Ask Magpie: Cultural Singularities
There’s nothing I love more than being interviewed. (Narcissist much?) So it’s time for Ask Magpie! This week Kate of Phlog blog asks via Twitter:
What is one (or eight) thing(s) (food, culture, social phenomenon, etc) about Denmark that you can’t experience anywhere else?
If you’ve been reading my occasional Immigrant Diaries, or if you’ve popped over to our little blog-for-the-grandparents, you know that life in Denmark has been a bit of mixed bag. We are culturally lonely, and the weather strains our tolerance resources. But other than that, there is a lot we like about living in Denmark. The pace of life is slower, there is more time for our family, and life without a car is healthier and less harried.
Most of these things are indicative of European life in general. But there are some special things that you cannot do anywhere but Denmark. Here are *8Things in Copenhagen. Come on by and experience some.
1. Tivioli Gardens: This is one of the oldest amusement parks in Europe, and the place that inspired a little someone named Walt Disney. It’s especially charming at Jule when the entire park is wrapped in colorful lights and warmed with glowing red charcoal braziers.
2. The Art of Hygge: In Denmark if something is “hygge” it’s warm, inviting and fun. If your dinner guests say they’ve had a hyggliet time, it means you did a wonderful job lighting the candles, picking the guests, and preparing the meal. In Scotland “the crack is good,” in Denmark you have “a hyggliet time.”
3. Canal Boats: You can ride canal boats elsewhere, but will they take you past the Little Mermaid? Take a canal ride through Nyhavn, the “new harbor” (new in this case meaning roughly1600’s), sail past the Fishmonger’s Wife, and stop for beer along the waterfront.
4. A Postmodern Wonder: Part brick-and-leather history, part modern edifice the Royal Library on the Copenhagen waterfront is a seamless example of postmodern architecture. I wish I could live there.
5. Nisser: Leave out a bowl of porridge and a mug of beer on Christmas Eve or these mischievous red-capped creatures will burn down your barn instead of leaving you presents.
6. A Day of Silence: I don’t know any other culture where you can spend an entire day shopping — in real stores, not on line — and not speak to a single person. Chit chat is not a part of Danish culture. I’ve never experienced such a “closed circle” culture.
7. Juleøl: Do you get extra strong beer at Christmas and Easter? We do in Denmark! (Just be careful where you step on the sidewalks the day after the Juleøl is released!)
8. Spontaneous Street Parades: The Royal band marches every afternoon that the Queen is in residence, polse wagons hold up traffic, and the Clydesdales clomp down main street with the beer wagon in tow. You never know what’s going to happen in CPH.
What is one thing that is totally unique about where you live? Do tell us in the comments below. Or submit a question for me to answer next week at Ask Magpie.
6 comments
I’m sleepy and misread number one. It would really be something to see red charcoal brassieres at Christmas! Excellent post!
I studied in Denmark a few years back and loved it. Like you, I didn’t like the cold (or the super short winter days), but the city and culture absolutely enchanted me. I have a couple little nisser that stay perched on my windowsills year-round now!
you know… i have been fortunate enought to have lived in a lot of inspiring places on this planet. after my time overseas was finished, i was really excited to come home and move to Toronto. i’ve been in this vast, hectic metropolis for 5 years now, and it has never lived up to my expectations. i often daydream about moving yet again… but at the moment i have some committments that require me to stay put. so… i’m really glad you posed this question, because i’d like to discover something about Toronto that is unique and special and makes me happy!
i can’t think of anything right now… but i will mull it over and get back to you. i’m on a mission! thanks for the inspiration!
ps – i have just joined your Small is Beautiful cause! yay!
Magpie Girl, what a delightful post! It is good for the soul, I do believe, to see the positive in a place that can sometimes leave you lonely. I happen to live in the Canadian north ~ the far north. 58.5 degrees latitude to be exact, which I think is on par with Stockholm. During these days, darkness is closing in on us at a rapid pace. When I go to work it is dark and by 4pm, it is back again. But the trade off for all of this is a night sky more beautiful than anywhere else I have ever lived. The stars do shine like diamonds.
By the way, thank you for starting a quiet little revolution. It was just what my quiet little blog needed.
Angela
i’m back and i figured it out! what i love about Toronto is the way it is never the same. it reminds of the way the human body constantly replenishes itself – our cells have died and been replaced by new cells so many times that the body we had when we were born isn’t the same as the body we have now! Toronto is like that. every minute, it is different… and its sort of organic, in a way, the fluidity of it. there is stability in the instability of it. and it is unique and really special the way the soul of this city is built on multi-culturalism – Toronto’s identity is about it’s all-encompassingness. and i love that!
thanks for helping me figure this out and renewing my zest for living in Toronto!
I love this post. My favorite part is a day of silence. There are many times I wish I did not have to participate in small talk. I didn’t know chit chat was not a part of Danish culture. I like that.
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