photo by Thomas Smidt, Danish friend and contributor. Copenhagen, Denmark




Excerpt of his essay:

Today, some Danish jul-traditions do not differ that much from the American ones. We have Christmas trees (juletræer), Christmas spirit (julestemning), and even a Santa Claus that, by now, looks exactly like the American Coca-Cola version. We just call him julemanden (the jul man). In this way, the Danish traditions have arranged themselves according to international and American standards through the past hundred years in the same way that midwinter parties started to match Christian tradition back in the day. There are, however, still some differences between American Christmas and Danish jul, which I am sure you will discover for yourselves in the following.

...The main course will typically consist of roast goose, roast pork with extremely crisp cracklings, white potatoes, brown potatoes (sugar coated), red cabbage, warm potato chips,  lots and lots of beer, and fine French red wines. This is one of the only days in the year where Danes are allowed to eat food that is so incredibly unhealthy. But again, it is tradition, and this kind of food is most definitely not what one would call a typical Danish meal. Neither is the dessert, which is usually Ris a la Mande with cherry sauce. A very weird Danish tradition is to put an entire almond into the dessert and give a small present to whoever gets it first. In that way we make sure that people will eat the dessert even if they don’t like it. And then it is time for the all-important part of jul; walking around the Christmas tree hand in hand while pappa sits at the piano or with his guitar playing all the traditional Christmas songs. After that it is time for presents. Someone will put a John Denver vinyl on the gramophone and we will take turns walking to the tree, picking a present, and give it to someone in the family. It does not matter who the gift is from; the important thing is that everybody enjoys the feeling of receiving and giving presents to one another. An evening like this usually ends around midnight where some will go to bed, and some will stay up to finish the last wine, whisky or beer before going to sleep. Throughout this entire day, and sometimes throughout the month of December, everybody engages in what we in Danish call hygge; a Danish expression which a lot of linguists have tried to translate, but none have succeeded. Hygge is the most important part of a Danish jul. I cannot possibly explain what it is, since it consists of so many things, situations, people, moods, spirits, atmospheres, etc. But go to Denmark sometime and find out for yourself; I assure you that hygge is an extremely positive experience.