{"id":1300,"date":"2015-10-16T21:46:37","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T21:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/?p=1300"},"modified":"2015-10-16T21:46:37","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T21:46:37","slug":"can-danish-hygge-save-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2015\/10\/16\/can-danish-hygge-save-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Danish hygge save the world?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1301\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2015\/10\/243801627_1ad3b2194a_z.jpg\" aria-label=\"243801627 1ad3b2194a Z 300x196\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1301\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1301\"  alt=\"Hygge. (Photo courtesy of Jacob B\u00f8tter at Flickr, CC License.) \" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2015\/10\/243801627_1ad3b2194a_z-300x196.jpg\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1301\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hygge. (Photo courtesy of Jacob B\u00f8tter at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jakecaptive\/243801627\/in\/photolist-nxxJk-oq48kU-w8qBxo-ed64Fz-KYfPX-PYkNy-gnJBQ-7iqs3-7rt9K-83Jzey-88g19s-gzhLs-yvAqt-tUb3m-4eTWRz-cwceku-dCw2Xj-sKAPi-zsaEj-zsa97-63cBG-6y56Hs-6y56po-zsaBP-6xqrXR-a2Pb16-5GHYE2-zsauo-zsaDN-zsaDc-zsaCK-zsaCm-zsaB8-zsaAE-zsaAg-zsazC-zsayB-zsayg-zsaxa-zsawA-zsaw5-zsave-zsatP-zsatf-zsasw-zsarE-zsaqY-zsaqd-zsapt-zsaoA\">Flickr<\/a>, CC License.)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Did you know that a British college is teaching <b>hygge<\/b>? I\u2019d highly recommend all fans of Danish culture to take a look at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/magazine-34345791\">this article<\/a> by the BBC! (Yes, it\u2019s already been shared on our Facebook page.) The people interviewed really do their very best to explain the Danish \u201dcore\u201d concept of <b>hygge<\/b>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201dSitting by the fire on a cold night, wearing a woolly jumper, while drinking mulled wine and stroking a dog &#8211; probably surrounded by candles. That&#8217;s definitely &#8220;hygge&#8221;.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201dThe idea is to relax and feel as at-home as possible, forgetting life&#8217;s worries.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201dCosiness of the soul\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Just like <b>k\u00e6rlighed<\/b> (love), <b><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2012\/03\/10\/that-is-hygge\/\">hygge<\/a><\/b> is an atmosphere or vibe that is hard to define. It\u2019s basically about having a good time and enjoying life in a low-key way. Maybe it\u2019s you and a small group of <b>venner<\/b> sharing a cheap bottle of <b>vin<\/b> and playing a <b>br\u00e6tspil<\/b> (board game) while the cold <b>efter\u00e5rsregn<\/b> (autumn rain) is making people in the streets desperate for one-way tickets to any other country than <b>Danmark<\/b>\u2026 Or maybe it\u2019s just you, a lit <b>stearinlys<\/b> (candle) and a <b>god bog<\/b> (good book). Add a <b>strik(ke)tr\u00f8je<\/b> (woolly sweater) to go fully native! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<p>Could <b>hygge<\/b> possibly save the world? I\u2019m sure many Danes would like to think that <b>verden<\/b> (the world) needs to calm down a little. Of course, that\u2019s an easy thing to say when you live in <b>verdens lykkeligste land<\/b> (the world\u2019s happiest country), as Denmark is often called \u2013 even by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oprah.com\/oprahshow\/Oprah-on-Location-The-Happiest-People-on-Earth\">Oprah Winfrey<\/a>. The world\u2019s <b>problemer<\/b> maybe get a little surreal when you live in a <b>velf\u00e6rdsstat<\/b> (Welfare State) with free <b>uddannelse<\/b> (education), free medical services and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/10\/22\/denmark-happiest-country_n_4070761.html\">so on<\/a>. In my own experience, though, people seem a lot happier in sunnier (but less safe) countries\u2026<\/p>\n<p>In 1864, Danish soldiers lost the southernmost parts of the realm to Germany (Prussia at the time). <b>Nederlaget<\/b> (the defeat) was really humiliating and many Danes felt bad. Denmark was shrinking, and it wasn\u2019t the first time. (<b>Sk\u00e5ne<\/b>, the southernmost part of Sweden, had been a part of Denmark until 1658. And Norway had left the union with Denmark in 1814.) What to do?<\/p>\n<p>The solution for many was to accept the defeat and change the to-do list. Instead of \u201dconquer a new territory\u201d or \u201dtrain more soldiers\u201d the tasks became \u201deducate yourself\u201d and \u201duse your skills in your local community\u201d. There\u2019s a saying that is often linked to this time: <b>Hvad udad tabes, skal indad vindes.<\/b> (What is lost on the outside, shall be won on the inside.) Which really is another way of saying: <b>Hyg dig!<\/b> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"229\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2015\/10\/243801627_1ad3b2194a_z-350x229.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2015\/10\/243801627_1ad3b2194a_z-350x229.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2015\/10\/243801627_1ad3b2194a_z.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>Did you know that a British college is teaching hygge? I\u2019d highly recommend all fans of Danish culture to take a look at this article by the BBC! (Yes, it\u2019s already been shared on our Facebook page.) The people interviewed really do their very best to explain the Danish \u201dcore\u201d concept of hygge: \u201dSitting by&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/2015\/10\/16\/can-danish-hygge-save-the-world\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":1301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[251380,25,238011,1091,5483,251396,362781,362782,34560],"class_list":["post-1300","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-251380","tag-bbc","tag-danishness","tag-happiness","tag-happy","tag-hygge","tag-oprah-winfrey","tag-velfaerdsstat","tag-welfare"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1303,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions\/1303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}