Light the candles, warm up the cocoa to give a hooray for Hygge after the Danish concept of cosy, at-home quality time ends a bumper year with one final boost.
After living a life of quiet Nordic obscurity, 2016 was the year Hygge became a global lifestyle trend, embraced by crisis-weary westerners. Now, after a glut of English-language books, newspaper columns and television programmes on the “Hygge” hype, the concept has now made it into the official list of what defines Denmark.
The canonisation of Hygge came after Danes were asked in an online poll what Danish identity means to them. Some 2,500 suggestions were boiled down to 20 and then put online for a vote. On Monday Denmark’s cultural ministry announced the 10 winners.
In there among individual freedom, gender equality and equality before the law was: Hygge.
“Hygge is considered a special way of being together in a relaxed atmosphere,” the cultural ministry said, announcing the canon. “Hygge is its own word and many say it cannot be translated.”
Other entries on the list included the Danish welfare society, trust, the Danish language, volunteerism liberal-mindedness and the country’s Christian heritage.
Launching the so-called “Denmark Canon”, former culture minister Bertel Haarder said the final choices reflected growing concern about the future, and the need for shared values.
“The 10 values that the people have now chosen are expressions of our present and future key societal values – our common cultural DNA,” he said. Amid some criticism and considerable mirth about the endeavour, Mr Haarder described the canon as a “clarification of our culture . . . essential for the cohesion of Danish society”.
Far from a one-off, Politiken newspaper claimed on Monday that this was the sixth time Danish values have been defined in recent years.
In its caricature on Monday, a character says: “To talk about what is the most Danish is the most Danish thing I can imagine.”
