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| | | From: Thabita (Original Message) | Sent: 1/23/2009 11:52 PM |
Early a dark winter morning, a girl comes in a long white dress; she has a chandelier on her head, and she sings so well. Lucia is here!
The 13:th of December is the day that people in Sweden celebrate Lucia. She has her name day on the 13:th. Over the whole country, people arrange processions with a Lucia, her maids, star boys and small Father Christmases.
But, who was the "real" Lucia? This day has got its name from Saint Lucia. She was a Catholic saint. She was a young Christian girl who lived in Syracuse on Sicily. That was during the time when Rome was in power. The Romans were not Christians yet. Because Lucia was a Christian, she got killed on the 13:th of December in 304 A.D.
In Sweden, we have celebrated Lucia for several hundred years. But not in the same way as we celebrate her nowadays. In the old days, the Night of Lucia was a special night, when people believed that various goblins and ghosts ravaged, and that animals could speak to them.
During the Middle Ages, the Christmas-fast began on the Lucia Day. After Lucia, people didn't eat' meat, only fish, until Christmas. By Lucia Day, you should have taken care of all corn and the Christmas slaughter. The pork they ate on Christmas was slaughtered on the night before Lucia. On the Lucia Day morning, they used to eat as much as they could.
Between 1660 and 1700, the first Lucias appeared. They also had "Lucia - men" - kids who walked from yard to yard. They wore coats that were inside out. The Lucia had a white coat and a candle in her hand. She walked in front of the "Lucia - men", leading them to the different houses. They sang and joked and got food and drinks. The first Lucia had no chandelier and no maids. Those came later.
The modern Lucia procession began during the 18th century. Now Lucia had a chandelier on her head and was followed by maids and star boys.
We started to elect the Lucia in Stockholm in 1927 in a newspaper. It's common to vote for Lucia candidates in every town, but nowadays it's almost like a beauty contest.
Lucia comes early in the morning when it's still dark outside. She serves coffee with saffron bread and gingerbread for her guests.
There are Lucia processions almost everywhere in Sweden, mostly consisting of youngsters; and they can party all night long - we call it "Lucia wake". The Lucia wakes are very popular - even if you are very tired the day after. |
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