What does it mean to be Danish? Each day of my first month here in Denmark has featured a new iteration of this inquiry. The results has been a chorus of responses so widely varied as to make me question whether I will ever pinpoint what lies at the core of the happiest country in the world. Is it the language—often described as being similar to speaking with a potato in your mouth—that I fear I will never get the hang of in time for my oral final exam? Or the infamous concept of hygge that permeates every aspect of daily life, from good food and the company you keep, to excessive obsession over the warmth of various light fixtures? My frustration was materialized in Henrik Nordbrandt’s classic poem “Danskheden,” where he attempts to define what it means to be Danish with potentially the least helpful description ever written, saying, “Danishness is so typically Danish.” Since I have found the essence of Danish culture to be elusive thus far, at this point, I will begin to define it by identifying what it is not: religious.
Officially designated as non-secular, Denmark holds rank among some of the least religious countries in the world, with a weekly church attendance rate just below 3 percent, compared to 39 percent in the United States. As established in its constitution, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark is the state church (in Danish, Folkekirke). Although most Danes technically do become members, my host family informed me, bluntly, that the main motivation is the high cost of weddings or funerals for non-members. Most families join the church for the benefit of these privileges, only attending services for Christmas to conform to social norms, rather than on the account of actual worship.
While on a study tour with my core course, we had the opportunity to visit the town of Jelling and to see the famous Jelling stones. These ancient rune stones, which were commissioned by the first king, mark the first recorded use of the name Denmark to identify the Viking empire. More recent archaeological excavations have revealed that the stones were surrounded by a magnificent ceremonial ship and a painstakingly large fortress, made of nearly 2,000 ancient oaks, created as a display of the power of the Viking king Gorm the Old and his son, Harald Bluetooth. During the time it took to create this elaborate monument so many men were working for the king that England experienced a rare reprieve from the dreaded annual Viking raids of their shores.
The rune stones themselves are more than just the largest rocks in the vicinity (much to my surprise). They also mark the official conversion of the fearsome Viking forces into Christians. Harald Bluetooth knew that he had to find a compelling reason for his people to accept this strange new religion. Rather than the typical images of Christ at the time, which depicted him as a suffering martyr who was sacrificed for humankind, the powerful Vikings needed a symbol to match their might. The result was a three-sided stone to represent the trinity with an engraving of the “Conquering Christ” upon its third side; this new symbol of a figure with arms outstretched across his kingdom was meant to represent the power and glory promised by God to his followers.
Much has changed in Denmark since the conversion of the Vikings. The recent influx of immigrants and refugees to Denmark in the last few decades has irreversibly altered a once homogenous community—especially in regards to religion or lack thereof. Despite its religious past, Danes today place high value on religious and political freedom and egalitarianism—values that have a tendency to clash with the more conservative religious traditions of immigrant populations. A satirical cartoon of Muhammad criticizing the use of censorship in Islam was published in a Danish newspaper back in 2005 and ignited a ferocious conflict regarding the extent of free speech and lack of tolerance on behalf of the Danes. As the definition of Danishness continues to change with the times, it will be interesting to see how the Danes handle the country’s latest identity crisis.
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