I’d like to tell you a story. Real life, as they say.
I was in a school. A classroom. Ugly, squalidish. Functional, for sure. You can’t ask desks and chairs to be great furnishing accessories and, to tell the truth, you don’t ask them to be too comfortable: kids could fall asleep!
There was a Danish lady next to me. She was helping me to set the table for a little party, one of those that are so appreciated here around: pieces of cheese, crackers and red wine.
My nostrils were already tickled by the smell of the parmesan cheese at room temperature, and I was already foretasting the bittersweet of a famous yellow label crackers. So, the ingredients to make the squalidish room a little more “hyggelig” were already there.
Then, I remembered that, in homage to local traditions, I had slipped into my pocket, while leaving the house, a couple of those “tea” candles, the ones that none of us had ever seen before, before Ikea arrived to Italy. I lighted one, and that was enough. The lady’s eyes lit up (in all meanings, clearly) and, as soon as the wick has been sorrounded by the flame, she exclaimed:
Hvor hyggeligt!
I’m not exagerating. A little, little burning flame – even the smallest and the poorest one – is enough to create the hygge in a room.
It is no coincidence that the killjoy, in Danish, is the “lyseslukker” – the one who turns the candles off.
