worldculturenet.com

Lucyfest: Santa Lucia’s Festival

On December 13th, one of the shortest, darkest days of winter, Sweden celebrates Lucyfest, in honor of Saint Lucia, the Queen of Lights, in a festival that also has roots in Italy, Germany and Norway. Traditionally, each village had its own Santa Lucia: a young woman, dressed in a white gown, wearing a red sash and a crown of lingonberry twigs and blazing candles, and carrying a lantern to light her way, would go from one farm to the next, bringing baked goods to each farm and house, and returning home by light of day.

To celebrate Santa Lucia today, Swedish girls dress like her, in a white dress with a red sash, and the crown of candles. (The traditional candles have been replaced with modern, battery-powered candles!) Boys carry a candle and wear a white top and bottom, and hats decorated with golden stars. They are known as the “Starngossar,” or “star boys.” The children then participate in a procession through their town or village. In both Sweden and Norway it is still a common custom for the oldest daughter to bring a tray of saffron buns and coffee to wake up her family in the morning. She is called the “Lussibrud,” the “Lucy bride,” and the saffron buns are “Lussekattor.”

The festival is a national holiday in Sweden, and schools close after lunch so that the children can participate in the parades and celebrate with special foods. Some large cities hold beauty contests to elect the woman who will represent Santa Lucia of the year.

Lucyfest and its Connection to Other Yuletide Traditions

Saint Lucia symbolizes light and growth for human and beast as she emerges out of the darkness. Because her name means “light” she became the great patron saint for the “light of the body”–the eyes. For people in Sweden and Norway, she was the great “light saint” who appeared at the turning of their long, dark winter, foreshadowing the return of longer, lighter days. In the Julian calendar, the winter solstice was on December 13, so her feast day did, in fact, fall on the shortest day of the year before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the 1300’s, which linked the older Yule and Winter festivals to the solstice.

Many of the ancient, pre-Christian light and fire customs of the Yuletide became associated with her day. People in many northern European cultures light “Lucy candles” at home and burn “Lucy fires” outdoors to announce to the demons of dark winter nights that their reign has broken on Saint Lucy’s Day. Some historians speculate that the festival originated in Germany, and was brought to Sweden and Norway by the Vikings.

The festival is also rooted in the legend of a beautiful white woman who sailed across Lake Vannern at the helm of a ship laden with food, saving Sweden from a terrible famine in the midst of winter. She was so beautiful and radiant that there was a glow of light about her head. There is a similar Italian legend of a ship loaded with wheat being brought into harbor as the people of Syracuse gathered in the cathedral and prayed for help in the name of St. Lucia.

In Germany, the young girl carrying gifts evolved into the figure of the “Christkind” – the young, angelic figure that brings presents to some Germany children on Christmas Eve, December 24^th.

Saint Lucy’s Story and her Pagan Roots

Saint Lucia was a Sicilian virgin who dedicated her life to helping the poor. It is said that Lucia survived a fire in which she was meant to perish for the crime of refusing a man she did not want to marry. She prayed to God, who gave her the power to withstand the fire because of her kindness to others. In the end, her would-be bridegroom killed her with his sword. Her body was later brought to Constantinople and finally to Venice, where she is now resting in the church of Santa Lucia.

In another version of the story, Lucia gave the would-be bridegroom her eyes, the thing he loved most about her, to compensate him for refusing to marry him. Miraculously, her eyes grew back, even more beautiful than before. The man then demanded those new eyes, which Lucia refused, so he killed her in order to take them from her.

The Church did not always consider Lucy a saint. Because of her name, Lucia was at times associated with Lucifer. In one old tale, she was said to have been the first wife of Adam and the mother of a people who lived underground. Another story has it that the buns served by Lucia, called “lussikatter,” which translates as “Lucy cats,” were actually the devil’s cats. The traditional shape of the rolls is a crossed shape studded with bright pieces of fruit or small candles in the form of a solar wheel. The association of the cats also suggests an identity with Freya, the shining bride of the gods in earlier Norse mythology.

Popularity: 6% [?]