Get Your Hygge On

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of years, you cannot have failed to notice the proliferation of magazines and and newspapers urging you all to get hygge. A quick search on Amazon reveals at least a dozen books with hygge in the title, and my inbox tells me of more to come. But what exactly is hygge? How even do you pronounce it, never mind get some of it?

According to Charlotte Abrahams, whose book Hygge: A Celebration of Simple Pleasures. Living the Danish Way, it is candlelight, freshly brewed coffee, clean bed linen and dinner with friends.

Mind you it can’t be that simple or we wouldn’t need a book on it. Fearless in its quest to dig deep and find the truth, The Mad House has been investigating with the help of Anya Nøddebo Jensen, a Danish blogger and author of Simply Hygge, an online magazine which explains what it is and where to find it.

First up it’s hoo-ga, which already sounds rather aggressive and a bit All Black Rugby team rather than nestling down to the simple pleasures in life, but we’ll let that pass.

“It is about woolly socks and open fires, thick comfy blankets and plush cushions,” she says. “But it’s so much more than that. You can invest in those things if you want, but hygge is essentially free. It’s about the simple pleasures – being with people you care about, doing things you enjoy and being happy in the moment.”

And before you come over of British and sniffy about such touchy-feely concepts, let’s not forget that the Danes are regularly voted the happiest people on the planet.

So, the vocabulary – you can get hygge with someone, you can have a hyggelight time with someone, or even unhyggelig. And for me, just saying the words makes me laugh so I guess that’s pretty hygge already. The other key point is that everyone will have their own definition of what makes them feel hyggelig; a tub of ice cream and a film, a cup of coffee and the crossword while the rain pours down outside. It’s up to you.

Anya interviewed her Grandmother who said: “It’s all about the special things you remember when you are older – not the materialistic things – but the time spent with people and the precious moments. The small moments which are actually the big moments.”

Now there are lots of recipes for comfort food and clothes you can wear to get in the mood – cashmere and velvet sort of thing but we’re concerned with houses here and so here’s what to do to get hygge in the house.

Get some candles. The Danes love candles and light them every day. Tea light, fairy lights anything small and twinkly and ambient.

Lose the technology. I know, apparently scrolling through instagram while wearing cashmere bedsocks and necking a large glass of red isn’t quite hygge. Still, there are always exceptions and that sounds pretty hygge to me.

Dress your house according to the season. Bring in autumnal foliage, change your cushion covers to darker colours in more luxurious fabrics and even change the rugs over. Anything to embrace the change in weather and feel more cosy. Of course hygge exists in summer too and you can reverse this when the days get longer again. So linen and cotton for summer, wool and knits for winter. Same principle as clothes really.

Spontaneous entertaining. Don’t panic about planning a former dinner party, just make some pasta with whatever’s in the fridge and share with friends. And never has the old adage about talking about religion or politics at the table been more apt in the current climate. I know people who still aren’t speaking to their parents since 23 June and that definitely ain’t hygge.

That’s pretty much it – it’s a lot of common sense really, but if you want to find some hygge recipes, or cafes in Copenhagen then have a read of Anya’s magazine it’s free and you don’t get much more hygge than that.