Hygge forever – and that includes if you’re Scottish, Norwegian, Dutch or anything inbetween. The joy of ‘Cosycore’.

Holly Williams, in a recent post on the BBC (2024, “The Joy of ‘Cosycore’ and Hunkering Down,” https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240105-the-joy-of-cosycore-and-hunkering-down) reiterates just how wonderful a cozy, hygge inspired space can be at this time of year.  We discussed hygge in detail in this article. 

In a place-based-comfort section of her article Williams shares that “The Danish concept [hygge], for ‘a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being’ (as, once-more, defined by the OED), exploded in popularity around the world in 2016. The Scottish version of hygge, “coorie”, or còsagach in Gaelic, was soon being explored by Gabriella Bennett. . . . In an era of great political turmoil, it seems we were ready to embrace the idea that happiness could be found in small pleasures like thick socks, hot chocolate and cinnamon buns. . . .  many other northern nations have been plundered for their marketable “secrets” to a happier life. Yet it is striking how many of these seem to go back to similar principles: stop fighting the seasons or trying to be productive, and embrace the pleasures of being relaxed, warm and cosy. Several of these also have a social aspect to them.” Norway’s concept of koselig, the Netherlands’s ideas about gezelligheid, and Sweden’s ideas of mys, all similar to hygge, are also reviewed by Williams.