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| Lucia holding her gouged out eyes. |
Happy Spirit Sunday!
Not only is today the Nativity Play at church (adorable 3 year old children as the 'Wise People'...YES!) but it's also time for one of my favorite annual parties-Santa Lucia Day! This is the 3rd year that I get to be Lucia. Ok, so I'm not a 13 year old Swedish virgin but I do rock the candles and I sing in Swedish so that has to count for something :) Our dear friends throw this party every year and it's so much fun. The Christmas tree is beautiful, the house packed, the food delicious-they've been making Swedish meatballs for week. First Songs of the Season and Santa Lucia Day really get me ready for Christmas.
I first read about Santa Lucia Day in The American Girl Series and specifically the Kirsten series. The festival just sounded so cool. Saint Lucy (283-304) was a wealthy young Christian martyr whose feast day is December 13th. Her name means light and she is the patron saint of the blind. Saint Lucy is one of the few saints that is celebrated by members of the Lutheran Church, retaining many parts of the Germanic pagan traditions.
Saint Lucy is one of 7 women, included the Virgin Mary, who is canonized. Legend says that Lucy's mother was very ill and miraculously cured. She was persuaded to show her thanks by giving alms to the poor. This was a time when Christians were persecuted. Lucy's fiance didn't like the fact that in the name of Jesus she gave alms to the poor and Lucy a very religious women, refused to marry a pagan, had her wedding dowry distributed to the poor. Her betrothed groom denounced her as a Christian to the governor of Syracuse, Sicily. She was arrested and they were unable to break her by fire or boiled oil they took out her eyes with a fork and killed her with a sword. Another version, and secretly my favorite, hints that her pagan fiance was so moved by her beautiful eyes that she tore them out and said, "Now let me live to God!"
In Sweden the festival of Santa Lucia begins before dawn, on December 13th (which under the Old Julian calendar was Christmas Day and the longest night of the year). Throughout Sweden, the eldest daughter in each house comes to her sleeping parents, dressed in a long white gown tied with a red sash, and wearing a crown of ligonberry leaves in which are set seven lighted candles. In her hands she carries a tray of steaming hot coffee and "Lussekattor" or Lucia buns. The procession includes her sisters and brothers also dressed in white, holding lighted candles and singing of the light and joy of Christmas. The sister of the Lucia Bride wear a wreath of tinsel in their hair and a piece tied around their waist, while the boys have tall pointed caps sprinkled with stars. Awakened by the lights and the singing, the parents arise and eat the breakfast served, thus ushering in the Christmas season.
Buon Sunday darlings!
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