DANES HAVE A LESSON FOR US
Hygge’s roots are in egalitarianism
I’ve just returned from the land of Viking burial sites, Tuborg beer and the Borgen TV series — so, of course, I’ve also become an expert on “hygge.”
The Danish word “hygge,” as everyone exposed to global trends is aware, describes everything associated with coziness, intimacy and togetherness.
Pronounced “hoo-gah,” this quality of well being, comfort and safety is the subject of more than a dozen recent books, many of which are on bestseller lists in Britain, the U.S, Canada and elsewhere.
Coziness may not be unique to Danes and Scandinavians, but right now that cold, northern European region has the cachet on how to find contentment in a fragmented, grasping, isolated world.
While a few media outlets have trivialized the hygge trend as little more than a marketing technique to sell cushions, comfort food and conformity (with the CBC, strangely, being among the most cynical), most people find value in it.
There is a lot to be said for hygge. While it does indeed have a lot to do with candles and creating a warm atmosphere with family and friends, it’s also a cultural aspiration with political teeth.
Danes talk quite a bit about hygge. They have all sorts of variations on the word, even while they have friendly disagreements over precisely how this elusive quality of being-in-the-moment may be manifesting itself.
In addition to reading two new books on the subtleties of hygge, I’ve sat in on discussions with Danish in-laws about whether hygge arises mostly with others or can occur while alone. Or whether it’s big on spontaneity, like unexpectedly showing up at a friend’s for coffee.
Whatever the answers, hygge is definitely associated with community, letting down one’s guard, simplicity, good food and drink, amiable acceptance of disagreement, casually stylish clothes, slowing down, modest-but-airy interiors, Christmas, fairness, trust and happiness.
One of the more socially serious things about hygge is its roots in egalitarianism, in the Danish emphasis on the common good.
Hygge eschews hierarchy, greed and boasting. It champions work-life balance and teaches that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity.
Without being arrogant, which would be very un-hygge, Danes are proud of hygge.
That doesn’t mean the concept is exclusive to Scandinavia, though. Canadians also know about hygge, although most don’t realize it.
The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well, says values similar to hygge exist in other countries. Author Meik Wiking says the Dutch call it “gezzeligheid,” while Germans name it “gemutlitchkeit.”
And Canadians call it “homeyness,” Wiking says. It’s the feeling of home; like a cabin with a fireplace, or even a restaurant with a ‘real’ atmosphere.
Canadians could get better at slowing down and smelling the hygge.
That’s especially so in fast, congested cities like Toronto and Vancouver, which are becoming like London and New York: Harsh zones of global real-estate speculation and BMWs, in which middleclass people can’t afford a decent place to live, where individualism is aggressive and loneliness a health crisis.
It’s strange that some CBC news programs have gone out of their way to belittle hygge, since most employees of the national broadcaster typically promote liberal-left values.
There is little doubt hygge is rooted in the liberal-left welfare state that northern European residents have worked hard to build through their tax dollars.
The Little Book of Hygge attributes Denmark’s regular No. 1 ranking for overall “happiness” and “trust” with its citizens’ accentuation on social services, mutual support … and hygge.
To its credit, Canada also scores decently for happiness and trust levels, with UBC economist emeritus David Halliwell, co-author of the UN’s World Happiness Report, saying Canada often ranks in the top 10 because it’s a bit like Scandinavia.
Louisa Thomsen Brits writes in The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort and Connection, that the hygge phenomenon has historical roots in an adventurous writer, politician and clergyman named Nicholaj Grundtvig (1783-1872).
Although virtually unknown outside Denmark, the world would be a better place if the radical Christian reformer was as globally prominent as some other Danes, like existentialist Soren Kierkegaard, physicist Niels Bohr or Hans Christian Andersen.
The Book of Hygge maintains Grundtvig laid the foundations for Danes’ national identity with his emphasis on “anti-elitism,” “popular enlightenment” and establishment of a folk high school system based on how “education and good living should be made available to all.”
“On many occasions throughout the year,” Brits writes, “Danes still sing (Grundtvig’s) ideologically packed songs that affirm the ideas of simplicity, cheerfulness, reciprocity, community and belonging that are cornerstones of hygge.”
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Brits says, hygge developed in Denmark along with industrialization, emphasizing leisure and authenticity.
“Elite culture was deplored as shallow by the growing middle classes. Denmark’s history, its egalitarianism, liberalism and emphasis on individual freedom and well being has granted the Danes an ability to participate in the moment. Hygge facilitates that to happen.”
With hygge now being embraced by the Englishspeaking world and beyond as a valuable state of mind and connection, a few skeptics remain nervous that, since it emphasizes social bonds with people who feel familiar, it’s not welcoming to outsiders.
But Danes don’t practise hygge to trumpet national or ethnic superiority — any more than Japanese, Tibetans or Argentinians who are proud of aspects of their traditions, whether sushi, Dalai-Lama-style Buddhism or the tango.
Indeed, even though there is a hint of tribalism to hygge, Brits justifiably maintains hygge also promotes universal values. The principles of hygge could serve an increasingly trans-national world, filled with more and more alienated people.
Many Danes are not only pragmatically unselfish in their approach to each other. The country also contributes, for instance, to foreign aid program in a far more magnanimous way than almost all other countries, including Canada.
It’s a sign of how, even from the security of one’s own home, Danish hygge serves as an invitation to all to be expansive and generous.
Next week: How does Metro Vancouver rank for hygge?
Denmark’s history, its egalitarianism, liberalism and emphasis on individual freedom and well-being has granted the Danes an ability to participate in the moment. Hygge facilitates that to happen. Louisa Thomsen Brits