A cozy and spacious house, a retreat from the world! A fireplace, lots of candles, a well equipped kitchen, a nice breakfast, boardgames, books, magazines, books and movies, nice beds and lots of forest. All these make you feel hygge (hue-gah). Hygge is the Danish ritual of enjoying life’s simple pleasures.
Friends. Family. Graciousness. Contentment. Good feelings. A warm glow. It’s a feeling or mood that comes taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary, every day things more meaningful, beautiful or special. The Danes incorporated it in their lifestyle and made hygge into a verb, but for Nordic countries these rituals have always been important, to cope with the long dark winters.
Now that we know about hygge we notice we incorporated it in our own lives as well. It’s maybe something that you do naturally when it’s getting colder and grey. Enjoying candlelight at dinner, wearing my woolen jumper when the leaves start to fall, making cinnamon buns or bread and enjoy the smell of it. If you live a hectic life, it’s not always easy to slow down and take enjoy your moments. But even make a nice a cup of coffee can be your special everyday ritual.
It seems like hygge is a hype at the moment. This weekend Dutch media reported about it, and about the same articles have been written in the British and American media too. If you read more about hygge you can choose from around eleven books in English!
But you can perhaps best pull yourself out of your hectic life and come over with family or friends. We offer you all the tools to feel it from head to toe. Everyone can learn to hygge.