What the Scandinavian concept of hygge can teach Americans about comfort and happiness

Lisa Desjardins:

As this holiday season comes to a close and parts of the country face frigid temperatures, this New Year's, we wanted to take a moment and explore a concept of comfort, warmth, and joy that began in Scandinavian countries but has recently spread to America.

Our Deema Zein has this story about the art of hygge.

Deema Zein:

In the bitter cold of a Minnesota winter, Ingebretsen's Nordic Marketplace offers an oasis of coziness, fuzzy blankets, socks and sweaters, a plethora of coffee mugs and lots and lots of candles.

Anna Bloomstrand, Ingebretsen's Nordic Marketplace:

We really think of this space as our home.

Deema Zein:

Anna Bloomstrand's great-grandfather started Ingebretsen's as a small corner market in the 1920s.

Anna Bloomstrand:

Folks still think of us as a space where people can come and explore items that connect them to their cultural heritage. We like to try to highlight that and make it easy for people to explore the culture even if they're not Scandinavian.

Deema Zein:

In recent years, that's meant leaning into a Scandinavian concept with growing popularity in the U.S. It's called hygge.

Sarah Richardson, Ingebretsen's Customer:

Hygge is very near and dear to my heart. It means creating a warm environment, snuggling in, reading books, sitting by the fire.

Don Friend, Ingebretsen's Customer:

To make home a warm and happy place.

Barbara Shaterian, Ingebretsen's Nordic Marketplace:

Hygge also means -- it's kind of like simplifying things, stepping back, letting things not be great.

Deema Zein:

Claus Andersen is a professor of Scandinavian studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Denmark, where hygge is part of the national identity, Andersen defines the term as pleasant togetherness.

Claus Andersen, University of Wisconsin-Madison: It comes with this air of happiness, of contentment, of having a more balanced life.

Deema Zein:

Andersen says the idea took on its current meaning in the late 19th century, after Denmark lost about a third of its territory in a war with Austria and Prussia.

Claus Andersen:

The motto in the country became what outwardly has been lost inwardly should be gained. So people got together with their backs to the world and say we're good enough the way we are.

Deema Zein:

He says hygge gained popularity in the U.K. around 2015, when the country was debating its exit from the European Union.

Claus Andersen:

The year after is when it came to the U.S., is where you saw the hygge books exploding, you saw the first social media posts, and that, of course, was at the time of Donald Trump's election to his first presidency. So I think these moments, right, both in Denmark, in the U.K. and in the U.S. where you sort of turn you back to the world is where hygge then comes to play.

Deema Zein:

Hygge was a runner-up for word of the year in 2016. Now there are millions of hygge posts across social media with scenes of fireplaces, steaming mugs, people snuggled under warm blankets.

Claus Andersen:

This idea that we post the moment, right, is antithetical to the idea of hygge, because, when we are on social media, we are not paying attention to the people we're with. We're not engaged in pleasant togetherness. We're more interested in staging it.

Deema Zein:

So here's what Andersen does.

Claus Andersen:

We have what we call afternoon snack, where even though the kids are older now, right, they're around the house, we're all busy. And then, at one point during the afternoon, we all sit down together. And being there, right, being together for those minutes, right, just breathing, seeing each other and just insisting on this is important because we're together, that's all that matters, that is an instance of hygge.

Deema Zein:

And while he says hygge is inherently anti-materialistic, he points to one item that can really help, candles.

Claus Andersen:

It's something that creates a certain intimate atmosphere. It makes you want to sit down and stay at the dining table maybe for two, three minutes longer than you would have otherwise.

Deema Zein:

Do you think it's possible for Americans, living in the busy lifestyles that they do, where it's a very go, go, go society, do you think that hygge is possible here?

Claus Andersen:

Yes, but in a different way, right? I know that there are many who want to embrace some of these things that they associate with hygge.

But, of course, the things that the social welfare in Denmark provides, free health care, day care, generous welfare benefits if you lose your job, that takes the worry out of everyday life or a number of things. It's not something you find here in the U.S.

So there might still be some challenges for Americans to fully embrace the concept.

Deema Zein:

Back in Minneapolis, Anna Bloomstrand says Ingebretsen's is trying to spread the spirit of hygge here.

Anna Bloomstrand:

I just love making like a nest for people to come in and have something warm to drink and have it be pretty and calm and feel warm. We try to do that here too, but it's a store. So we can't do it that well. We're more of a hardware store for those things. But, I mean, I think it resonates because it's what people really need and want this time of year, for sure.

Deema Zein:

And, as 2026 begins, a resolution of hygge, with its presence, comfort and togetherness, may just be what we need.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Deema Zein.