The longest and most popular holiday celebration in Denmark is Christmas. As this season approaches, the days grow very short. Only a few hours of dim light lie between the darkness of morning and the darkness of evening.
Electric lights are on all the time, inside the houses and out on the streets.
There are few places in the world where Christmas is celebrated with such joy and with such a burst of light. To dispel the gloom of the never-ending twilight of winter, the Danes light candles, thousands upon thousands of candles. In fact, the Danes burn so many candles that the nation consumes more candles per capita than any other country on earth. Lighted Christmas candles appear everywhere-in homes, schools, and churches. In Denmark, the practice of lightening a candle to create an atmosphere of warmth and coziness is a very old tradition-a tradition much older than Christmas.