Kelsey Keegan
Danish
5/7/13
Hunting for Hygge
One of the fundamental aspects of Danish culture, and a concept we Americans studying in
Copenhagen have come to know and love, is hygge. For many Danes, the word “hygge” is
essential when describing something uniquely
Danish. According to the “Meet the Danes”
section of The Official Website of Denmark,
the word is best translated into English as
“‘coziness’ or ‘conviviality’” and it reflects
the “sense of community and sense of
security, which comes about when Danes
spend quality time with people they care
about.” While this is a fairly accurate
description, hygge connotes a lot more than just a good time with good friends. A more detailed
explanation, including the history, and the egalitarian aspect of hygge will be presented in this
paper.
To start, some may be surprised to find that “hygge” didn’t originate in the Danish
language, but in Norwegian, where it meant something like “well-being” (“The Art of Danish
Hygge”). As the Visit Denmark website states, the word “first appeared in Danish writing around
the end of the 18th Century and the Danes have embraced it ever since.”
In dissecting the word “hygge,” “hu” is equal to “sind,” which means “mind” in English.
“Hukommelse” means “memory” in Danish, so hygge also means mindfulness and feeling at
home or being mindful in all things and places (Häuser, Ivan). Additionally, the word refers to a
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sense of friendly, warm companionship, although you can actually hygge by yourself if there is no
one else around. A love of or need for hygge is an important part of the Danish psyche. Hygge is
usually inadequately translated as “coziness,” but this is too simplistic. Coziness relates to
physical surroundings — a sweater can be cozy, or a warm bed — whereas hygge has more to do
with people's behavior towards each other. It is the art of creating intimacy: a sense of
comradeship, conviviality, and contentment rolled into one (Bonetto, Cristian.). For example,
friends meeting in the street might say that it has been hyggeligt to see each other, and someone
who is fun to be with can be called a hyggelig fyr, when he would hardly be described as a “cozy
fellow.” The truly emotive depth of the word, hyggelig, is best captured by considering its
opposite, uhyggeligt, which means anything from cheerless or sinister to downright shocking and
grisly (Dyrbye, Helen, Steve Harris, and Thomas Golzen).
To have a hyggelig time is social nirvana in Denmark. Candlelight is used to encourage a
hyggelig atmosphere. In fact, the Danes are mad about candles and use them everywhere, both in
public places like cafes, bars, restaurants, offices, and in the home. The dim, flickering lighting
entices you in for a warm welcome and helps to soften the clean, uncluttered surfaces and
uncompromising white walls that are typical features of Danish living rooms. Everyone's ideal is
to have a Christiania kakkelovn (antique stove) or an open fireplace and feel the warmth from its
hyggelige glow (Dyrbye, Helen, Steve Harris, and Thomas Golzen).
Hygge is as Danish as pork roast and cold beer and it goes far in illuminating the Danish
soul. In essence, it means creating a nice, warm, relaxing atmosphere and enjoying the good things
in life with good people around you. The warm glow of candlelight is hygge. Friends and family –
that’s hygge too. And let’s not forget the eating and drinking – preferably sitting around the table
for hours on end discussing the big and small things in life.
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The high season of hygge is Christmas. Danes lead a secular lifestyle but when it comes to
religious holidays, they pull out the stops. Danish winters are known to be long and dark, so the
Danes fight the darkness with their best weapon: hygge - when loved ones sit close together on a
cold rainy night, and the millions of candles that go with this in order to make their inside spaces
warm and inviting. A trip to Tivoli Gardens
or a walk down any street of Copenhagen
during the festive season is said to
illuminate the concept of hygge, in which
one really gets an idea of what Danes can
do with lighting, mulled wine (known as
gløgg for the locals), blankets and oversize
scarves.
While winter is high time for hygge, it really is something that happens all year round.
Picnics in the park, outdoor concerts, street festivals, bike rides, and barbeques, especially when
grilling a pølse (Danish sausage) and drinking a beer (preferably a Carlsberg or Tuborg) on a long
summer evening, with friends can all be very hygge (“The Art of Danish Hygge”).
Hygge even makes an appearance in a popular, traditional Danish wedding song, “Det er
så yndigt at følges ad,” (roughly translated to “It is so lovely to go together”) written by NFS
Grundtvig. Grundtvig was a Danish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian, teacher, and
politician. He was one of the most influential people in Danish history, as his philosophy gave rise
to a new form of nationalism and egalitarian values in the last half of the 19th century (Allchin,
A.M.). This nationalism is clear throughout the song, particularly with the mention of hygge. The
line mentioning hygge is as follows: “Det er så hyggeligt allensteds, hvor små og store har ét i
sinde,” which means something along the lines of “It is so cozy everywhere, where small and
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large have one in mind,” and the song continues from there (“Det er så yndigt at følges ad for
to”). The rest of the lines basically indicate that both marriage and hygge are, or should be, places
of coziness, comfort, and mindfulness. Additionally, these lines allude to the spark or motivation
that drives people deep within (Häuser, Ivan).
All in all, Alex Beauchamp of the blog “Hygge House,” says that “Danish hygge is a
feeling or mood that comes from taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary, everyday things
simply extraordinary; whether it’s using real lights on a Christmas tree or breaking out the good
wine when friends come over. It’s about owning things you truly love or that inspire, putting effort
into your home without being Martha Stewart, and being present in yourself and your life. It’s also
about being conscious and authentic from home to work to friends to celebrations and making all
events (no matter how big or small, mundane or exciting) matter.”
While words like coziness, security, familiarity, comfort, reassurance, fellowship,
simpleness and living well are often used to describe the idea, some refer to it as the art of creating
intimacy (with yourself, friends and home). Technology and modern day busy-ness has removed
so many of us from ourselves, our homes and ordinary tasks, making them feel as though these
things are hard to do, have no importance or are too time-consuming. Danes, however, only like to
do things that are fun, nourish the soul and are familiar, so they find ways to incorporate them into
their daily life. By creating simple rituals without effort (such as brewing real tea with a little
china cup every evening to stopping at the farmers market every week to buy flowers) the Danes
see both the domestic and personal life as an art form and not drudgery to get away from
(Beauchamp).
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According to Henrik Timm, host dad of DIS student Hannah Biggs, hygge is a “special
situation where people are communicating or having a nice time together, where they don’t need
to say something, but maybe eat or drink or play a game or watch a movie.” Bigg’s host mom,
Anette Timm, says, it “describes that you’re just together and have fun or just relax together or
when you have guests for dinner and you make a nice table with the flowers and the candles. I also
think that there are other cultures which have hygge as well, not the word but the meaning of
hygge.” As Stine Ørby, host sister of DIS student Paige Robnett says, “the candlelight is very
hygge. Hygge is warm, it’s not cold.”
Robnett’s host mom, Jonna Ørby,
states that “it doesn’t depend on what
we are doing, it depends on that we
can relax and that sometimes we don’t
have to speak to each other. I think it’s
good just to be together in the same
room sometimes” and it can be “to go
to concert together or opera or go on walking tour or go on bike or shopping together.” Jonna also
says that “I don’t think it’s only Danish culture that can make hygge, we have found it in many
countries. I think American people are very good at it because they think a lot of each other and I
think they are very open-minded.”
I was surprised to hear that Danes thought Americans could hygge too. Part of why I didn’t
believe that Americans really had anything like hygge is because our society is so fast-paced and
time oriented that we never really take a moment to sit down and have a meal or drink, for say 3 or
4 hours like people in Denmark do. The Danes seem to have more of a conscious focus on
togetherness and creating hygge, which is something I wish were truer of American culture. The
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notion of living in the present with good food, good drinks, and good company is so refreshing.
Perhaps this idea of hygge - a cozy, snug, sociable atmosphere, fostering a unique sense of
wellbeing and conviviality at the heart of Danish culture - explains why Danes are often
considered the happiest people in the world.
Another reason this idea of hygge is so characteristic of Denmark is because hygge can be
seen as an egalitarian and classless concept. According to Researcher and PhD Jeppe Trolle
Linnet’s article, “Money Can’t Buy Me Hygge: Danish Middle-Class Consumption,
Egalitarianism, and the Sanctity of Inner Space,” the social interaction known as hygge is “related
to cultural values that idealize the notion of ‘inner space’ and other egalitarian norms of everyday
life in Scandinavian societies.” While commonly experienced as a “pleasurable involvement in a
social and spatial interior, hygge is also examined as a mode of withdrawal from alienating
conditions of modernity” and “in spite of its egalitarian features, hygge acts as a vehicle for social
control and establishes its own hierarchy of attitudes” as Linnet suggests that hygge “challenges
the upper class’ ideas that money can buy you everything.” He argues that “hygge has to be
somewhat ‘cheap’” or at least that it centers on cheaper food, more humble home décor, etc.
Hygge figures as a marker of ‘real’ family togetherness, which is opposed to experiences
that are either exotic and dramatic or luxurious and characterized by some degree of upscale
formality. The realm of the exotic and luxurious is presented as ‘overdoing it’, as something that
goes beyond what is necessary or ‘enough’ for enjoying close, hyggeligt social relations and,
indeed, makes a hyggeligt atmosphere less likely to arise. Thrift or ‘getting cheap’ is a way not
only to save money but also to remain at a level where things and relations are ‘real’, with hygge
as a marker of this ‘real-ness’ (Linnet).
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Linnet also argues that part of the concept of hygge is being genuine and not artificial or
materialistic. Even though there is a much smaller gap in class systems in Denmark, between rich
and poor, than there is in the U.S, there is still a gap. However, part of Danish culture, as I’ve
learned, is about being humble, so people would not flaunt wealth or accomplishment to others. In
fact, there is even a rule called
Janteloven, or the Law of Jante, which
is the idea that individual success and
achievement are unworthy and
inappropriate. There are ten rules in
the law as defined by Dano-Norwegian
author Aksel Sandemose, in his novel A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks, which are all variations on a
single theme: You are not to think you're anyone special or that you're better than us. Rather, this
rule or law encourages a communal desire to preserve harmony, social stability and uniformity,
while placing emphasis on the collective (“Law of Jante”). This concept ties into what Linnet
writes in his essay about hygge, the middle-class, and private space.
For example, Linnet states the cultural relations by which hygge connects to egalitarian
values. These include the fact that “hygge does not permit any participant to take center stage or to
dominate a situation for very long,” that it “represents an inward-looking and somewhat careful
tendency in that these interactional bubbles are dependent upon participants’ cooperative efforts to
avoid thorny topics or divisive issues,” and that instead, hygge is “charged with a strong
orientation toward the present, a readiness to commit oneself to the experience of the moment.”
So as one can see, hygge is about a lot more than just having a comfortable and relaxing
time with loved ones while eating or drinking. Hygge is deeply ingrained into Danish society with
its connections to egalitarianism, inner space, and modesty. Hygge is a large part of what makes
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Denmark the country and culture that it is. I have only been so lucky as to get a small taste of this
amazing Danish concept and I definitely plan on trying to incorporate more hygge into my life
once I’m back in the U.S. Overall my time in Denmark has been extremely hyggeligt and I hope I
can come back to visit someday for some more authentic, Danish hygge.
Works Cited
Allchin, A.M. NFS Grundtvig. An Introduction to his Life and Work. 1998. London: Darton,
Longman & Todd.
Beauchamp, Alex. “What is Hygge?” HyggeHouse.com. Web. 6 May 2013.
Bonetto, Cristian. “How to Get Cosy in Copenhagen.” The Lonely Planet Guide to Copenhagen.
Web. 6 May 2013.
“Det er så yndigt at følges ad for to.” Den Dansk Salmebog. Web. 6 May 2013.
<http://www.dendanskesalmebogonline.dk/salme/703>.
Dyrbye, Helen, Steve Harris, and Thomas Golzen. “The Danes.” Xenophobe's Guides.
Web. 7 May 2013.
Häuser, Ivan. Personal Interview.
“Law of Jante.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 5 May 2013.
Linnet, Jeppe Trolle. “Money Can’t Buy Me Hygge: Danish Middle-Class Consumption,
Egalitarianism, and the Sanctity of Inner Space.” Social Analysis 55.2 (2011): 21-44.
EBSCO MegaFILE. Web. 6 May 2013.
“Meet the Danes.” The Official Website of Denmark. Web. 7 May 2013.
<http://denmark.dk/en/meet-the-danes/>.
Ørby, Jonna and Stine. Host mom and sister of DIS student, Paige Robnett. Personal Interview.
30 97 08 78.
“The Art of Danish Hygge.” VisitDenmark. Web. 5 May 2013.
<http://www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/culture/art-danish-hygge>.
Timm, Henrik and Annette. Host parents of DIS student Hannah Biggs. Personal Interview.
30 97 33 80.
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