Denmark – Exploring Danish Culture & some weird traditions that make sense only to the Dan’s – EU helpers

Family Dynamic

The Danes are known for being cosmopolitan, well-educated, and open-minded people. Equality is a keyword in Danish culture. The vast majority of people belong to the middle class, and the percentage of poor people is low. The idea that everyone should have equal opportunities is among other things reflected in the health care system as well as in the educational system. Students can study for free and receive financial support from the state. Health care is provided through their taxes and Danes have free access to health care.

Families in Denmark are close and most prefer to cook dinner at home together every night. Key values in a typical Danish family include punctuality, planning, and responsibility. They often trust and share their daily lives with each other. It is common for all family members to attend sports clubs or other local activities after work and school.

Typically, both parents in a Danish family work full time and are away from home during the day. They are quite involved in their children’s school lives and activities. Each family member contributes to household chores and is treated equally. Parents, teachers, and elders are usually referred to by their first name.

Teenage Life in Denmark

Weekends for Danish teenagers often mean attending parties, hanging out at cafes, and going to the movies. Although soccer is the most popular sport, they also enjoy swimming, sailing, or rowing (nowhere in Denmark is more than an hour away from the seashore!) On weekends, Danish teens, like most teens around the world, like to get together with friends to talk, go to parties or see a movie. Danish schools and local community organizations offer various activities. These include sports, music, crafts, drama, and scouting. Danish teens are generally independent and proactive with their schoolwork, as the Danish school system is quite rigorous.

Official Language

The main language spoken is Danish, while Faroese, Greenlandic, and German are also recognized as official regionally. Danish people tend to be quite proficient in English.

Communication Style in Denmark

Danes prefer a frank and direct communication style. It is viewed as a sign of respect in Danish culture to speak plainly and openly with each other, however, this can sometimes be misconstrued as rudeness. While Danes value debate, they are not typically confrontational. They would rather avoid small talk and speak to the heart of a matter. Similar to other Scandinavians, Danes do not commonly use much body language, which can make their communication style somewhat cryptic at times.

The Danish Diet

Danish food is diverse and has a wide variety of fresh produce, grains, and meats. Danish lunch is a traditional open-faced sandwich called smorrebrod. Dinner is usually the main meal and typically a time for the whole family to gather and talk about their days. Occasionally, Danish families will go out to eat at a restaurant, but this is a rare treat. Other staples are roast pork, pickled herring, fish, beans, Brussels sprouts, rice pudding, potato soup, meatballs in curry sauce, salted black licorice, and pastries.

Every country has its own interesting and often unexplainable traditions…right?

While we like to think of ourselves as a modern nation, sometimes you just have to kick back and celebrate like it’s 1549. Here are some of our favourite weird Danish traditions that make perfect sense to us.

1. Jumping into the new year

If you plan to spend New Year's Eve in Denmark, don't be alarmed when you see Danes standing on chairs just before midnight. It's not because we're drunk (though we might be), it's simply an old tradition. We'll be jumping into the new year as the clock strikes 12.

And it's vital that we do it too, because it's supposed to bring bad luck for the entire new year if you forget to jump at midnight. Though you might also say it's not exactly good luck if you end up falling on your face as you try to jump off the chair - not that any of us have ever tried anything that embarrassing..

2. Hitting the cat out of the barrel at Fastelavn

In February, we celebrate Fastelavn which is a mash up of Halloween and carnival. Children dress up in costumes and hit a cat out of a barrel. It's similar to a piñata, though instead of sweets we traditionally had a black cat inside the barrel. But don't worry! We've swapped out the cat for the sweets and simply decorate the barrel with a cut-out version of a black cat. Much better.

3. Our special Easter letters

Our Easter letters (or gækkebreve as we call them) are truly Danish. Since the18th century, young Danes have folded and cut intricate patterns into paper and written short, rhyming poems inside. These are signed with the number of dots corresponding to the number of letters in their name (so if your name is Paul you’d sign off with four dots).

4. Burning a witch on Sankt Hans often

On the 23rd of June, we celebrate Midsummer by gathering around bonfires up and down the country. We sing songs such as Midsommervisen by Holger Drachmann, and listen to the live bands that usually play at our public events, all whilst enjoying a couple of drinks with our friends. That all sounds lovely right? So where does the witch burning come into the picture? Started in the Middle Ages, it was a way to ward off witches although, let us quickly clarify we now use a doll. If you listen closely you can hear her 'scream' thanks to a cleverly placed firework. Morbid? Nah, it's just a little Nordic Noir on a summer eve.

5. That one week in June where we all want to be high school graduates

If you find yourself in Denmark during the last week of June, you'll most likely run into a bunch of teenagers wearing our iconic student cap. These teens have just graduated high school, and for the following week you'll see a sea of white caps everywhere you go. There are, of course, plenty of different rules about what to write and cut into the caps - stop one of the graduates, they'll be more than willing to explain them all to you!

The most traditional ways to celebrate high school graduation is hard to miss. During the last weekend in June, the streets are filled with large, decorated trucks packed with students dancing, celebrating and playing loud music as the graduates stop by each of their classmates' houses for something to eat and drink.

6. The reason Danes don't want to be single when they turn 25

We celebrate milestones a little differently in Denmark. If we happen to be single on our 25th birthday, we're dragged into the street by our friends who'll cover us head to toe in cinnamon. If we're still single and unmarried by the time we turn 30, we can expect the same treatment. Though this time, the cinnamon i replaced by black pepper. As you do...

7. Danish wedding traditions: The way to a happy marriage

We all love a good kiss, and we expect to see a lot of it on a happy couple's wedding day! And because this is Denmark, we don't just like it, we demand it. When guests stamp their feet the newlyweds have to get under their table and kiss and to get them standing up on kissing each other on top of their chairs, simply start clanging your cutlery on your plates!

But all this kissing is not just between the happy couple. We prefer getting everyone involved. When either one of the couple is out of the room, the guests hurry to kiss the lonely newlywed. Because what else would you expect?

8. Birthday traditions: Happy birthday to me!

Now you might think that when it's your birthday, you're entitled to be the one getting cake, but that's not how we do in Denmark. Whether at school or at work, it's tradition that the birthday child brings sweets or cake. We guess it's a way of sharing the happiness and joy of being the birthday kid.

9. Mortensaften: The evening where we all eat geese

On the 10th of November, we celebrate Saint Martin's Eve (Mortensaften) by treating ourselves to a scrumptious dinner of a roast goose (originally... these days roast ducks are more commonly used), potatoes, and gravy.

Why do we do this you might ask? It all has to do with some French bloke (Martin) who hid in a flock of geese to avoid being named bishop. But the geese betrayed him by flying away, and Martin got his revenge by claiming that every family should feast on a goose on Saint Martin's Eve. He probably could've used some anger management, but instead we gave him a whole evening.

10.J-Dag: The beginning of the Christmas season in Denmark

J-dag (i.e. J-day) is an abbreviation for julebrygsdag (Christmas Brew Day). J-day was introduced by the Danish brewery Tuborg in 1990 to launch that year's Christmas beer and has since become a Danish tradition that more or less kicks off the Christmas season in Denmark.

11.Christmas: The highlight of our winter season

Come December, the days are at their shortest and darkest (in mid-December, we only about seven hours of daylight per day). Thus, the winter celebration has a special place within our culture - even for our Viking ancestors who gathered for the festivities where they ate good food, drank beer and exchanged gifts (sound familiar?).