Hygge

Although understanding other cultures is often a nuanced business, cultures often have features which although difficult to define have a name and its members have a reflexive awareness of them.

In Danish culture, the idea of "hygge" is like this. Every Dane would be able to tell you that hygge is a central and distinctive part of Danish culture.

I've been wanting to write about hygge for a while because it's something that I really appreciate, but recently I saw some good examples that illustrate it well.

Danish usually translate hygge as coziness. However, it can be used as any part of speech, so you can say, "I had a hyggelig time with my family at Christmas" or "I'm going to hygger with my friends tonight." Hygge basically means being comfortable and cozy, usually with people you care about. It entails having a comfortable home, being relaxed, lighting candles, and drinking coffee, among other things.

When I was in Århus, at the old town, many of the signs in the buildings explained how the furnishings or decorations made the house hygge. You can see in the English translation, "The light curtains, the embroidered cushions, the footstools of the stove screen create the cosiness of the room." In the Danish,  it is written that these create hygge.

Another example comes from an email I got last week from KBHFF, the food co-op I belong to. At some of the units in Copenhagen, they have a place where people can sit and have coffee when they come to pick up their bag. At my pick-up location, people tend to be in and out and they want to create a more hygge atmosphere. Here's part of the e-mail I got with my rough translation:

"Efter medlemsmødet, hvor det blev diskuteret hvordan det kunne være muligt at skabe lidt mere hygge omkring afhentning af poser. . . . Forhåbentlig bliver det super hyggeligt, og der serveres selvfølgelig te og kaffe."

"After the members' meeting where we discussed how it may be possible to create a little more coziness around picking up bags. . . . Hopefully it will be super cozy and of course tea and coffee will be served."

Again, this shows how Danes want to incorporate hygge into everyday life. Whether it is lighting candles at work or stopping to have coffee when you pick up your vegetables for the week, this is a central aspect of Danish culture.

There's a nice NPR blog post on hygge here. I really liked how they looked at Twitter to see how people used #hygge. I've looked at Twitter several times over the past few months to see how people have used hygge as a hashtag and it is usually to describe spending time with friends or family, being in nature, celebrating a holiday, or having a nice time at home. 

I love the idea of hygge and it's something that I hope to bring back to the US with me.