St. Lucia's Day

St. Lucia's Day is a religious festival of light in Scandinavia and Italy commemorating the martyrdom of St. Lucia.

Why is it important?

One of the earliest Christian martyrs, St. Lucia was a young Christian girl killed by the Romans in 304 CE because of her religious beliefs.

She secretly took food to persecuted Christians in Rome while wearing a wreath of candles on her head so both her hands would be free.

Her feast day, which coincided with the shortest day of the year prior to calendar reforms (December 13), is widely celebrated as a festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy's Day is viewed as a precursor of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar on Christmas Day.

Origins

Syracuse (Sicily)

An inscription in Syracuse mentioning St Lucy's Day as a local feast dates back to the 4th century A.D., which states "Euskia, the irreproachable, lived a good and pure life for about 25 years, died on my Saint Lucy's feast day, she for whom I cannot find appropriate words of praise: she was a Christian, faithful, perfection itself, full of thankfulness and gratitude"

Immaculate: "without stain"

The Feast of Saint Lucy became a universal feast of the Church in the 6th century, commemorating the Christian martyr's death on 13 December 304 A.D.

St. Lucy's Day appears in the sacramentary of Gregory, as well as that of Bede, and Christian churches were dedicated to Saint Lucy in Italy as well as in England

Scandinavia

Later, Christian missionaries arrived in Scandinavia to evangelize the local population, carrying the commemoration of Saint Lucy with them, and her "story of a young girl bringing light in the midst of darkness no doubt held great meaning for people who, in the midst of a North Sea December, were longing for the relief of warmth and light".

source: Wikipedia.org

Nordic traditions

Saint Lucy is one of very few saints still celebrated by the overwhelmingly Lutheran Nordic people — Danes, Swedes, Finns and Norwegians. Some of the practices associated with the Feast of Saint Lucy may predate the adoption of Christianity in that region, and like much of Scandinavian folklore and even religiosity, is centered on the annual struggle between light and darkness. The Nordic observation of St. Lucy is first attested in the Middle Ages, and continued after the Protestant Reformation in the 1520s and 1530s.

Symbolism

Saint Lucy's Day is celebrated most widely in Scandinavia and in Italy, with each emphasizing a different aspect of her story.

Scandinavia

In Scandinavia, where Lucy is called Santa/Sankta Lucia, she is represented as a lady in a white dress symbolizing a baptismal robe and a red sash symbolizing the blood of her martyrdom, with a crown or wreath of candles on her head.

Italy

A special devotion to Saint Lucy is practiced in the Italian northern regions and Sicily. Lucia, from Latin lux (light), links with the days growing longer after the Winter solstice and also symbolizes Saint Lucy helping Christians hiding in the subterranean catacombs

Celebrations in Scandinavian countries

The festival begins with a procession led by the St. Lucia designee, who is followed by young girls dressed in white and wearing lighted wreaths on their heads and boys dressed in white pajama-like costume singing traditional songs.  Schools generally close around noon on the day of the festival so that families can prepare for the holiday.

Traditional Foods

Coffee is often served with baked goods, such as saffron bread (lussekatter: lightly sweet, buttery, and yellow buns with juicy raisins in the "eyes" of the rolls) and ginger biscuits, to the other members of the family and visitors.

Did you know?

In earlier centuries the Norse celebrated the winter solstice with large bonfires meant to scare off evil spirits and to alter the course of the sun. After converting to Christianity sometime around 1000, the Norse incorporated the legend of St. Lucia into their celebration. The modern festival of light combines elements of both pagan and Christian traditions.

Celebrations in Italy

Northern Regions

St. Lucy is also popular among children in some regions of North-Eastern Italy, where she is said to bring gifts to good children and coal to bad ones the night between 12 and 13 December.

According to tradition, she arrives in the company of a donkey and a faithful coachman, Castaldo. Children are asked to leave some coffee for Lucia, a carrot for the donkey and a glass of wine for Castaldo. They must not watch Santa Lucia delivering these gifts, or she will throw ashes in their eyes, temporarily blinding them.

Fun Fact

If St. Lucy, not Babbo Natale (Santa), is bringing gifts, children are receiving them much sooner than the ones waiting for Christmas Day. This means they can show off their treasures at school, as Winter break starts much later in the month!

Sicily

St. Lucy is the patron saint of the city of Siracusa (Sicily). On 13 December a silver statue of St. Lucy containing her relics is paraded through the streets before returning to the Cathedral of Syracuse.

Legend holds that a famine ended on her feast day when ships loaded with grain entered the harbor. Here, it is traditional to eat whole grains instead of bread on 13 December. This usually takes the form of cuccia, a dish of boiled wheat berries often mixed with ricotta and honey, or sometimes served as a savory soup with beans