How to count down for Christmas... in Danish

irst things first, Danes love Christmas to death. Most Danes are complete suckers for traditions and the danish concept of "hygge".

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During the month of december, Danes are so excited that they count down to Christmas eve in several ways, both daily and weekly. There is many ways to do this according to Danish traditions and we will go through some of them down below.

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"Julekalender"

‍ The daily reminder that you are now one step closer to Christmas is the Julekalender" or Christmas calendar. There are several types of these! We highlight 3 of the most important ones:

1. Some families lid a candle with numbers on the side and only let it lit until the number of the day is burnt away, and then lid it up again the next day until Christmas eve. This continues until the candle hits 24, which then indicate Christmas time! So "hyggelig".

Danes usually lid on this candle everyday to count down for Christmas Eve.

‍ 2. There are several paper Christmas calenders with an exciting gift behind a small "door", one for each day. Some are chocolate, some are legos or toys, some are scratchcards (very popular with adults, even though Christmas calendars are mainly targeted at children)

Nam nam... a chocolate calender is a must have for Christmas count down!

‍ 3. Christmas calendar TV series also exist, with one episode a day until Christmas eve. The is many different genre from childrens adventure to comedy and satire. Popular ones include Pyrus: a story about a young rascal elf helping to save Christmas or Jul på Vesterbro: a story about a man trying to save his sausage cart. You can follow these TV series at TV2 and DR.

"Pyrus" is a traditional danish Christmas series with... 24 episodes :)

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Advent calendar

The weekly reminder that we are one week closer to Christmas is known as advent sunday, celebrated on each of the four sundays before Christmas. In 2019 the dates of the advent sundays are: 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd of december. This is a christian tradition in preparation for the celebration of the birth of christ. On these sundays some people still attend church, however, more people just light a candle and it is also common to give small presents to your love ones every sunday.

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Getting small gift at advent is a common way to celebrate days up to Christmas in Denmark

So happy about this "advent" calender with a Porsche!

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This will provide you with enough information to get a good start on Danish Christmas! To learn more about Danes and their weird ways during Christmas, check out posts next sunday for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of advent - this is our little gift to you guys every advent sunday :)

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