Santa Lucia Day!

This year we are celebrating

December 13th

Santa Lucia Day

Scandinavian artwork: Santa Lucia

This is what we've learned this last week:

Who was Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy)?

Saint Lucy

"Although no sources for her life-story exist other than in

 hagiographies, St. Lucy, whose name Lucia refers to "light"

 (Lux, lucis), is believed to have been a Sicilian saint"

There are a few different versions of Saint Lucy's life story, this is the one we have talked about in our Christmas culture studies:

"Saint Lucy was working to help Christians

 hiding in the catacombs during the terror under the Roman

 Emperor Diocletian, and in order to bring with her as many

 supplies as possible, she needed to have both hands free. She

 solved this problem by attaching candles to a wreath on her

 head."

Santa Lucia by Swedish painter Carl Larsson

Santa Lucia Day: 

"Saint Lucia's Day is the church feast day dedicated to 

Lucia of Syracuse (d.304), also known as Saint Lucy, and is

 observed on 13 December. St. Lucia’s Day is celebrated most

 commonly in Italy and in Scandinavia, with each

 emphasizing a different aspect of the story. It is one of the

 very few saint days observed in Scandinavia. In traditional 

celebrations, Saint Lucy comes as a young woman with lights

 and sweets. In some forms, a procession is headed by one

 girl wearing a crown of candles (or lights), while others in

 the procession hold only a single candle each."

Amanda Lindblom (C) performs as Santa Lucia with her twelve Lucia handmaidens during the traditional Queen of Light procession arranged by the Swedish church at Varfru church in Enkoping, 73 kms northwest of capital city Stockholm, on December 13, 2011. FREDRIK SANDBERG / SCANPIX/AFP/Getty Images

Festival of Light

"Lucy's feast comes during Advent. Her feast originally coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feastday has become a festival of light.

This is particularly seen the in Scandinavian countries, with their long dark winters. It is said in Sweden that to vividly celebrate St. Lucy's Day will help one live the long winter days with enough light."

God Jul! Merry Christmas! (Swedish)

                                         ...

What Santa Lucia Means To Me:

I have always felt a kindred connection to Sweden and their cultural Christmas traditions. My Dad served a mission for our Church in Sweden and brought back with him a love of the country and favorite Christmas memories. We listened to Swedish Christmas songs & hymns. We talked about Santa Lucia. We had Swedish artwork, dala horses, and other decor in our home. My Dad made Swedish meatballs (from scratch!) and we enjoyed them with our annual holiday smorgasbord.

 Also--my name? It's the phonetic spelling of this Swedish word (means dear, like 'querida' in Spanish) Kära. Basically, I think I'm Swedish (I'm not).

Lucia-John Bauer 1913

I remember as a young girl, checking this book out of the library and imagining the smells of the bread and the flicker of the candles: 

I wanted to be  Kirsten...and I really wanted to be a Santa Lucia girl!

...

When my baby girl was born on Santa Lucia day, I knew three things. 1-She had to have Lucia in her name {which is also one of my favorite Portuguese names}, and 2-we would be making the Swedish Santa Lucia custom apart of our own family Christmas traditions, and 3-I had to call Molly.

This is an especially tender part about Lucia and the background of her meaning of 'light', for me and my family. My cousin Lucia. She would be my 2nd cousin...she is the first daughter of my cousin Vic and his wife Molly. She was born with blonde curls and wooed everyone she met with her infectious smile--truly, she brought light to everyone she met. Lucy passed away after a tragic choking accident just before she turned 2 years old. 

Vic & Molly continue to shine Lucy's light through the ways they bless and inspire others--one way is through Molly's blog Hope Smiling Brightly. Within hours of birthing our December 13th baby, I called Molly to talk to her about my desire to give our daughter the name Lucia as her middle name. Before I even started to explain, we both cried--she knew why I had called. I want to honor sweet Lucia Isabella's life & light, and for my Noelle Lucia to have an extra dose of compassion, through her connection with cousin Lucy.

...

This year we had our 

first annual Santa Lucia celebration! 

The elements:

1-wreath (red berries, greenery, candles)

2-Swedish Lussebulle rolls (special thanks to our St. Paul IKEA)

3-Oldest daughter to be the Lucia girl

The prep got lots of attention:

And once she donned her new dress & red sash, 

it was time for the crown!

She wore it well

On and off, it still looks great

and I wouldn't expect anything less from a 2 year old

Time to carry the plate of saffron rolls...

Miss N took her roll-toting role very seriously

Her concentration paid off, 

not one roll was dropped!

Delivering to the two hungry boys

And meeting at the table to feast together!

While we ate our rolls, 

we listened to the traditional music "Santa Lucia" 

and then watched this 3 minute video "Santa Lucia

 For Dummies"--which is a great little run down of

 the Swedish tradition. 

Our Santa Lucia celebrations were fabulous.

We had a great time talking about how light

 pushes out darkness and how Lucia means light.

We talked about how we can serve others, just like

 our little Santa Lucia served the Swedish rolls. 

It was a beautiful beginning to a

 family tradition that has been in my

 imagination ever since I was a little girl.

Noelle Lucia: Santa Lucia           December 2013

Merry Christmas! God Jul!

*All St. Lucia culture information quotes are from Wikipedia articles