Candles and light

Stinne Hoffman

Co-founder and chef of Gaest, a week-old Danish deli on Telok Ayer Street

"CHRISTMAS is very big in Denmark. The festivities usually begin from the start of December. When I was young, I would wake up to a small present from my parents every morning from Dec 1, and this would go on right up till Christmas Eve.

"Many of our Christmas traditions involve candles and light, because it gets very dark very early in the winter. Each family will have a set of 24 candles at home, and it is the duty of the children to light one candle a day. It is also common for homes to have an Advent wreath made up of four large, white candles decorated with thyme and other fragrant herbs. We'll light one candle each weekend in the four weeks leading up to Christmas. My mother also had a large Ch…