December: Little Nisse, Big Money: The Danish Year Part 12

December: Little Nisse, Big Money: The Danish Year Part 12

Author: Kay Xander Mellish December 3, 2025 Duration: 7:04

The nisse is a centuries-old figure in Danish folklore, and every December these tiny, mischievous spirits take center stage. While Santa Claus makes one big appearance late in the month, the nisse are active the whole season long.

With their short stature and bright red hats, nisse are often mistaken for Santa's elves, but they live very different lives. Rather than helping in a workshop, nisse belong to individual households. They slip in and out of the walls at night, hide everyday objects, turn milk strange colors, and generally make harmless trouble. On December 24 they expect a bowl of rice pudding, and if they don't get it, they're known to act out.

In modern Denmark, nisse aren't just folklore—they're also big business. At the housewares shop where I work during the Christmas rush, we stock more than 450 nisse-related products. There are soft dolls, tree ornaments, and hand-painted figurines with names like Asbjørn, Thorkild, Elvin, Liam, and Olivia.

And then there are the accessories: tiny doors for the nisse to "enter" the home, miniature doormats, wooden shoes, rocking chairs, honey cakes, buckets, sleds, toolboxes, and of course the classic bowl of rice pudding. Many families—especially those with small children, and a surprising number of older women living alone—create small nisse worlds inside their homes.

Some families also hang kravlenisser, the little paper nisse that "crawl" up walls and windows. They're not as popular as they once were, mostly because they're inexpensive and don't fuel the booming nisse economy.

Nisse season extends into the workplace, too. Danes might be assigned a nisseven, or "nisse friend," for secret gift-giving at the office. And at holiday parties, even managers may don the pointed red nisse hat—a cheerful symbol of community and self-irony that sometimes surprises international colleagues.

From home traditions to office fun, the nisse remain an essential part of Christmas in Denmark: tiny spirits with big personalities, and an even bigger cultural footprint.

This is the final episode in our 12-part series, The Danish Year.  Read more at howtoliveindenmark.com, or buy our books at books.howtoliveindenmark.com.

You can book Kay Xander Mellish, the voice behind the How to Live in Denmark podcast, for a speech or workshop on Danish culture or Danish working culture at events.howtoliveindenmark.com. Learn more about Kay at kxmgroup.dk. 


For anyone curious about or currently navigating Danish life from the outside, How to Live in Denmark serves as an essential, on-the-ground guide. Hosted by Kay Xander Mellish, an American writer who has made Denmark her home for over ten years, this conversation cuts straight to the heart of the everyday realities in one of the world's most homogenous-and often puzzling-societies. Rather than lengthy lectures, you'll find concise, ten-minute episodes packed with practical advice and cultural translation. This isn't just about travel tips; it's a deep dive into the unspoken rules of Danish social etiquette, the nuances of the local workplace, and the sometimes surprising path to feeling at home in a country frequently labeled the world's happiest. Mellish draws from her own long-term experience to explain everything from navigating the infamous Jantelov to understanding the Danish approach to business meetings and casual Friday night hygge. As Denmark's longest-running English-language podcast, it has become a trusted resource for internationals, whether they are planning a move, newly arrived, or have been settled for years but still occasionally find themselves wondering, "Why do Danes do it that way?" Each episode feels like a chat with a well-informed friend who helps decode the complexities of a fascinating culture, making your time there richer and a lot less confusing.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

How to Live in Denmark
Podcast Episodes
How to Handle a Conflict in Denmark [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:55
If you are an international who lives in Denmark, or someone who wants to, you have to learn the Danish way of dealing with conflict. This might be with a colleague, or your upstairs neighbors, or the authorities at the…
Drugs in Denmark [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 5:45
Denmark is getting rich selling pharmaceuticals to other countries, but within Denmark itself, the approach is inconsistent. Getting illegal drugs doesn't seem to be too difficult, but getting legal drugs from your docto…
Equality and the Electric Bike [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:47
When I first arrived in Denmark, you could shut down any dispute in Denmark by appealing to equality and the common good. Solidarity - "solidaritet" - and "fælleskab", or community, or even "samfundssind", societal spiri…
How to Meet a Dead Viking: The Mummies of Denmark [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:21
Many people who visit Denmark are fans of the Vikings, the colloquial name for Scandinavians before the medieval era, although technically speaking the Viking raiders were at their peak in the years 800-1100. There are p…
No ice cream in July: Scenes from the Danish summer vacation period [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:23
In Denmark, the right to a long summer vacation is enshrined into law - the national vacation law, which states that all employees have a right to three weeks' vacation between May and September. Shops close, too. An ice…
Rich in Denmark [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:26
Denmark is a rich country, but does it have rich people? It does, but Denmark's wealthy tend to keep a low profile, due to the informal Jante Law in Denmark that prohibits too much showing off. That said, spring and summ…
What Newcomers to Denmark Ask Me [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:57
When you've been an international in Denmark for a while, as I have, you sometimes forget what it was like to arrive here for the first time and know nothing. I remember arriving just about this time of year and being as…
Denmark and Butter: A Love Story [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:16
The hottest competitive sport in Denmark over the past year hasn't been handball, or football, or badminton. It's been chasing cheap butter in the supermarket. Recent inflation has doubled the price of butter – in some p…
Randers is not a joke [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:51
It seems as if every country has a city or region that it is the butt of jokes. The rest of the country makes fun of the locals' unattractive accents and supposedly low-end behavior. In Denmark, that city is Randers. Ran…
The Bridges of Denmark [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:48
A country like Denmark, with so much coastline and water, needs a lot of bridges - and there have been 5 new colorful, stylish bridges built in Copenhagen alone in the past decade. And because this is Denmark, and people…