Christmas in Denmark
As Christmas time begins to near, those of you who are living in Denmark may have noticed some peculiar Christmas traditions happening around you. So i thought I would highlight a couple of my favourite Danish traditions and how I like to spend my time leading up to Christmas in Denmark.
Since the sun is only up for about 7 hours each day during wintertime, you will see Christmas lights lining every street in the city, hung in every house and apartment window, and decorating every tree. Leading up to Christmas, it is not just the streetlights to look forward to but also the fact that we celebrate J-Day, the first Friday in November where Christmas Beer “Julebryg” is released to the public. Traditionally on J-day, "Julebryg" is handed out by Carlsberg employees wearing Santa hats, for free to bars and shoppers on Strøget (one of Europe's largest pedestrian streets).
Our Danish Christmas has greatly been influenced by the Scandinavians’ common lifestyle called Hygge. Hygge, in short, is described as a mood or an atmosphere of cosiness with feelings of wellness and contentment that make the darker months better. This can be shown in many forms, such as, the advent candle you light at the table, the smell of orange and cinnamon, the wool socks you wear in the evening, or the paper hearts called “jule-hjerter” that we make and hang in the house, etc, the list goes on. So during Christmas time, “Hygge” is felt everywhere you go and you will often hear people say "Ej hvor hyggeligt!".
Most countries in Scandinavia, celebrate Santa Lucia which takes place on December 13th. Santa Lucia arrives wearing a white gown and candles on her head to bring light to the land that is filled with darkness. She leads other girls and boys holding candles, dressed in white, while singing an enchanting hymn, called Santa Lucia.
This parade is what we often do instead of acting out the Nativity Scene from the Bible, although there are places where you definitely will see this including Kongens Nytorv where they also have cute pine scented cabins selling gløgg and other Christmas wares.
Copenhagen hosts many traditional Christmas events that you can look forward to every year. I personally, love to go to Frederiksberg Park, where you are able to go ice-skating with your loved ones. There is also this amusement park called “Tivoli” in the center of town, where currently you will find the town for elves or “nisser” where you can try traditional mulled wine mixed with cinnamon called “Gløgg” and the delicious Christmas dessert called “Æbleskiver” served with marmalade and sugar. Tivoli also has a gorgeous garden decorated with Christmas lights displayed amongst markets where you can try their time honoured specialties, seriously magical, highly recommended.
One of my favourite Christmas traditions to mention, is an event called “Julefrokost” which translates to Christmas lunch, which can be held as early as November and latest as January. Usually, you will have a Christmas lunch with your friends, your classmates and your workplace colleagues on weekends leading up to Christmas. The lunch lasts most of the day and is filled with typical open-faced sandwiches, Christmas foods, games (including presents), and beverages such as snaps, gløgg, and julebryg (Christmas beer). Expect many interruptions because when one person yells cheers, “Skål”, this means that everyone should say it and look into the eyes of fellow guests, and this can last all day.
The Danish celebrate Christmas on the 24th of December with a small celebration the day before on “little Christmas” which is the 23rd of December where families will traditionally decorate the Christmas tree or make ginger cookies. On the 24th, the celebration usually begins with a serious Christmas dinner of roasted pork crackling or duck, red cabbage, caramelised potatoes and gravy and snaps, followed by a traditional rice porridge dessert called “Risalamande” topped with cherry sauce. This Christmas dessert will usually have a whole almond hidden inside so that the one who finds it, will win a Christmas gift or prize. The good thing about Christmas is that there is always leftovers, so the next day try making a famous pork crackling sandwich (you can get these in a lot of places all year around) with all the toppings inside, trust me, it's not to be missed! After the dinner, that’s when we will light the (very real) candles on the tree, hold hands with each other and dance around the Christmas tree to traditional Danish Christmas songs. Once everyone has had enough of dancing, that’s when we sit to open our presents, usually distributed by a family member disguised as a Christmas elf, “julenisse”, to make the gift experience more authentic.
If you are spending the holidays in Denmark, there is so much to look forward to! The most important thing, is that you include yourself in as much “hygge” as you can, to get into the Christmas spirit. Take yourself to Tivoli to watch the lights and drink gløgg or ask your friends to host a Julefrokost (Christmas lunch), or to make ginger cookies together! Hopefully you will start to experience and enjoy the Danish Christmas feeling.
Please let me know if you enjoyed this article and how you will be spending your Christmas this year! I would love to hear from you and get to know how you spend your holidays!