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