The mark of a good idea is often that many people say 'Why hasn't this been done before?'. One such recently happened here in Denmark with a campaign called Vigitgt which, in Danish means important. The idea was simple; that a day should be set aside when Danes and newly settled Danes should meet each other in each others homes for dinner.
The day was April 22 and unfortunately the website http:www.vigtigt.dk ,developed in the run up to the event, has been pared down to a page of comments from participants. However all 5 programmes can currently be viewed on the Danish TV website at http://www.dr.dk/DR1/michellesmission/index.htm (of course they are in Danish).
I just watched the TV programme following the event and made the following notes:
'We should be called Danish. Full stop.' This in response to the Danish media habit of discriminating between so called new Danes and Liver Paté Danes (after the most common topping in Danish lunchboxes).
One of the Danes thought that when visiting New Danes from Lebanon there would be more carpets while the Lebanese (Danes) thought there would undoubtedly be more wood floors.
Strangely enough (to me) the Lebanese (Danes) thought the Danes wouldn’t take their outdoor shoes off indoors and strangely enough (to me because Scandinavians are renowned for taking their shoes off indoors and it has become a reflex action in our house also) the Danes did indeed have to be asked to take their shoes off. For the Lebanese (Danes) this was because the floor is a place where they pray and needs to be clean. There was an implication that the New Danes had higher standards of cleanliness than the old Danes (which surprised me as I have the impression that Danish houses are squeaky clean).
One of the participants said, as he was preparing to for his date, that this was more challenging than he’d imagined probably because these strangers were coming into his personal, private space.
The most surprising or uncomfortable sight (to me) was when one of the extreme rightwing People’s Party visited a family of New Danes and ended up ranting against immigrant parents who didn’t make sure that their children spoke Danish and ended up costing the Danish state a huge amount of money.
I was most jealous watching a group of Danes being entertained in a mosque with Pakistani food because that is the type of food I miss most in Denmark.
It was striking that the TV programme focussed almost exclusively on Muslims when there are many other traditions in the immigrant community.
I was also struck that the New Danes spoke much better Danish than me, one reason why I would never have made it into the final cut (apart from the fact that I am no type of Dane).
Finally I wondered why nobody noticed that it was OK for the organiser of the whole event to warn her guests about being mugged in Copenhagen as they left her house at the end of the evening. From one stereotype to another!
Lesson learned: It’s not so dangerous so just try it.
Keywords: Danish, intercultural, Vigtigt
