New Years - In Denmark

A new year is dawning on us. This fact (literally) sparks celebrations all over the world on the 31st of December. In most countries, fireworks are synonymous with the new year, and that is true for Denmark as well. How the Danes go about firing the works and all the other parts of the celebrations is however a different story to many other countries. Below, we will guide you through a Danish New Year's celebration, describing the tasteful, curious and funny traditions lived out all over the shining country.

A Maritime Menu

Torsk

Eating cod (torsk in Danish) has become a stable part of the New Years menu for many people in Denmark. Fish has always been a big part of the Danish culinary tradition, but why has torsk been awarded a regular spot on the last menu of the year?

There isn't a clear answer to this question. However, some experts believe that the story of the new year cod (nytårstorsk) starts with Christmas. Apart from being prevalent in the northern seas, the cod was also a permitted food during lent (advent fasting) because of its lean nature. With time most Danes stopped fasting and the Christmas menu went from lean to fatty. The cod was excommunicated from Christmas but found its spot as a light new year's alternative to the weeks of Christmas feasting.

Roe

Continuing below the water on the menu, we find roe - rogn in Danish. The most well-known type of roe is of course the extensively expensive caviar. Eggs from a sturgeon, with the most coveted being beluga. Some people may splash the cash on caviar, but most roe happy Danes will go looking for eggs from a different fish. They hunt for a special type of lumpfish, called Stenbider in Danish. Although it is not as expensive as caviar, Stenbiderrogn has received the nickname, Danish caviar.

Stenbiderrogn is traditionally served on blinis or toasted ryebread with finely chopped red onions and crème fraîche as an appetizer.

Kransekage

You might get away with not including cod or roe in your Danish new year's menu, but if there is one thing which stands out as synonymous with new year's, it is the Kransekage - the wreath cake. Usually, the kransekage is served at midnight accompanied with a glass of sparkling wine and the song, "Vær velkommen, Herrens år" - be welcome, year of the lord.

The kransekage is usually served as multiple pieces of cake, either bite sized or shaped like rings and stacked on top of each other to form a cone.

Fireworks in Denmark

Just as in a lot of other countries, the Danish new year wouldn't be complete without fireworks. There are, however, rules that need to be respected when it comes the colorful explosives. Although they can be bought in stores from the 15th of December, fireworks are only to be used on the 31st of December and the 1st of January.

To use them outside of these dates you would need a special permit. There are 5 pieces of advice that you are encouraged to follow.

• Always use protective glasses.
• Use only legal and not homemade or illegal fireworks.
• Never hold lit fireworks in your hand.
• Keep a safe distance and never lean over the fireworks.
• Never go back to a dud.

Fireworks are beautiful, but venturing out into the streets during the coming celebrations will require extra attentiveness. Be safe and enjoy the spectacle.

Why do we fireworks?

Fireworks are, as explained, also synonymous with new year's, but why do we use them, and when did the Danes start lighting up the sky on the last day of the year?

Fireworks are a rambunctious bunch and it is exactly in their noisy nature, that we find the reason for their ubiquity. In the olden days, when superstition was thriving, folklore decreed that demons and other magic creatures were particularly dangerous around the birth of the new year. Thus, people began to make noise to scare the monsters off. Since medieval times tools of clay have been thrown around to make noise, and in Sønderjylland a drum made of clay called Rummelpot was used.

As time went on, the new year's noise persisted, but the methods of producing it changed. The first known firing or detonation at new year's happened in 1659, when the cannons on the fortifications of Copenhagen were fired off. At the start of the 1800's fireworks began to look like the celebratory explosives we know today. More than a hundred years would pass before the common people of Denmark were allowed to celebrate in that fashion, as the king solitarily sat on the power of fireworks. In spite of new legislation, the exclusivity and prize of the beautiful and large-scale fireworks was still reserved for the rich, and thus new, small, inexpensive but still noisy fireworks were invented. Many of these still exist, such as knaldperler and heksehyl.

Nytårsløjer

When New Year's Eve comes around, the most mischievous part of the Danish population has a field day. Nytårsløjer can be translated as new year's pranks and are when executed right harmless small ways of having fun with your neighbor or a family member. This might include placing 'knaldperler' under a doormat or hoisting the leftover Christmas tree up a flagpole.

The nytårsløjer was commonplace in smaller villages during in the 1800's and were used to voice dissatisfaction with the behavior of one of the other villagers.

Although some people still venture out into the night of new year, the tradition is less popular than it has been. So, you shouldn't worry too much about stepping out on your doormat in the morning.

Same procedure as last year?

"Same procedure as every year". Speak these titular words and you will get the beforementioned answer from most Danes. The quote is from the comedic sketch show 'The 90th Birthday' - "90-årsfødselsdagen" has been shown in the tv at 23:40 on the 31st of December for more than 40 years.

Originally made in West Germany with the name 'Dinner for One' in 1963, the English-spoken tv-comedy has become a classic in the new year's celebration in not only Denmark, but also countries like Finland, Luxembourg, Estonia, Switzerland and Austria. It lasts 18 minutes, so when the sketch is over, the official countdown to the new year will begin. Although it is in English it is almost unknown in English-speaking countries.

When the bells sound

When the clock strikes midnight, the town hall bells of the Danish capital will sound, marking the beginning of the new year. For many, listening to and watching the bells of the town hall is a tradition. The bells sound 12 times when the new year dawns.

Throughout the years, Danes have had quarrels over which bell chime actually rings in the new year. Since 1958 however, the clock and sound of the Copenhagen town hall has been tv-transmitted with a digital countdown accompanying it in newer times and thus the debate has died down. If there is still doubt in your mind, the answer to the conundrum is that the first ring of the bell marks the first second of the new year.

Jumping into the new year

When the famous bells chime, a standing or rather jumping tradition unfolds. If celebrating new years in the company of Danes, you will find that the minutes leading up to the new year are filled with tranquility for some and a scrambling search for others.

If a Dane is calm in the minutes leading up to midnight, it means that they are either filled with stoicism or that they have found a vantage point, from which to enter the new year. Those who stress, will be scrambling around the party, saying "jeg skal finde noget at hoppe fra" - i need to find something to jump from. Magically, when the first bell chimes, everyone is always ready to fulfill the uniquely Danish tradition of jumping into the new year. And thank goodness for that. We wouldn't want anyone to be stuck in 2024. So, grab a chair, step up onto a sofa or climb a table and do not forget to disembark the furniture with a jump into the new year.

The arguably biggest and most unique new year's tradition of them all, is the "nytårstale" - the new year's speech. At 18:00, the most watched 15 minutes of Danish television unfold. More than 2 million Danes will have their head turned towards their screen, enthralled by the anticipation of the regent speaking to the nation. This year, a line of more than 50 years of consecutive new year's speeches will be broken. Queen Margrethe II announced her abdication from the throne in her speech last year, leaving the mantle to her son and now king, Frederik X. But why is this important? And why do people care? To understand this, we must first take a glance at the history and meaning of the New Years speech.

A light in the Dark

The first ever new year's speech was held by king Christian IX in the 1880's. Then, it was called "a toast to the motherland". Then, the speech was held in front of a select few, and it wasn't until Christian IX's son Frederik VIII decided to publish it through the nationwide press in the beginning of the 1900's that the speech was made available to the general public.

The question of why the speech holds a special place in the heart of Danes has an answer that lies in the occupation of Denmark by Nazi Germany during World War 2. A year and a half into the occupation, the Danish king Christian X decided to broadcast his speech in the radio. During these troubling times, the king's speech was seen as a light in the dark. A light that symbolized that Denmark still existed even through the occupation.

In 1958, the new year speech of Frederik IX was broadcast through the tv for the first time, and the following year it was broadcast live, and thus the tradition that we know today was constituted. 15 years later, in 1973, his daughter Margrethe II, orated her first new year, and she has been the face of the tradition ever since. Until now...

The New King's Speech

The burden now falls upon the shoulders of the son of the abdicated queen. On December 31st at 18:00 we will witness history, as King Frederik X will deliver the first new year's speech of his reign. This beckons a variety of questions, that many Danes will be plastered to the tv to have answered. Where will the speech be held? How long will it be? Will he mention his mom? Will he cry? And will he carry on the tradition of ending the new year's speech with the sentence; "Gud bevare Danmark" - God preserve Denmark?

As we covered in a newsletter from January this year, a regent will choose a royal motto. King Frederik X's motto is; Forbundne, forpligtet for kongeriget Denmark - United, commited, for the kingdom of Denmark. Frederik is part of a royal minority whose motto doesn't include the mentioning of God. Thus, the tradition and content of the speech's last sentence has come under reasonable doubt from the Danish population.

New year - New politics

Since the 5th of June 1849 when the first constitution of Denmark was written, the monarchical regent of the country has left the power to the people. One might ask how and why the regents new year's speech has enjoyed continuous popularity, when there isn't any "power" behind their words? The immediate answer to this question might be that the Danish monarchy has enjoyed a high approval among the Danish population. In the above-mentioned newsletter, we write about this at length.

Furthermore, the royal regent is not alone in delivering a new years speech. On the 1st of January 1940, the then prime minister of Denmark, Thorvald Stauning, started the tradition of "statsministerens nytårstale" - the prime ministers new year's speech. In contrast to the royal speech, this speech is always broadcast on the 1st of January and isn't live. The nature of the speech will often also include more political remarks, and some prime ministers even disclose plans for large political proposals coming in the new year. Thus both

The Danish (New Years) Language

Speaking Danish - Photo: Miguel Prego

The Danish language is filled with unique words and phrases. Some of them are nice to know during new years and will come in handy during this period. Check some of them out below.

• Nytårsforsæt - New year's resolution. Every January, gyms all over Denmark will be filled to the brims with new visitors. This results in pain, both for the muscles and lungs of the newly arrived, but also for the seasoned exercisers whose favorite machine might be occupied. The reason for this phenomenon is the nytårsforsæt. "Nytår" means new year, and "forsæt" comes from the German word "vorsat" meaning place ahead. The "forsæt" will often engage a healthy change in habit. Although some might have experienced the start of a new era when visiting the gym at the start of January, most of the ideas and decisions of a change fade into forgetfulness when February comes around.

• Torsk - A fool. As mentioned earlier, many Danes enjoy a torsk on New Year's Eve. However, the torsk is also someone who has done something wrong. You can be a kæmpe torsk - a giant cod, you can be unfortunate to do something that is torskedumt - cod stupid, and you can be a klaptorsk - a clap cod - also indicating stupidity. At every year's end, the Danish newspaper Ekstrabladet crowns årets torsk - the cod of the year. A prize given to a public person (often politicians) who the readers of Ekstrabladet deem to have done the dumbest thing of the year. The connection between the torsk and stupidity goes back a long way. In Denmark and Danish literature, the cod has been stupid for at least 150 years. The reason why is shrouded in mystery. Some claim that it might have something to do with the look of the torsk. A mouth always agape and large immovable, staring eyes might have something to do with it. The only thing we know for sure, is that the torsk is only stupid in Sweden and Denmark.

• Gud bevare Danmark - God preserve Denmark. Although many might attribute this saying to Queen Margrethe II, the classic end to the new year's speech was first coined by Margrethe's great grandfather, Frederik VII all the way back in 1909. Although the presence of God has slowly waned in the minds of the Danes, the Royals stand solid with their prayer to God, that he will preserve the nation of Denmark.

• Skål - Cheers. One of the first words that people learn when arriving in Denmark is "skål". Accompanying a raised glass, this word will surely be one of the most used words in Denmark during December. The word can also mean bowl, and while it seems weird to use the same word for two quite different things, there is a brutal but feasible explanation - Vikings. The Danish word "skål" and the english word "skull" aren't dissimilar, neither in spelling or pronunciation. These words both derive from the Old-Norse word "skalli", meaning cranium or skull. As has been universally established, the Vikings could be ferocious and cruel, and one of the ways in which they lived up to this reputation was by preferring to drink their mead, milk or water from the sku(å)lls of their enemies, thus giving birth to a festive and lighthearted use of a word with a macabre history.

• Knaldperler, stjernekastere and heksehyl Types of fireworks. As explained earlier, fireworks in Denmark aren't just grandiose rockets or batteries. Some smaller ways of celebrating new year's exist as well. "Knaldperler", literally meaning bang pearls, are small white explosive pearls which produce a medium-sized bang when thrown on the ground or stepped on, hence why placing them under a doormat might cause quite the shock for the one who steps on it. "Stjernekastere", literally meaning star throwers, are hand-held slender sticks of wire dressed in aluminum or iron powder. When lit, the powder produces little star-like sparkles for short period of time. "Heksehyl", literally meaning witch howl, are little often yellow tubes made from cardboard. When lit, the tube produces a loud whistling sound which resembles a scream.

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