Bring a Little Danish "Hygge" to Your Holiday Season

The holidays are upon us and for Danes that means the high season for "hygge”!

What is hygge? Well, it has nothing to do with Black Friday or Christmas bargain shopping. It’s not even about gifts, except perhaps the gift of sharing someone’s company.

There is no adequate English translation, and most non-Danes, like myself, have trouble even pronouncing the word! It is most often translated as cozy or coziness, but it is much more than that. Some say the best way to understand hygge is to look at the definition of its opposite, “uhyggeligt,” which is anything from cheerless and uncomfortable to sinister and alarming.

I once had the good fortune to live in Denmark and study at the university, and I have returned to visit many times since. The Danish family I lived with best explained hygge to me by exclaiming in the moment, "Bill, this is hyggelig (hygge-like)!" The first time this occurred was at a candlelit dinner at their home on a dark autumn evening. The meal was delicious and the conversation among the four of us warm and engaging. I began to see that hygge was subtle and somewhat individual, but it was social nirvana to Danes.

Hygge is a sense of peaceful well being and contentment expressed in a state of comfort and warmth (often, but not always) in the company of loved ones.

A loving and agreeable person can be described as “hyggelig” and a memorable time with friends might be “hyggeligt”.

Experiencing hygge is common at Danish summer or holiday houses in the country or near the sea, but it can happen anywhere.

Article Author: Bill Scott

A retired architect, Bill Scott works to correct misunderstandings about Christian Science as the Christian Science Committee on Publication for Washington State.

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