Credit:Jamie Brown
It became a major international trend in the mid-2010s,when a dozen books urged us to get more hygge in our lives,and has since become associated on social media with candlelight,crackling fires and knitted socks.
Hygge is now associated with healthy hedonism,in which we’re invited to enjoy gentle,relaxing and inexpensive things,such as cat-stroking,tea-drinking,warm slippers,woven baskets and comfy clothes.
But hygge is much more than that. For the Danes,hygge is almost a philosophy of life:an appreciation of family and friends,rustic simplicity,and the natural and traditional over the artificial and modern.
All this is reputed to be the reason for Denmark’s high ranking in happiness surveys. Question is,can the mere visitor tap into the hygge and happiness that the Danes enjoy?
Well perhaps. Walk the streets of Copenhagen all a-glitter with fairy lights and that’s hygge. Tuck into roast duck in a cellar restaurant in Odense as candles flicker on table tops,and that’s hygge too.
Flickering candles and steaming hot drinks can also by hygge.Credit:iStock
Check into a country hotel,snuggle into your old sweater by the fire and have afternoon tea with gingerbread,and your hygge will hit a happy high.