Banner of the Week: Sankta Lucia
2005.12.13
In Sweden, Denmark, and in parts of Norway and Finland, Lucy (called Lucia) is venerated on December 13 in a ceremony where a woman portraying Lucia walks with candles attached to her head ahead of a procession of other women holding candles. The candles symbolize the fire that refused to take her life. The women sing a Lucia-song while entering the room, either Natten går tunga fjät (The Night walks in heavy footsteps) or Sankta Lucia, ljusklara hägring (Saint Lucy, Bright Illusion). Nowadays, there is also an easier text for children: Ute är mörkt och kallt (Outside it’s dark and cold). The three songs share melody, but differ in the lyrics, although they all describe and cherish the light with which Lucia overcomes the darkness. After finishing this song, the procession usually continue by singing christmas-carols or more songs about Lucia.
There are nowadays also boys in the procession often dressed in the same kind of white robe but with a coneshaped hat decorated with golden stars, dressed up like Santa Claus carrying lanterns or dressed up as gingerbread men. They participate in the singing and also have a song or two of their own, usually Staffan Stalledräng. The tradition with boys accompanying Lucia is rather new and the result of compounding yet another pre-Christian tradition to the annual celebration of December 13.
The Swedish celebration has an old tradition. In the Catholic time, the night of Lucia was celebrated just as many other saints’ days were. However, the tradition would continue to live on even after the reformation in the 1530’s. According to the julian calendar the night of Lucia was the longest night of the year. This is likely to be the reason why the tradition has lived on in the Nordic countries in particular, as the nights in November and December are very dark and long before the snow has fallen, and the idea of light overcoming darkness is thus appealing.
The modern tradition of the Lucia procession was started in 1927 by a newspaper in Stockholm that elected an official Lucia for Stockholm that year. The initiave was then followed around the country through the local press. Today most cities in Sweden appoint Lucies every year, schools elect a Lucia and her maids among the students, and a national Lucia is appointed through an election, first in newspapers and then on national television. The regional Lucias will usually visit local gallerias, old people’s homes and churches, singing and giving free ginger snaps. Recently there was some discussion whether it was suiting if the national Lucia was not a blond Caucasian, but it was decided that ethnicity should not be a problem and in 2000 an adopted non-white girl was crowned the national Lucia.
Although St. Lucia’s Day is not an official holiday in Sweden, it is a popular occasion in Sweden. The Lucia evening and night is a notoriously noisy time. High school students often celebrate by partying all through the night.
[From Wikipedia]
[More information on the official Sweden website: read news about the 2005 Lucia and general information about the celebration]
Photo by Linda Plaisted under CC License
December 13th, 2005 - 14:50
looks christmasy!! jóla…..i think that means christmas. i forget. anyway you know what noisedfisk needs? an article about leafbread. i said i was gonna make it last year but i never did, but this year i’m definitely going to. but i feel it won’t be as good as if i bought it in iceland.