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Carsten Knudsen, Uffe Rørbæk Madsen and Viggo Sommer in The Julekalender (1991)

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It's a famous TV series that aired in Xmas 1991 written and preformed by a trio of Danish comedy musicians. It was very successful to the point where invented phrases from the series entered popular culture. It had 24 episodes in total, each released in every day of December until Christmas Eve.

Its appeal comes from its absurdist humour, quirky characters, and linguistic play. Its mix of English and Danish makes it a fun and unique experience, even more so for bilingual viewers. Ever since its originally aired, it became a holiday tradition in Denmark and Norway to watch it every December.

Personally I've tried watching it for a while and have barely enjoyed my watch. Absurdism is not really my thing and I don't know danish at all, so I couldn't get most of the jokes told by the trio. Sorry danes!

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Juleaften is the main event of Christmas in Denmark. On this day, the main Christmas meal is eaten between 6:00 and 8:00 PM. It usually includes some kind of roast meat such as duck, goose or pork. Juleand is served as well, which is a Christmas roast goose or duck stuffed with apples, prune and herbs with gravy poured over it. It's served with boiled and sweet potatoes, beetroot, red cabbage and cranberry jam/sauce.

After this meal, most families have a "ris á la mande", which is a rice pudding made of milk, rice, vanilla, almonds and whipped cream for dessert. Every almond is chopped into pieces but one. The person that finds the whole almond gets a Mandelgave (almond present). Originally, it was a marzian pig figurine, but nowadays, sweets and small toys are usually given.

Once every family member finishes eating their rice pudding, they dance around the Juletræ (Christmas tree) and sing Christmas carols and hymns like "Nu er det jul igen" (Now it is Christmas again) and "Et barn er født i Bethlehem" (A child has been born in Bethlehem). I've been told by some people here that they find this part to be quite embarrassing but funny at the same time because of how badly their families sing! Other take it more seriously and try to ignore this completely.

Anyways, after they finish singing, presents from under the tree are handed out to the children. After they open them, they have even more food: snacks, candy, chips, æbleskiver (similar to a pancake) and sometimes gløgg (a type of mulled wine), which can be made non-alcoholic so that children can try it as well.

There are also other smaller Christmas gatherings with friends or family that take place throughout December, such as the Julefrokost, a Christmas lunch arranged by most workplaces, unions, schools, football teams, or extended groups of friends.

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It's an essential part of Christmas decoration here and serve as some kind of early Christmas presents. Let me explain: Although we hang these up on the day before Christmas, they do it before the 1st of December. This is because in each day of December they receive small gifts which are put inside the stocks by a nisse, small creatures similar to gnomes in Nordic folklore.

Every family has one nisse who lives in the attic. On December 23rd, when it's Little Christmas Eve, the nisse has to be fed with a bowl of risengrød and a beer, as he needs energy to deliver presents next day.

I was also told that the danish only put up their Christmas tree and its decorations on this day, which in my opinion is too late!

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On the most significant day of Christmas (at least from a religious point of view), not much is done since it is a more relax day where the danish focus on spending quality time with their family. Most activities done on this day are for leisure and include visiting extended family members where people eat even more meals and play games together.

Since I already knew that the 25th was going to be a less important day, I'm going to Germany after this, where families have huge meals on this day, go to concerts, to beautifully decorated churches... and more! I'll write about my time there when I'm back in the UK (in 5 days). Stay tuned for my next post!

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Welcome to my blog! Throughout the next few posts, I'll talk about everything I'll learn about danish Christmas traditions like I did with Sweden a few months earlier and a few other countries last year starting from today. If you want more details about my trip in general instead of just the festive details, check out my other blog which I've linked in my bio. With that being said, let's get right into it!

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 A statue of St. Lucy on display during a Santa Lucia celebration in Syracuse, Italy.

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There's a widespread tradition called Saint Lucy/Lucia's Day on December 13th in Denmark, which means that I've unfortunately missed it. It's a feast that conmemorates St. Lucy anually, a christian who was under the diocletianic persecution.

According to legend, the celebrated martyr brought food and helped Christians who hiding in roman catacombs because they were being persecuted. She wore a lit candle on a wreath on top of her head so as to carry as much food as possible. Her name means light, and her feast day coincides with the shortest day of the year (...or at least it did until the calendar reforms). Because of this, it is now widely celebrated as a festival of light in Scandinavia, Italy and the island country St. Lucia.

Processions are also done in her name. Women represent Saint Lucy by wearing a white dress and a red sash with a wreath (or sometimes a crown) on their heads. They're also seen carrying cookies and buns which symbolizes bringing the Light of Christ into the darkness of winter. Men also participate in these processions, playing roles associated with Christmastide, like Saint Stephen, gingerbread men or even Santa Claus.