{"id":2523,"date":"2025-09-25T20:22:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T18:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/?p=2523"},"modified":"2025-09-30T09:17:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T07:17:13","slug":"danish-traditions-and-holidays-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/danish-traditions-and-holidays-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Danish traditions and holidays guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Denmark traditions, holidays and festivities are of very high priority.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

People in Denmark take great pride in their traditions and would like them to remain the same way every year, especially at Christmas. However, besides Christmas, the kingdom of Denmark has a lot of other traditions and holidays to celebrate, some of them might even seem a little weird to foreigners.  When being in Denmark, make sure to join in on the festivities and traditions, it will surely be a fun and joyful experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we will present some of these fun and rather different traditions that the Danish people are known for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fastelavn<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first rather big Danish tradition of the year is Fastelavn. This holiday tradition is mostly for kids and is primarily celebrated in schools and kindergartens. It is a mix of Halloween and carnival. You dress up and go trick or treating \u2013 but without the scary part. The biggest tradition during this holiday is that the kids in costumes \u2018hit the cat out of the barrel\u2019 (like a pinata). It is called that because in the old days, there had to be a black cat inside the barrel, symbolizing the devil \u2013 and that you would then \u201cbeat the devil to death\u201d. But don\u2019t worry! Nowadays, the cat is substituted for candy and sweets \u2013 the barrel is simply decorated with a black cardboard cat. If you are the person who hit the barrel when the candy pours out, you will be crowned \u201ccat-king\u201d or \u201cCat-queen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the older people, the Fastelavn tradition is mostly based around savoury pastry called \u201cFastelavnsboller\u201d. It is sweet mouth-watering buns with cream on the inside and glazing on the outside, simply delicious and very sought after by the Danish people around Fastelavn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>Easter<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Easter in Denmark also comes with a rather peculiar but cute tradition called \u2018g\u00e6kkebreve\u2019. \u2018G\u00e6kkebreve\u2019 are personalized letters that you cut into a special pattern which, if you are good, can look really cool. However, the text in these letters is the most important about this tradition. First of all, the text itself has to rhyme, and the sender of the letter signs it by spelling out its name in dots so that the receiver of the letter has to guess who the sender is. If the receiver guesses correctly, that person will get a chocolate egg from the sender. If the receiver is wrong, then that person must buy the sender an egg. A fun little game you can play with your family and friends around Easter in Denmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

High school graduation week<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you happen to be in Denmark in the last week of June, prepare to watch drunk and happy high school students wearing the characteristic Danish graduation cap all over the city. These special Danish graduation caps or \u201cstudenterhuer\u201d is also a very dear tradition in Denmark. Moreover, there are a lot of different rules to these caps; what to write and what to cut in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are three of the rules, to get an idea of what it\u2019s like: \u201cCut a square if you drink 24 beers in less than 24 hours\u201d, \u201ccut a lightning bolt if you had a one-night-stand (wearing the cap, of course). \u201cCut a notch in the cap if you puked\u201d. If you ask one of the graduates wearing the cap, I\u2019m sure they are more than willing to explain the rest of the rules to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most traditional ways of celebrating high school graduation is to ride with all your classmates in a large, decorated truck through the city and to every classmate\u2019s house, where you will get drinks and food at each stop. A very fun, but also very exhausting tradition \u2013 especially for the participants in the end \u2013 as the celebrations continue for a whole week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Skt Hans Aften<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On June 23 the Danes celebrate Saint John\u2019s eve (in Danish called Skt. Hans aften). The tradition is that you gather with friends and family, or at an event, around a big bonfire. It\u2019s tradition to put a witch on the bonfire (a doll of course) and when you start the fire you will sing songs such as Midsommervisen <\/em>by Holger Drachmann. The tradition with the witch started in the Middle Ages, to ward off witches, however, back then it was indeed a real woman on top of the bonfire. Nowadays, it has, for some reason, simply turned into a cosy Danish tradition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

J-Day<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

J-Day is another kind of weird celebration, which, to some, has turned into an almost sacred tradition. J-Day is short for Christmas Brew-day, and essentially means that this is the day the annual Christmas Brew from Tuborg gets released, I know.. Danes, right? This means that on this day, the nightclubs, and pubs all over Denmark are completely full, as most of the city wants to celebrate this tradition. If you find yourself in a pub on this day, things might get chaotic because of the extremely high rate of people going out. J-Day falls on the first Friday of November, if you are in Denmark on this date, don\u2019t hesitate to join the festivities!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Saint Morten’s Eve<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On the 10th of November in Denmark, it is tradition to eat duck or goose. But why? The reason this tradition came about has something to do with a guy (Morten) who did not want to become a Bishop and then hid in a flock of geese. However, the geese \u201cbetrayed\u201d him and flew away. Because of this betrayal, Bishop Martin ordered, as revenge, every family to kill and eat a goose (or duck) on saint Morten\u2019s eve. A weird, but nonetheless cosy Danish tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 25th birthday celebration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A Dane\u2019s 25th birthday is a fun tradition to be a part of in Denmark, at least if you are not the one turning 25. The rule is that if you are unmarried when turning 25 in Denmark (which most people are), then your friends will drag you into the street, maybe tie you to a pole of some sort, and cover you with cinnamon. And this tradition does not improve for the birthday boy\/girl when turning 30. This time you will be covered with pepper!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Christmas is by far the most sacred holiday tradition in Denmark. Most Danish people are serious about keeping the Christmas traditions the same way every year. Christmas dominates Denmark in November and December, and sometimes even earlier in shopping streets, which are heavily decorated with Christmas light in every Danish city. Bakeries transform a lot of their assortment to fit the Christmas season with traditional Danish Christmas delicacies as klejner, peppern\u00f8dder and vaniljekranse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas in Denmark is celebrated on the 24th of December, where you gather with your family for a delightful Christmas dinner. Usually, Christmas dinners in Denmark include roasted pork, duck, lots of gravy, chips, caramelized potatoes, and pickled red cabbage. Dessert is a funny tradition on Christmas Eve in Denmark. Danes eat a dish called ris a la mande, which is basically rice pudding with whipped cream, vanilla and chopped almonds. However, there should be one or two whole almonds hidden in the rice pudding, whoever finds the whole almond while eating, gets a gift. A fun tradition and another reason for never leaving an empty plate for dessert. After the dessert, the entire family gathers around the Christmas tree, which every Danish family has inside their house, and sing Christmas carols while walking around the tree. Then finally, it is time to unwrap your presents, which has been sitting under the tree all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 25th and 26th, it is very common to have big Christmas lunches in Denmark. Again, you gather the family and enjoy more audacious food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you would like to read more about the wonderful time of Christmas in Denmark, you should definitely read this brilliant article from our website!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New Year\u2019s Eve<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the most important traditions on New Year\u2019s Eve in Denmark is to watch the Queen\u2019s New Year\u2019s speech at 6 pm. The Queen\u2019s yearly speech has been a rallying point for Danes since 1942 when King Christian X gave a speech to the nation that offered hope in a time of German occupation. Later in the evening, there is another quite weird tradition on New Year\u2019s Eve. This tradition is that Danes watch an old comedy mini-movie called Dinner for one. <\/em>Everybody knows what is happening because everybody has seen the movie many times. However, they still seem to enjoy it a lot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At midnight, it is tradition to watch the town hall bells on R\u00e5dhuspladsen in Copenhagen, broadcasted on the Danish TV channel DR1. After that, you party, which you have probably done all evening anyway, and fire or look at the beautiful fireworks everywhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After New Year\u2019s Eve all you want to do on the first day of the new year is relax. In Denmark, it is a tradition for the Prime Minister to make a speech on the first day of the new year. While listening to what the Prime Minister has to say about the future and the past, every Dane is getting ready for the next year of fun and cosy traditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn about Danish holidays and traditions, from Christmas to cultural customs, and discover how celebrations reflect Denmark\u2019s unique spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Scandinavian traditions and holidays guide","_seopress_titles_desc":"Learn about Scandinavian holidays and traditions, from Christmas to cultural customs, and discover how celebrations reflect Scandinavia's unique spirit.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[42,27],"class_list":["post-2523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living-in-denmark","tag-culture","tag-life-in-denmark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicolink.com\/da\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}