The Danes’ Christmas begins with the Advent wreath. The wreath has four candles, each of which is lit every one of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Eve the 24th of December. Adventus is Latin and means come and it is of course the count down to what comes at Christmas, namely the birth of Jesus, which in this way is celebrated in virtually all Danish homes.

At the turn of the century the Advent custom starting with one single candle was replaced with a new fashion from Austria and Germany. It was a wreath keeping order of the four candles now used before Christmas. Later on the wreath was decorated with ribbons in many different colours. In the beginning this was custom in the church, and not until in the 30's this was tradition in Danish homes.

Traditionally the Advent wreath is made out of fine spruce twigs and cuttings, often decorated with red berries and spruce cones, white candles and red ribbons for attaching the wreath to the ceiling. Every Sunday a new candel is lit together with the one(s) already lit the previous Sunday. This means that alle four candles - each one obviously shorter than the other(s) - are burning all together on the forth Advent Sunday.

Nowadays you’ll find many inventive versions of the traditional wreath, using all kinds of material and decorated in more modern ways, including colored candles. That’s just fine but they can never replace the spruce original.

Another December tradition is the calender candle. This candle is, just like a tape measure, provided with 24 markings, normally decorated with motives of fir and little pixies with red cheeks, wearing red hats and dancing merrily in yellow clogs. In most families the candles are lit every day from December 1st as a soothing factor in a hectic period, quite often at the breakfast table. Frequently it is the childrens’ duty to blow out the candle before it burns down too far into the next date!

Also in the beginning of December the windows are lit up with candles and light chains and decorated with all kinds of red flowers. As December wears on all families dress up the interior of their houses with glass globes, festoons, paper hearts and homemade Christmas decorations. All nursery schools, elementary schools, colleges, hospitals and institutions contribute to this national effort of making Christmas in Denmark both profound, warm and beautiful for every citizen.

The Christmas brew plays a major roll in many of the traditional Danish luncheons that every single company with more than one employee carry out every year in December. Most hotels, inns and restaurants offer special Christmas dishes on their menus and every single canteen from Skagen in the far North of Denmark to Gedser in the far South is occupied with this very important question: -

What are we going to have for our Christmas luncheon?

The answer is really quite simple: The traditional Danish kitchen offers a wide variety of cold and warm dishes which all belong to this famous ritual, normally offered at a buffet:
Salmon and herring prepared in different ways and with different dressings, shrimps, lobster and crab, filet of fried plaice with remoulade, fried sausage (medisterpølse) and meatballs (frikadeller) with red cabbage and beets, roast pork and bacon with fried apples, sirloin of pork with soft fried onions, black pudding with sirup, liverpaste with bacon and champignon, hamburger with fried egg, sunny side up, fried duck, a variety of cold cuts, chicken- and fruit salad, different kinds of cheese med fruit and ris à l’amande with cherrysauce. Everyting is eaten with white and dark bread and butter and to go through it all demands both a strong physique and a mind of steel.

All Danish kids get one or more Advent calenders - or Christmas calenders as they are called in Denmark. The two big television channels each year produce a special new Christmas series divided into 24 episodes to keep the childrens’ excitement on high revs. The more fortunate children also get a gift calender consisting of 24 small presents, one for each day before Christmas, individually bought and wrapped by their parents.

Christmas calendar on television

In 1962 the Danish television DR began to broadcast a Christmas calendar on TV. It was such a success that a Christmas calendar has been broadcasted every year since than. Also other Danish channels have produced their own Christmas calendars and even added a Christmas calendar for adults.

One of the most sympathetic Christmas traditions is very much alive in Denmark; keeping in touch with family and friends with Christmas cards. It is not unusual that many Danes send more than one hundred individual Christmas greetings during December.

Often the Danish Christmas cards are decorated with the special Danish Christmas seals as a supplement to the stamps. The Danish postal system, the oldest postal system in the world, originally created the Christmas seal in 1904.

The seals are designed each year by specially invited artists and have different motives each year. Among the most famous designers is the Danish Queen Margrethe II, who at many occasions has proved to posses extraordinary artistic skills. The Danish Christmas seals have become a collectors item all over the world. The revenue is distributed to needy children.

Today it is also possible to buy the Christmas seal digitally. This means that you may use them in your e-mails making them more personal and suiting the Christmas season.

Christmas seals on e-mail (only in Danish) 

As Christmas approaches all kinds of preparations accelerate in each and every home in the Land of Light. Remarkably, the old Scandinavian tradition has survived more og less untouched even in these modern times. Cerlainly, Christmas has been commercialized like everywhere else but most people from North Jutland - even young and hard core computer freaks - give in to their heritage at this particular time of the year. Everybody tries to participate in the preparation for Christmas Eve, however humble the effort!

The last two weeks before Christmas the great baking period begins - naturally with the kids playing the major rolls. Ginger cookies made from old traditioal recipies, deep fried crullers, vanilla bisquits and gingerbread shaped as hearts and decorated with ribbons - every family has favorite formulas from way back that has to be carried out at this time of the year.

While the oven is working overtime all agile persons are concentrated in creating Christmas decorations for the house or the tree and sweetmeats or candies out of marzipan, chocolate fudge, almonds, dates, hazelnuts and crystallized fruits and berries.

Find traditional Danish Christmas decorations

Traditionally the Danish Christmas tree is the common spruce type, some call it the Norwegian spruce. In the old days, before central heating, this was fine. All homes were cold and moist and therefore perfectly suited to maintain the green neddles of the spruce.

Nowadays most people prefer the Normann spruce. It not only has softer needles, it also withstands the normal room temperature of modern homes much better.

Families fortunate enough to live close to the woods try to pick and cut their own tree. But of course, most Danes have to by their Christmas tree just around the corner. All over the country special sites have been chosen for just this very important purpose, and in many places it is the Danish boyscouts who control the trade and thus are able to add some funding to their good deeds.

The Christmas tree is chosen and decorated as close to Christmas eve as possible, when the children cannot wait anymore and mostly a couple of days before Christmas eve. Also the decoration of the Christmas tree involves certain traditions. It is decorated with a silver or gold star on top (never an angel), festoons of national flags, cornets with fruit, candies or cookies, small toy music instruments and the entire tree often finished off with scatters of white fairy hair or strips of tin foil.

But the world famous Danish Design has advanced in this area too, and companies like for exampel Georg Jensen produces very elegant and expensive Christmas decorations every year, loved by collectors and connaisseurs all over the world.

Traditionally the tree is decorated with candles that are lit on Christmas Eve. However, also in Denmark electrical lighting is gaining power as long as you choose uncoloured light bulbs.

Previously it was the father in the family who was in charge of lighting the Christmas tree. After dinner (and the washing up!) he would wander off by himself to the adjacent room with the tree and light up the candles. Then he would invite the rest of the family to solemnly join him and admire the wonderful sight.

Nowadays the children take part in all the sacred procedures. For the same reason, Christmas dinner is served quite early these days, often no later than six o’clock p.m. In this manner the real meaning of Christmas (the kids’ presents, that is) can be opened while the children are still on high notes.

Danish Christmas decorations and ornaments

In Denmark the big festival is Christmas Eve on 24 December. 

In many families lunch is eaten coincidentally. The kids should really have a nap but they won’t. They are much too excited.

In the old days it was common to give the animals a special treat on Christmas Eve. It was widely believed that all animals could talk on this special night, and nobody would like the animals to speak ill of you. Today some families continue that tradition. They go for a walk in the garden, in the park or in the field or forest and bring along small goodies for the animals on this very special occasion.

A lot of people attend an early Christmas mass in church afterwards, not necessarily because they are devoted churchgoers but because listening to the organ and the traditional Danish Christmas carols add to the good Christmas spirit.

Dinner is served quite early. Most people eat roast duck on Christmas Eve but roast goose or roast pork with crackling rinds is widely used. The duck or goose is stuffed with apples and prunes and served with white and sweet potatoes, red cabbage and beets and cranberry jam. As dessert is normally served ris à l’amande with hot cherry sauce or “risengrød”, if you are very traditional. 

A peeled almond is hidden in the dessert bowl. The lucky finder of the almond gets a special almond present. Sometimes the visitors at the Christmas table have also bought special presents. In that case they are normally presented to the person(s) sitting left and/or right to the original winner.

A good claret (why not a Pommerol) goes extremely well with this dinner, and maybe an old Port or Madeira with the dessert.

After dinner the tree is lit, at last, and everybody join hands and wander around the tree singing the traditional Danish Christmas hymns and carols. A lot of people don’t have enough space for the tour around the tree. In that case it works just as fine to sit, reflect and enjoy the unique spectacle. The atmosphere heats up, naturally, if it now begins to snow outside. But unfornunately it seldom does.

Most Danes know their songs, their hymns and their carols almost by heart because they are taught in school. Whether they like it or not at the time of learning, they’ll always remember the Danish unique treasury of song, the melodies and the strong poetry. The reason why this is possible is of course the small size of the country and the only about 5 million people to inhabit it. On Christmas Eve not only solemn carols are song. It is Danish tradition to sing gay songs with repetition and chain dancing as well.

Christmas carols with text in English

Danish Christmas carols with text in Danish