Feeling Cold? Try "Hygge"

As I am writing this entry, we are in the midst of the coldest spell we have had this winter in the Northern Plains region of the United States - temperatures have dipped below zero Fahrenheit, and the snow has come. Schools across the region have been canceled.

So, how do we northerners cope with these conditions?  Here in America, we don't cope too well, I'm afraid.  But, back in the country of my ancestors, Denmark, they have "hygge" - a cultural concept that does not translate well into English.  As I was reading about hygge, I immediately thought of parallels to Benedictine spirituality.  Benedictines do not rush things - prayer is done deliberately and intentionally.  Each moment of communication with God is savored.  Similarly, hygge is not to be rushed.  Also, hygge embraces both solitude and community, just as Benedictines engage in times of private prayer and meditation, as well as prayer as a community.

Here are some excerpts from an article about hygge, and what it means: 

"Denmark endures dreary winters with the help of an arcane cultural concept known as "hygge." It's not an easy word for outsiders to pronounce — it sounds sort of like HYU-gah — and it's even harder to translate. Hygge apparently has no direct analogue in English, and related words like "coziness," "togetherness" and "well-being" only cover a fraction of its nebulous definition. Still, in hopes of shedding light on Denmark's world-class happiness, here's a closer look at the hazy nature of hygge.

 

Hygge, originally a Norwegian word for "well-being," first appeared in Danish near the end of the 18th century, according to Denmark's tourism bureau. It has evolved into a big part of Danish life since then, absorbing connotations over time like a semantic snowball. The dark winters of Denmark helped turn hygge from a mere word into a kind of cultural panacea, manifested in various ways to buffer Danes against cold, solitude and stress.

 

"In other languages the word for hygge or coziness is more a physical thing, and hygge is more a mental thing," explains Lotte Hansen, a library science student from Aalborg, Denmark, who's interning at the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, Iowa. "It's like a feeling, and it's big at Christmastime. The candles, the food, being with your family."

 

"It's not only Christmas, though," she adds, noting hygge is a pervasive, year-round spirit. "It's like a mood you have. We can see hygge in many things, in many situations."

 

This flexibility of hygge is a major reason why English words like "cozy" don't do it justice. "Coziness relates to physical surroundings — a jersey can be cozy, or a warm bed — whereas hygge has more to do with people's behavior toward each other," writes author Helen Dyrbye in "Xenophobe's Guide to the Danes." "It is the art of creating intimacy: a sense of comradeship, conviviality and contentment rolled into one."

 

Danes don't have a monopoly on these concepts, but they do take pride in their holistic way of looking at them. It's not unlike the American idea of thankfulness around Thanksgiving and Christmas, which refers to a general sense of gratitude as well as the implied presence of family, festivity and homemade food. Yet while holiday cheer doesn't last all year for many Americans — despite its potential health benefits — hygge has become embedded in the Danish consciousness. 

 

"My feeling is that American life is so rushed that we often forget about doing things and creating these events of hygge," says Michele McNabb, librarian for the Museum of Danish America. "Americans vary so much in their family connections and friend networks, but you have to slow down for it. Hygge is not something you can do in a rush."

 

The word is useful as a noun or a verb, McNabb adds — "you can hygge by curling up on the sofa with a good book" — and as an adjective by converting it to "hyggeligt" (HYU-gah-lee). It generally has a social component, but there are wide-ranging interpretations across Denmark, allowing it to describe anything from a person or a building to an abstract ambience or sentiment. And for Danes who travel or move to America, the lack of a clear English translation can feel linguistically limiting.

 

"It's often connected to some social thing, but also a house can be hyggeligt, or different places can be hyggeligt," says Hansen, who came to the U.S. from Denmark just a few months ago. "We use it really often. When I came over here, I had to take a moment to think, 'What word can I use to describe this when I can't use hygge?'"

 

"I think it should be universally adapted," McNabb says. "I'm sure in other cultures there are some things that are similar. I just think the busier our lives get and the more on-call we are 24/7, there's a tendency to overdo things and be overstressed. The concept of carving time out for simple things is very important."

Read more: http://www.mnn.com/family/family-activities/blogs/how-hygge-can-help-you-get-through-winter#ixzz3O9fw0OUH

 

 

Santa Lucia

I often lament that Lutherans and members of other churches that arose at the time of the Reformation have forgotten some of the traditions that help us to remember the saints who have gone before us.  Among some Lutheran churches, though, today is an exception to that trend, as traditions associated with the feast of Santa Lucia (St. Lucy) remain popular among many Lutherans, particularly in Scandinavia, as well as here in America among churches of Swedish descent.

According to the tradition, Lucia (whose name means "light") was martyred in Sicily around 310 A.D., during one of the last major periods of Christian persecution before Constantine became emperor and legalized Christianity a few years later.  Several centuries later, when Christianity spread to Northern Europe, her story and name took on special meaning there, because she represents light during the darkest time of year, around the winter solstice.  

To this day in Scandinavia, she is remembered on her feast day through festivals where a person - oftentimes a young girl - will be dressed in a white dress and red sash with a crown or wreath of candles on her head. The person representing Lucia will sometimes also carry rolls and cookies in procession as songs are sung.  

As I have written about before, the number of people who still attend worship in Scandinavia has dwindled drastically in recent decades.  But, there are still signs of light in the darkness, and the continued celebration of Santa Lucia is one of them.  Here is a video of a beautiful rendition of "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" sung at the Lutheran Cathedral in Stockholm, where you can see some of the traditions associated with the Santa Lucia festival.

 

Luther on Monasticism

Anyone who is familiar with the writings of Martin Luther knows that he did not hide his disdain for the monastic lifestyle from which he came.  Many people take that criticism to mean that Luther was advocating for the complete removal of monasticism from Christianity.  A careful reading of Luther does not support that conclusion, though.  For, in the midst of his vitriolic writings directed against the medieval monastic institutions, you can find quotes like these:

"And so, if you vow to take up the religious life, and if you live with men of like mind, with a clear conscience that in monasticism you seek nothing to your advantage in your relationship with God, but because either your situation has brought you to embrace this kind of life, or it appeared to be the best way of life for you, without your thinking thereby that you are better than he who takes a wife or takes up farming, then in that case you are neither wrong to take vows nor wrong to live in this way, insofar as the propriety of the vow is concerned." (From "Judgment of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows", written in 1521, and found in Luther's Works, Vol. 44, page 304).

In that same writing, Luther had nothing but praise for St. Anthony, the founder of monasticism:

"St. Anthony, the very father of monks and the founder of monastic life, most wisely and in a Christian manner believed and taught that absolutely nothing should be observed which did not have the authority of Scripture. He knew absolutely nothing about monastic vows and ceremonial of this kind, but willingly chose to live as a hermit, and of his own will chose to live unmarried, after the pattern of the gospel.  Pursuing human wisdom, his successors made this way of life into a vow, into a matter of obligation and compulsion.  This way of life is but a specious copy and a mistaken observance of the rule of Anthony, which is the rule of Christ." (Luther's Works, Vol. 44, p. 253).


These passages make it apparent that Luther did not seek to destroy monasticism, but to reform it, and to have it return to its roots according to the way of the early monastics. His criticisms were not directed at the very existence of monasticism, but at the system of vows that had developed, and at the medieval notion that monasticism was a superior form of life compared to other vocations, such as family life and other forms of labor.

Unfortunately, churches that are the heirs of the Reformation have largely forgotten that the rule of St. Anthony is the rule of Christ.  But, as I have noted elsewhere, the seeds are being sown for a new form of monasticism, based on the Gospel and the ancient forms of monasticism.  It is my belief that this new/old form of monasticism  will play a crucial role in the promulgation of the faith in our increasingly secular, post-Christendom context.    

Listening - An Unconditional Surrender to Abba

For those of you who have regularly followed my blog over the past year and a half, you might have noticed that I haven't posted as much during the last month.  Part of my blogging silence is due to lots of work commitments going on, and part of it is due to the kids being back in school, and the activities that go along with that season of the year.  Another reason is that beginning last month, I began a two year program to be trained in spiritual direction.  Portions of the class are taught at the beautiful Benedictine Peace Center, located at Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton, South Dakota, and the balance is online.  So, there has been a lot of other reading and writing on my plate during the last month.

Last week, one of the assigned readings dealt with listening.  In the midst of the "busy-ness" of my fall season, these words resonated with my deep-seated need to slow down, so that I can be aware of God's presence and voice in my life:

"Listening is that attitude of the heart whereby that which is deepest and most mysterious in us remains in loving attentiveness to that which is deepest and most mysterious in God.  By listening, we abide in the simplicity of being in love with our God. We remain loving our Beloved, with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:37) irrespective of words, thoughts and specific actions.

Listening is unconditional surrender to Abba.  Listening is a giving of our deepest to him whose depth has no end.  Thus, it is an act of abandonment in faith, hope, and love, a wordless, imageless, loving surrender of our whole being to God.

Listening is waiting upon God in watchful expectancy.  Not that we wait for or expect some-thing. Rather we wait for some-One: God himself."

(From "The Way of Spiritual Direction" by Francis Kelly Nemeck and Marie Theresa Coombs, pp. 62-63).

St. Bruno

Today, October 6, is the feast day of St. Bruno, founder of the Carthusian Order.  While he is certainly nowhere near as famous as the saint we celebrated a couple of days ago (Francis of Assisi), because of my fondness for the kind of contemplative spirituality championed by St. Bruno, he is a particular favorite of mine.  Plus, this quote from St. Bruno is pretty cool, too:

""While the world changes, the cross stands firm."

 

St. Francis of Assisi

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle ~ St. Francis of Assisi.

Death and Life (Monday Morning in the Desert)

Words from a recent sermon by Victoria Osteen, the wife of famous preacher Joel Osteen, have circled around the internet the past few weeks, and have been picked apart by numerous other bloggers and commentators, so I apologize for jumping on that bandwagon.  (If you missed that story, the essence of her message was that we are to "do good for our own self" and not for God, because God just wants us to "be happy" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koIBkYl0cHk).

In a world where Christianity has all but been eradicated in Iraq, where ancient Christian communities have worshiped for nearly 2,000 years, and where journalists trying to cover events in that region are being captured and beheaded, those types of messages emanating from American Christianity must seem quite peculiar to the rest of the world, to say the least.   In the spirit of Martin Luther's commentary on the Eighth Commandment (the one about bearing false witness against our neighbor, according to the Lutheran/Catholic numbering of the Ten Commandments), I won't say more, except to just offer this quote from an anonymous Carthusian monk:

"Death to self and life in God are inseparably linked: the one without the other remains sterile." (From p. 43 of "The Prayer of Love and Silence".