Christmas in Denmark #HogsAbroad

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and it’s here! It is hard to believe that it is December and that Christmas is right around the corner. While I am missing some of my normal Christmas traditions back home, I am learning a lot about how Christmas is celebrated here in Denmark.

The first day of November Christmas is out in full force in Denmark. They don’t have a Thanksgiving at the end of November to worry about so they go straight into Christmas. I have to say I have enjoyed seeing Christmas decorations since early November. All of the stores on the main shopping street will put up Christmas decorations in their windows and all throughout their stores.

The main shopping streets are covered in Christmas lights. The lights are all along the street and even on some of the smaller side streets. I love it, it makes me so happy to see the Christmas lights. And because it gets dark at 4pm here it is nice to walk down the street and look at the lights. Some of the bigger stores in the city center have lights on the sides of their stores as well.

The lights on the main street in Aarhus

Christmas Markets start popping up in November as well. People have little booths or tables set up where you can go and buy Christmas gifts or something for yourself if you want. At these markets you can also find typical Danish food and drink such as, gløgg (mulled wine), pancakes (similar to crepes), and Æbleskiver (tastes like a pancake rolled into a ball). These markets are fun to walk around and see all of the Danish gifts you can potentially buy. There are many markets in Copenhagen that are open from November through the month of December. In Aarhus there are markets that are open on the weekends, and a few booths open everyday.

Christmas Market in Copenhagen

Some people will say that the Christmas season really starts when the advent wreath is brought out. This wreath is the same as we use back home, it has four candles and one is lit every Sunday leading up to Christmas. They also have the advent calendars that you open everyday. Some have little gifts in them, some are just chocolate (my favorite, I may have bought one for myself). One advent thing that is unique to Denmark is a daily candle. This is a candle that has numbers 1 to 24 on it and each day you burn the candle to the number. You do this until the 24th of December when the candle is all gone.

A Danish advent candle

A Danish Christmas tree is typically decorated with garland of the Danish flag. The Danes have a lot of pride in their flag and especially like to put it on their Christmas trees. There is always a gold or silver star on the top of the tree, never an angel. Hearts are a very common decoration to put on the tree as ornaments. Some families will have real candles on their trees instead of electric Christmas lights.

Typical Danish Christmas tree, this one is missing the flags

Christmas Eve in Denmark is when families all gather together for dinner and spending time with one another. The Christmas Eve dinner is typically roast duck or pork, red cabbage, and various types of potatoes. A typical dessert is rice pudding with whipped cream or jam on top. In the rice pudding there is one whole almond, and whoever finds the almond gets a special present.
After dinner the family will all sing and dance around the Christmas tree. They sing typical Danish hymns and hold hands while walking around the tree. I went to a dinner where they demonstrated this and had us take part as well. It reminded me of the Grinch when all the Whos were standing around the tree singing.

The Christmas season is here and I have loved getting to know some traditions from another culture. Although I won’t be spending Christmas in Denmark I can feel the energy and the Christmas spirit all around.

Glædelig Jul – Merry Christmas!

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Read more from Jennifer at https://jenniferbuss.wordpress.com/

To find out more about the Walton college exchange program in Aarhus, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/exchange/wcobaarhus/