Date: Sunday, November 19th at 6pm
Location: Sabine's house
Zoom option: Zoom link emailed out (or ask Sabine if you can't find it)
With some trepidation about sounding new agey, as we northern hemisphere dwellers shift into the tilt away from the sun & the dark hours grow long, our patterns and moods change. Some people like the shut-in, hibernation quality of this portion of our year, while others stay buoyant through strapping skis or skates to feet for as many hours as they can fit in. Sauna culture is another angle on making winter and coldness feel fun vs. something to merely survive.
Hygge - a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture) - isn’t reserved for fall and winter only, though it surely comes to mind more then. Not surprisingly, this developed among some fellow northern hemisphere residents. Most / all? cultures that deal with extended winter (incl. south hemisphere dwellers) surely have their hyggelig practices and customs. We know that mental health struggles increase greatly for humans in the winter months, with sad self-harm statistics in Montana being all too well known to most of us, along with great increases in alcohol consumption this time of year and other trends that indicate attempts at coping.
Well before hygge was a trendy hipster / bourgeoisie concept in the US, ski bum Whitefish, for example, was hanging twinkle lights along rooftops not just for Christmas but Nov-March to alight the streets with cozy factor, gathering in roasty warm pubs (for the alcohol load, yes, but also for the camaraderie and closeness), holing up with friends and family at potlucks, meeting at the Moose lodge for bingo nights, having 7am coffee at a cordoned-off corner table at the Buff, taking part in ski torch parades & lining nordic paths with lanterns at night, hanging feed for the townie birds and squirrels, baking muffins, lighting old world candle chimes, and all the things we each do to help each other to arrive to the long-lit, effortlessly joyous days of summer once again.
So, we gather in hyggelig manner this second most dark month of the year.
Some mellow prep materials on the topic:
- "Indian take on Danish hygge" - short stand up comedy act: https://youtu.be/cHocWPV7HL8?feature=shared
- A New Yorker article, "The Glossary of Happiness" - https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-glossary-of-happiness
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