In this solo episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kay Xander Mellish explains how Denmark’s legally mandated summer vacation shapes the country’s rhythm. The National Vacation Law guarantees three weeks of leave between May and September, and for families with schoolchildren the usable window shrinks to about five or six weeks. During this period many businesses—ice‑cream shops, bike shops, cafés—shut down for weeks, reflecting a cultural belief that long, uninterrupted free time is more valuable than prestige or money. Mellish discusses how Danes view free time as true wealth, often asking each other how many weeks they will take. The host then shares a personal trade‑off: as a single parent she forgoes any summer holiday because her daughter’s gymnasium (high‑school) graduation incurs huge expenses. She describes the graduation tradition in detail—hand‑made student hats with colour‑coded bands, the open‑top “student truck” tour, and a series of costly parties (studentavogn, studentagille) that can total several thousand kroner per family. Despite the financial strain, the rituals are celebrated and even strangers congratulate graduates, a rare social gesture in Denmark. Mellish concludes by noting alternative ways to enjoy Danish summer—strawberries, biking, museums, and a visit to the Danish Architecture Center where her voice appears on an audio guide—while marking the episode as the podcast’s 10‑year anniversary.
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Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. There's not much as sacred in Denmark as the summer vacation. In fact, it's enshrined into law— the National Vacation Law— that all employees have a right to 3 weeks' vacation between May and September. People with no kids sometimes take vacation in early May or late September when everything is much cheaper, but if there are schoolchildren in your life— Your time off is limited to a narrow window of just 5 or 6 weeks. During this period, in many ways, the country closes down. In July, many businesses shut their doors and force their employees to take a couple weeks of vacation. Shops close, too. An ice cream shop in my neighborhood closed down for the entire month of July last year. You would think this would be the peak time for ice cream, But for the owners of the ice cream shop, their own vacation was more important. The bicycle shop up the street just closed for 3 weeks. I hope you didn't want a new bike to enjoy the summer. And so did the local smørrebrød sandwich shop. Too bad about your picnic. Danes believe that if you take a good, long Danish vacation, you'll come back refreshed. With new perspectives. Free time is valuable in Denmark, far more than prestige, since people don't generally use their job titles and don't like people that act like they're better than anyone else, and much more important than money, since whatever money you have, the government will be taking a big piece of it. Free time is wealth, and that's one of the reasons summer vacation is so prized. You'll often hear the Danes ask each other how many weeks they're taking for summer vacation. So, this year, are you taking 3 or 4? Or, in my case, none. You're a weirdo if you don't take a long summer vacation in Denmark, but as a single parent, I rarely take much, and this year none at all. This year my daughter graduated from gymnasium, the Danish academic high school. Gymnasiums are a remarkably old-fashioned place where Latin is still taught, and the kids do an 18th-century minuet-type dance at the spring gala. I'll link to a video at howtoliveindenmark.com. It's called L'Élancier. The kids learn it in gym class so they can be ready for the big night. Graduating from gymnasium is an important and sentimental time for young Danes. And an extremely expensive time for parents. For example, new graduates, who are called students, or students, wear a special hat that looks a bit like a boat captain's hat. It's white with a colored band that indicates what type of degree they've earned. Burgundy for academic, blue for business, green for agriculture. You get the idea. They are beautiful hats, handmade for each student. With the student's name embroidered in gold on the back. And they cost at least 2,000 crowns for the basic version. That's $300, €300. You can also upscale and get a special pillow for the hat to sit on when you're not wearing it. Or a special gold pen for your classmates to sign the lining of the hat. Or a special gold scissors to make tiny clips on the hat if you've stayed up all night or drank a certain number of beers. But that's all extra. Anyway, you get the hat after finishing your final exam. Your family is waiting outside the exam room. The hat is placed on your head by an honored family member, and everyone enjoys strawberries and champagne while celebrating your achievement. This is the first party in a series of parties, and you wear the hat everywhere you go for for the next week or two. You wear it on the bus, you wear it to the supermarket, and you wear it as you ride around town with all your classmates on a big open-top truck. It's called the studentavogn— student truck. Your place on the student truck costs about 1,500 kroner, or $200 or euro. The truck drives around all day, stopping at the home of every student in the class. At each stop, all 25 students or so are served food and alcohol. If you happen to be in Denmark in June and see a lot of drunk teenagers screaming out the top of a truck, this is why. They're scholars. Now, for the stops at the different houses, the parents try to outdo each other. A boy in my daughter's class brewed his own IPA beer for his stop. But if you're just an ordinary parent like me, Budget another 2,000 crowns for their stop at your house. That's party number 2 in the series. Many students then go on to hold a separate party, party number 3, called a studentagille. Now this one is for extended family and family friends, and the student gets gifts and money, but the parent does not. Let's say the parent will spend another 3,000 kroner for that party. Minimum. But hey, the student time is a wonderful time. As the kids wear their special hats around town, total strangers say congratulations to them, which is really something since Danes generally don't talk to strangers. It's a wonderful time, but it's an expensive time, which is why our family is skipping summer vacation this year. But hey, it's not all bad. If the weather is good, Denmark can be lovely in the summer. You can eat fresh strawberries from the market or your own garden. You can bike through one of Denmark's parks or forests, or visit the local museums along with numerous tourists from cruise ships, or sit in the sun if you're lucky enough to have some. On a beautiful summer day in Denmark, it's hard to understand why anyone goes away. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. This is the 10th anniversary episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast. Our first episode went out in July 2013, and it was also about Danish summer. If you are in Copenhagen this summer, visit the Danish Architecture Center. where the new permanent exhibit has my voice on the English-language audio guide. Or visit us at howtoliveindenmark.com. See you next time. See you next time.
