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Contents
Introduction
How to Speak Hygge
Where Does Hygge Come From?
Togetherness
Inviting Hygge to the Table
How to Bring Hygge into your Home
Hygge Throughout the Year
The Potential in Hygge
Postscript
Hygge Dictionary
Inspiration
Acknowledgements
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Hyggelig to meet you.
And welcome to Hygge. Even though this word might be new to you, I am sure you already know it from your own life. In a nutshell, it is a Danish word for finding happiness in the little things in life.
Hygge is said to be closely related to the Danish national character. But in its essence it is not Danish, it is universal. Hygge is for everyone – whoever you are, wherever you are.
My name is Marie Tourell Søderberg. I live in Copenhagen and work as an actress. As with most people these days, I sometimes feel caught up in my work. A rehearsal at the theatre is followed by a casting for a TV series, that is replaced by a session in the studio dubbing for a new Disney film – and I forget to take time to let it all go and let myself just be.
At these times it is crucial for me to have hygge. Hygge time with family and friends, hygge moments with myself and a hyggelig home.
Hygge has many shapes and forms – it looks different depending on who you ask. Over the course of the book you will meet a lot of Danes who explain how they hygge and what hygge is to them.
You will also find inspiration on how to create a great basis for
hygge to evolve in your everyday life.
For many Danes hygge is something you strive for. It’s like a compass, steering us towards small moments that money cannot buy you, finding the magic in the ordinary.
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To me, hygge is:
● Meeting my sister for a walk in the park, chatting, laughing and clowning around, as if we were children again
● Listening to the rain on the roof with a cup of tea and my boyfriend next to me
● Drinking wine in my mum’s garden
● Enjoying a cup of coffee with good friends, that becomes a dinner, that becomes a late-night drink, because no one wants the evening to end
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How to Speak
Hygge
When people from other countries talk about the Danish language they often say it is hard to learn. The grammar is very tricky and the pronunciation even trickier. Luckily, you don’t have to learn Danish in order to ‘speak hygge’.
“I speak Spanish with my boyfriend, but we always use the term hygge-out when we have plans to do something hyggelig. Or vamos a hygge-out. I find it difficult now not to use the term when I speak with non-Danish people. I use ‘cosy’ to refer to all this, but I know it doesn’t convey the full message of hyggelig. It’s not that the concept of hygge doesn’t exist in other cultures, but having a word for it makes you aware of it. All of a sudden you start to become aware of the many hyggelig parts of your everyday life. ”
Júlia Reig from Catalonia,
living with her boyfriend in Copenhagen
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Useful
Hygge
expressions
The Danish word hygge is a verb, an adjective and a noun: we are hygg-ing (verb); the house is hyggelig (adjective); it is time for hygge (noun).
