Odd how one can come across an article about something or somebody and within an hour or so, up pops another on the same subject. So it was yesterday and today when the word Hygge was brought to my attention. Spotted first on the online BBC News and then the Guardian. I decided to investigate further.
It seems that Hygge, loosely translated can be considered “coziness” and includes the presence of and pleasure from comforting, gentle, and soothing things. 'Hygge is described as a deep sense of place & well-being; a feeling of friendship, warmth, contentment and peace with your immediate surroundings. The true essence of hygge is lost if it is too elegant, too extravagant, too luxurious. Hygge must be modest in a way, mundane and familiar – it is the celebration of the dull that hygge embodies' or 'self inflicted cosiness'.
Now, quite frankly, this is music to my ears, particularly the phrase 'celebration of the dull' though what is dull for one is bliss for another. As one gets older we appreciate the 'dull' the sitting round a warm fire with a good book and one's feet up; anathema to anyone younger or more active. When reading Queen Victoria's journals, it is clear that she was a great exponent of Hygge, in between the state occasions, the political shenanigans and presentations and investitures, she extolled the virtues of being at home with her Beloved Albert and the family, particularly at Christmas, and she used the word 'gemutlich' which is one I have also used often as I love it. It can mean 'cosy' and 'comfortable' so Her Maj was practicing Hygge even without knowing it.
Pollyanna with her 'glad game' was also practicising it and on further reading into this subject I have been doing it for years only I have always termed this feeling 'small pleasures'. I am a firm believer in taking joy in curling up in a lovely warm bed, under a cosy duvet, clean sheets and clean nightie, preferably after a good soak in a bath. This kind of pleasure is best in winter of course. In fact, though the Danes (Hygge is a Danish concept) try to practice Hygge the year round, they really use it most in the winter when they have long dark months of snow and rain and cold and staying indoors. I suppose in the summer, sitting outside drinking a glass of wine on a warm, balmy summer's evening falls into the Hygge category, but I really feel it comes into its own in the winter months.
Friends have always found it slightly odd that I quite like the clocks going back so that by four o'clock I can draw my curtain, turn on the lights, keep warm and snuggle up on the sofa with a book or just watching a TV programme, but I have always enjoyed this feeling, this 'gemutlich' which I think I will continue using as it rolls off the tongue better than the Danish equivalent. There are so many delights which fall into this category and the list is endless.
For me the best Hygge of all is when I am staying with my family and I am awoken in the morning by my bedroom door opening and two small faces peer through the door and two little girls in their nighties, still warm from their bed, creep under the duvet with me and Hello Grandma as we snuggle down.
So can anybody better than? Let me know what you think is your favourite Hygge. We all have them, you know we do.
It is such a lovely concept and so easy to do.
