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.

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November always seems like the rainiest of Danish months, but it isn't, actually. October is. But November feels rainier, because the sky is so grey, and it gets dark so early, and the rain sometimes comes down in little freezing pellets.

Denmark is a watery country, not just its long coastline and many rivers and lakes, but also the fact it is mostly near sea level. Like the Netherlands nearby, it is extremely vulnerable to flooding.

Climate changes in recent decades have made it worse, and sudden cloudbursts – or skybrud– cause a lot of damage.

So retrofitting Denmark for even more water in the future has become a national obsession.

One popular solution: opening up previously buried rivers and streams, particularly those that were paved over with concrete.

This "daylighting" of buried waterways allows them to collect excess water from storms, and beautifies cities as well.

This is the most recent episode in our 12-part series, The Danish Year.

Election posters are a colorful part of democracy in Denmark. In October, the campaigns swing into gear, and when the whistle blows on a set date at precisely noon, teams of poster-hangers cover the country with the faces of their candidates. It's highly competitive; It's against the law to take down posters once they're hung, so there's a big rush to get your party's poster up first.

So on that October afternoon, you'll see teams of young people rushing about Copenhagen, Aarhus, and countryside towns with ladders, and hardback posters, and zip ties, and measuring sticks, because all posters must be at least one-and-a-half meters below power lines.

There are a lot of young people available to do this because most Danish parties have a youth wing. There are also a lot of young candidates.

You'll often see the candidates themselves putting up posters with their own face on them.

Danish design in election posters

In a country famous for great design, Danish election posters are surprisingly uniform.

Every poster features one smiling face, a name, and a party color — and that's it.

No slogans, no promises, no policies. What does each candidate stand for? You'll have to look it up yourself.

With 13 national political parties (and many more local ones), democracy in Denmark gives voters plenty of choices.

Many Danes use online tools and quizzes to find the party that matches their beliefs before they vote.

Democracy in Denmark: Expats can vote

Foreigners can take part in democracy in Denmark at least at the local level. If you're an EU or UK citizen — or a non-EU citizen who has lived in a Danish municipality for at least four consecutive years — you can vote in local elections just like Danish citizens.

In Copenhagen, foreign residents make up around 15% of the potential voter base, though only a small share actually turn out on election day. To reach them, some Danish political parties take part in debates in English, hoping to win over international voters.

It's an interesting contrast in Danish politics: while some leaders actively court the foreign vote, others continue to promote stricter immigration policies.

That mix is part of what makes democracy in Denmark so unique — open, practical, and sometimes a little contradictory.