Christmas in Denmark: Explaining Danish Christmas Traditions
Christmas traditions vary from country to country. If you’ve never been in Denmark during the holiday season before, one thought may be bouncing around in your head: How does Denmark celebrate Christmas?
A traditional Danish Christmas is, on a broad scale, not much different from traditional Christmases in countries where Christianity is the dominant religion. You eat delicious food, attend Christmas services, visit family and friends to eat even more food, open gifts, and stay happy. That’s a summary of the classic Danish Christmas traditions. Need the full details? Continue reading.
What Is Christmas in Denmark Like?
Danish traditions for celebrating Yuletide start before Christmas Day and continue till after Christmas.
Counting Down to Christmas
On December 1, Danes begin to count down the days to Christmas. To mark the countdown, they light a calendar candle or kalenderlys. This candle is no ordinary one. It bears the numbers 1 to 24, each standing for one day of the month up until Christmas Eve. Each day, they allow the candle to slowly burn until it reaches the next number. Here’s a photo of the kalenderlys.
In addition to the kalenderlys, Danes make Advent wreaths. Each wreath consists of spruce branches, berries, cones, and, above all, four candles. On the first of the last four Sundays to Christmas, they light one candle. On the second Sunday, they light two and continue like this on the third and fourth Sundays, lighting one more candle. In 2025, the first Sunday in the Advent will be November 30, while the fourth Sunday will be December 21.
Besides the Advent wreaths and calendar candles, Danes also have other exciting ways of counting down to Christmas for children. While some kids have to be content with watching the Christmas calendar on television, others receive a gift from their parents on each of the first 24 days of December or on every Advent Sunday.
Going to Danish Christmas Markets
You can’t celebrate Christmas without shopping, can you? In Denmark, there are specific markets opened for the sake of Christmas shopping. Most people begin to visit Christmas markets in Denmark around the middle of November to buy gifts, seasonal food like æbleskiver (pancake balls), caramelized almonds, and Smørrebrød sandwiches, seasonal vegetables, cheese, cider, honey, jam, and meat, Christmas decorations, Christmas hearts, and other Danish decorations.
Shops and restaurants in Denmark are closed on December 25 and 26. If you’re currently in the country and you intend to spend Christmas here this year, ensure that you do all of your shopping before Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Christmas Eve
In Denmark, Christmas Eve is known as Juleaften. Enjoying Christmas Eve properly often means eating an elaborate Christmas dinner in the evening. The entire family gathers around the Christmas table to feast on a classic Danish Christmas dinner, which usually features roast duck or roast pork, served with potatoes, caramelized potatoes, red cabbage, and rich gravy.
A typical Danish Christmas dessert is risalamande, a cold rice pudding mixed with whipped cream and chopped almonds, served with hot cherry sauce. Someone will have hidden a single whole almond in the dessert, and the person who finds the almond receives a small gift, often a marzipan treat.
After the dinner, there is dancing. Family members dance around the Christmas tree as they sing Christmas songs. In some households, they prefer to dance and sing Christmas carols before settling down for the dinner.
What Other Christmas Traditions Do Danes Adopt to Celebrate Christmas?
On Christmas Day and the Second Day of Christmas, Danish families may host or attend traditional Christmas lunches. In the spirit of the festive season, Danes enjoy æbleskiver and gløgg (small pastries and mulled wine), as well as Danish open-faced sandwiches, Christmas cookies, and other Christmas delicacies such as risamalande, roast duck or pork roast, risengrød (rice porridge), etc. A chosen member of the family distributes gifts and other Christmas treats to Danish children.
How Does Denmark Celebrate Christmas? Final Thoughts
The Danish culture promotes hygge (that is, shared feelings of love and contentment) throughout the Christmas season. Many traditions surrounding Christmas are borrowed from Jul, an ancient Norse pagan holiday. But make no mistake. Denmark celebrates Christmas like no other country.
