from yr.no
At dawn on 13th December in Sweden thousands of young girls, dressed in white gowns, holding a lit candle and, with a crown of electric candles on a wreath on their heads, bring light to the darkness of Swedish winter. She is known as “Lucia” and she leads a procession of maidens and “star boys” also wearing white gowns and pointed hats with gold stars on them. At the tail end of the procession are children dressed as little elves. ‘Cute’ does not begin to describe the scene as you hear the children singing traditional Xmas carols in the darkness and then you see the approaching light from their candles. Lucia and her maidens hand out saffron buns and ginger biscuits to the crowds as they go. It is a touching scene in the true spirit of Christmas.
Lucia celebration in December every year
Photo: Nicho Södling/imagebank.sweden.se
This 400 year-old tradition is played out in churches, schools, hospitals and workplaces around the country and such is its importance that Christmas would not be Christmas in Sweden without it. This celebration of light marks the mid-point of the four-week Advent calendar and most Swedish households mark the occasion by lighting a candle for each week of Advent. And, like most other European countries, the first week of Advent is when Swedes put up their Christmas decorations. During this time the towns and cities of Sweden also put on their finest Christmas garb and the streets come alight for Xmas.
The original Lucia is a saint from Syracuse in Italy and there are various versions of her story and how the tradition reached Sweden. What we do know is that it was the Swedish upper classes who made it their own, with the eldest daughter taking the part of Lucia and serving mum and dad breakfast in bed in the morn of December 13th. This was around the middle of the 18th century, but Lucia really took off in Sweden in the 20th century with a Stockholm newspaper in 1927 holding the first Lucia competition in which the readers could vote for their own Lucia.
If you are in Sweden around this time you should not miss Lucia – the girl with light in her hair.
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In those days,it was dark and cold and hopeless in the middle of december in Sweden. Nobody was happy, only a few had enough to eat. It was a bitter time here in Sweden. But thera was a little girl... »
