{"id":1174,"date":"2014-11-30T22:41:34","date_gmt":"2014-11-30T22:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=1174"},"modified":"2014-11-30T22:41:34","modified_gmt":"2014-11-30T22:41:34","slug":"christmas-countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2014\/11\/30\/christmas-countdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Countdown!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"11155059216_f0dc9d47a0_z\"<\/a>

(Photo courtesy of Susanne Nilsson at Flickr<\/a>, CC.)<\/p><\/div>\n

I dag er det f\u00f8rste s\u00f8ndag i advent<\/b>. (Today\u2019s the first Sunday of Advent.) That means that there are still three Sundays left \u2013 og s\u00e5 er det jul<\/b> (and then it\u2019s Christmas)!\u00a0Mange danske familier<\/b> (many Danish families) celebrate this by lighting the first out of four stearinlys<\/b> (stearin candles) on a special adventskrans<\/b> (Advent wreath). Every Sunday from now on yet another candle will join the party, with all four candles blazing on the last Sunday before jul<\/b>. When your faithful blogger was a barn<\/b> (child), we used to gather around adventskransen<\/b> to sing julesange<\/b> (Christmas carols). While I don\u2019t think this is very common in Danmark<\/b>, I guess there must be at least a handful of families keeping this tradition <\/b>[trahdeeSHAWN]!<\/p>\n

Hvorfor <\/b>(why) is there so much fuss about Christmas in Denmark? Well, if you<\/i> lived in a flat, windswept country with lots of d\u00e5rligt vejr<\/b> (bad weather) \u2013 not to mention de m\u00f8rke, kolde vintre<\/b> (the dark, cold winters) \u2013 wouldn\u2019t you gl\u00e6de dig til <\/b>(look eagerly forward to) a bit of togetherness and celebration? (And that\u2019s not to mention maden og gaverne<\/b>, the food and the gifts! After all, Danes have to keep their reputation as livsnydere<\/b>, \u201denjoyers of life\u201d!)<\/p>\n

The real nedt\u00e6lling<\/b> (countdown) to julen<\/b> (\u2019the\u2019 Christmas) began weeks ago. Already in oktober<\/b> I saw Christmas products in butikkerne<\/b> (the shops), and people started complaing it was too early! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Tomorrow, when we officially enter \u201djulem\u00e5neden<\/b>\u201d (the Christmas month), all kinds of calendars help Danish b\u00f8rn og voksne<\/b> (children and adults) count and overleve <\/b>(survive) those dreadful 24 days until juleaften<\/b> (Christmas Eve):<\/p>\n