St. Lucia Day is a holiday dedicated to St. Lucy is celebrated as a festival of lights, and is observed on December 13. It marks, together with Advent, the beginning of the Christmas season in Scandinavia. It is celebrated in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Italy, Bosnia, and Croatia. Hanukkah is not the only festival of lights celebrated at this time of year. St. Lucia is the patron saint to the blind and those with vision problems.
Throughout Sweden the feast day of Lucia, or Lucy, is celebrated as a festival of lights. In the early hours of the morning of December 13 a young woman, dressed in a white gown, and wearing a red sash and a crown of lingonberry twigs and blazing candles, would go from one farm to the next carrying a torch to light her way, bringing baked goods, stopping to visit at each house and returning home by break of day. Every village had its own Lucia. The custom is thought to have begun in some of the richer farming districts of Sweden and still persists although the crowns are now electric lights.
In Norway and Sweden it is still a custom on December 13 for a girl in a white dress (representing the Saint), to bring a tray of saffron buns and steaming coffee to wake the family. She is called the Lussibrud (Lucy bride) and her pastry (saffron buns) is Lussekattor (recipe and photo). Today many families have a Lucia-Queen in their own home, often the youngest daughter, who wakes the rest of the family with song.
I grew up with this Swedish tradition.
My Dad had a presentation with supper about St. Lucia Day today at the apt complex where he and my Mother live. One of the housekeepers portrayed St. Lucia and passed out special butter cookies to the residents.
There was also caroling.
St. Lucia Day!
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