When Christmas Comes Early

Hello everybody!

I have of late been writing for my university blog as well, and I recently wrote a piece about a very special danish tradition, which I thought I would share with you guys on here. 

Lots of love, 

Mimi xxx

Floods of people bounding down the narrow Copenhagen streets, heads clad in blue Santa hats, loading every self-respecting bar in downtown with merry customers, lining the cobbestone pavements with white foam…

If this scenario seems familiar to you, I’ll bet it took place on a Friday. I’ll further bet it was the first Friday of November. This is – as the Danes call it - J-Dag!

So what is J-Day exactly?

J-Dag, sometimes referred to as “Snestorm”(Snowstorm) or “Snefald”(Snowfall) and pronounced in English as “Jay-Day” is a day where, since the 1980s, the Danes have celebrated the coming of Christmas by releasing that year’s batch of Christmas beer.

The first Friday in November each year, horse-drawn carriages leave the Tuborg Brewery, their carts filled to the brim with that year’s limited edition Christmas Beer. They head downtown and deliver the beer to the local pubs. At exactly 20:59, the Christmas Beer is launched, and the party begins!

To really get into the J-Dag spirit, people flock out on to the streets donning blue Santa hats, and the streets, in particular around Rådhuspladsen (the town hall square) are lined with the first twinkle of “snow”(i.e. beer foam) of the year. Free samples of the Christmas beer are handed out in generous amounts.

In more recent years, several bars hire DJs and gorgeous ‘Nissepiger’ (elfgirls) and/or handsome ‘nissemænd’(elfmen), all clad in Tuborg-blue elf–wear to hand out beer and create an even more festive atmosphere. It truly is the most wondrous time of the year.

Welcome to Denmark. Christmas here lasts for 3 months and beer is cheaper than water in Netto. J-day has become such big part of the Danish culture that it is even in the Danish dictionary!

Why do we call it “J-Dag”?

‘Juleøl’ is the Danish word for Christmas beer (‘Jul’ means Christmas) and the word ‘dag’ is Danish for ‘day,’ hence: J-Day. Obviously a lot of thought was put into naming this day.

What makes Tuborg’s Christmas beers so special?

Tuborg Julebryg is the only beer with an entire day of celebration dedicated to it (Take that, AB InBev!), Tuborg’s Julebryg (Christmas Brew) also happens to be the no. 4 best-selling beer in Denmark – that’s really saying something considering it’s only in stores for ten weeks every year!

The beer contains warm flavours perfect for the upcoming cold winter days, and averages at about 5.7% alcohol level, which gives everyone the alcoholic boost they need to show off their moves on the dance floor. If you’re not really feeling the whole high level of alcohol thing, fear not! Tuborg also brings out a ‘Julepilsner’ containing 4.6% alcohol, which you may prefer instead.

Ever since I can remember, the blue and white advertising that Tuborg’s Julebryg is known for, marked the start of the period of “IT’S SOON CHRISTMAS!!” in my house. It was only after the first sighting of the classic Tuborg Julebryg cartoons that come out every year, that we could start buying Christmas decorations, looking at Christmas-related posts on Tumblr, or counting how many more sleeps there was until Christmas.

The small animation which Tuborg releases every year in relation with J-dag is in Danish, but worth the watch nonetheless. It is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Make sure you’re a part of the J-dag festivities, whether you head downtown, or whether you decide to go to Café Nexus (or both!) I promise you’ll love it!

June - An Exciting Time For Everyone

Hello Every body,

If you are in Denmark this week, you have most likely seen a number of people wearing what looks like white sailor or navy officer hats around about. These are 'Studenterhuer' and are worn by the graduates who have just finished their high school education or their bachelor education. Previously I wrote a post giving a brief description about the 'studenterhuer' and the traditions which follow - you can read it here . At that point, I still hadn't gotten my own 'studenterhue' or cap, nor had I experienced any of the traditions that I mentioned. A few weeks later now, having experienced all of those things mentioned, I thought I might write a little follow-up post, to give you a better insight as to how it all works.
I do have to mention however, that I am a graduate from an International School and the Danish traditions that my class experienced, may be altered somewhat to adhere to the international environment we've graduated from, and so probably isn't applicable to all the Danish graduates this year.

Almost all, if not all, the graduates receive their caps for the very first time once they walk out of their final exam. Here's me receiving mine!

The first 'studenterhue' that was introduced in Denmark in 1850, was all black, and was the only type available at the time. Today the black cap is seen more rarely, and usually symbolize that the graduate wearing the cap has either had latin or greek as their language of study, or that they have had several higher level or what is known as A-level subjects.

The more common white cap, like the one on my head in the picture below, was introduced in the 1880s.

There are several variations to the white cap, with each variation representing a different line of study that the graduate has undertaken. The white cap with the bordeaux red band is one of the two most common ones, and symbolize the graduates who have taken a regular 'gymnasium' or high school education, or what is known in Danish as an 'STX linje'. The cap also contains an emblem of the Danish Flag on the front of it.

The white cap with a light blue band represents the graduates who have completed the 'HF linje' which is directly translated to the Higher Preparations Course Line. I assume that this represents those who have finished an even higher level of education - possibly their bachelors.

The second of the two most commonly spotted studenterhuer is the white cap with a royal blue band surrounding it. This is for the graduates who have taken the HHX linje and are students of a Business school. The emblem on this hat is the rod of Mercury. Mercury was the Roman god of trade.

A fourth variation to the cap is a white one with a marine blue band, and is for students who have chosen to graduate from a technical line of study and so are known as students of HTX.

The white caps with a dark purple band, represent the students who have taken a business and trade oriented line of education. This is similar to the students of HHX who have the royal blue band, however the purple bands usually have lower standards and are much easier in comparison to the education carried out by the students of HHX.

And finally, the cap that I am wearing is a white one with a band made up of several flags of the world. This represents all the students who have completed their high school education in a foreign language to Danish.

These 7 caps cover all the types of graduates who have completed a proper high school or bachelor education. White caps with orange, green, dark purple, light purple, pink and yellow bands are given to students who have completed other forms of education such as to become hairstylists or educators.

Each individual graduate has the option of having their name and/or place of education engraved on to the back of their caps.

When seeing a student with their cap on, it is polite to smile and say "tillykke" (congratulations) or "tillykke med huen" (congratulations on getting your cap). You will often be returned with a large smile and a "tak" (thank you) to express their gratitude.

Once all the students have received their caps, the class goes on what is known as a "vogntur" or a truck ride around the city and from house to house of each of the graduates. This is usually done on the 26th, 27th or 28th of June by all the different gymnasiums. In the case of my school, as it was closing for summer, our truck ride was on the 2nd of June. We began the truck ride at school, after an awards ceremony,  with two trucks (because we were a huge class) , and slowly made our way from house to house following a route that had been set by the school and truck drivers. In Danish gymnasiums, there is often a committee of students who organize everything from hiring a truck to ordering the hats to planning out the truck routes. We were lucky enough to have our school reception take care of all of that.
The trucks stopped at each house on the route for approx.10 minutes, and everyone got off the truck, where we were offered food and drinks, and had time to have a quick chat with the family of each household, before the truck sounded its horn once again to signal that it was time to leave, and we all piled back on ready to head to the next house on the route. When in between houses, cars on the road tended to honk and people on the street would wave and shout out their congratulations. The pictures below are of the awards ceremony, the truck ride, and when the truck stopped at my house.

I hope this was somewhat of use to some of you. To the rest of you who don't live in Denmark and don't want to know anything of the Danish culture - not to worry, there will be a beauty related post up very soon.

Lots of love,

Mimi xxx