning of Hyggeligt. It is a state of mind and a cultural cornerstone that represents pleasure, enjoyability and happiness. It is a very common word used in noun, verb, and adjective forms. I.E…….
Noun : “This is some great Christmas hygge”
Verb: “We hygge together” - We get along well
Adjective: “That was hyggeligt” – that was nice
Hyggeligt culture is most evident in the domestic setting. Because the weather outside can be so brutal, it is important to make the indoor environment as warm, comfortable, and “hyggeligt” as possible. Physically manifested in candle arrangements, hot tea, comfortable chairs, cozy décor and chocolate, “Hygge” goes much further than decorations and drinks. Rarely touched in the America I’ve experienced, the real value of hygge comes in the mentality behind the physical things—A relaxed, content, and warm frame of mind. It’s a unique flavor of “good times” that this part of the world specializes in.
Classic Hygge
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I arrived in Aarhus on December 8th after an 18 hour Ryanair journey that involved an overnight on an empty airport floor, an unprecedented touch of luck with a Ryanair check-in lady (that allowed me to avoid 100 dollars of extra charges), forgotten sandwiches (the worst thing in the world), annoying British accents and a temporary goodbye to Italy.
Maja and I spent a little over a week in Aarhus before heading over to Copenhagen for a Christmas celebration. She was finishing up her last week of journalism school. She took me to school one day to attend the release party of the magazine for which she is an editor. Only in Denmark do you arrive at school to carry cases of beer from the bar (that is located in the same hallways as your lecture hall) to the foyer where you are having a party a few meters away from the library, speaking to your teachers about a certain assignment as you enjoy a Christmas beer at 12:30 in the afternoon.
Drinking at School, A Rebel Without a Cause
Kolding
We went to Maja’s parents’ house in Kolding for a few nights on the way to Copenhagen and they were very eager to share their take on Danish Christmas. On the first night we dined on a homemade Risengroed, a cornerstone of the holiday culture. Risengroed is a rice pudding sprinkled with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon upon which you melt a piece of butter to brew a savory maelstrom of rice pudding glory. It’s sweet, but not jelly donut sweet, and this golden middleway in combination with the spicy Christmas beer makes for a memorable dinner amongst the holiday “hygge” of the Danish home.
On the second night we had a proper Christmas dinner with a roasted duck, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes and a cabbage salad. The Bygvraa’s dug into the family wine collection after the royal meal, and within a few hours, Momma bear was fast asleep, Mr. Bygvraa was playing 80s pop hits on the laptop while Maja and I were jamming on the guitar, singing songs while wearing Santa hats–christmas candles burning, teeth stained red and that intangible joy, that Christmas never seems to forget, floating through the air.
Conscience: And by intangible joy, you mean 3 bottles of wine, right?
I sit here on 11:25am Saturday morning, next to Maja’s dad whose been hammering away at some semi-professional snood for the past half hour, the both of us too hungover to talk and waiting for Maja to wake up so we can get going with breakfast. Maja’s mom knocks on the door, returning from a walk with their brown lab “Dino.” I answer the door and she stands there saying something in Danish, waving her hand and walking away, and I answer with a gentle, “okay.” I close the door and turn around and Maja’s dad says, “she meant to say that she is going next door.”
My time in Denmark has been filled with numbingly awkward moments like this as well as moments of holiday cheer and Danish intoxication. The Scandinavian winter is a bit overwhelming and I now recall those long January nights of 2008, when I first arrived in Denmark for my semester abroad. Daylight is difficult to catch as the sun sets around 4pm here. Days go from black to grey to black again, but the most interesting aspect of this pattern is the degree of darkness that is reached in the early evening. By 5pm or so, it is midnight dark outside as if you were galavanting around the city at 2 o clock in the morning. The long hours force a lot of the Danish werewolves to migrate south for the winter.
Conscience: There’s a handgun in the closet, I left the child-lock off for you.
Anyway, Maja and I are jumping on a train tomorrow to head out to beautiful Copenhagen. I’ll be in touch soon.
Buon Natale,
Craig
written 12/20/09
Unsolved Mysteries Update: blah blah blah, what dishonorable bullshit! We did go to Copenhagen before I came back to the States and it was a fantastic time, however, we can’t dwell too long on that because I’ve waited too long to finish this thing. Here are some pictures from the Copenhagen visit…. I hope to have the last entry up by this weekend, if not, early next week. Peace.
