Happy Lucia!

[Ann]

Happy Lucia everyone!!!! Oh, and "happy" friday the 13th too ;)

For those of you who don't know what Lucia is, here's an explanation:

The myth I heard first and the one I personally like the best is that Lucia was a young girl in Sicily during the 300 A.D. She would secretly go with candles everynight to the slaves who were kept in dark pits to bring them some light and warmth in their miserably lives. Soldiers found her out though and stuck her eyes out; dooming her to forever wander in darkness. So each year we light tons of candles and do a lot of other stuff to celebrate her memory and make everything bright for her.

But the "historical" myth is that Lucia was a rich and secret Christian (it was forbidden to be a Christian before 313 A.D.), she was betrothed to a young man and was supposed to be of great beauty; especially her sparkling eyes. One dau her mother got sick so they traveled to a temple and prayed to saint Agatha (the one who got her breasts cut off) and her mom was miracolously cured. Lucia got so happy that she gave away all her money to the poor. Her husband-to-be got showed his true colors and got very mad, and reported her to the Roman emperor for being a Christian. When Lucia heard of this she stucked out her eyes since he had fallen for her beauty; she didn't want to be pretty anymore when it was just such a shallow thing, but she instantly saw again and this miracle made her a Catholic saint later on. Anyways, the soldiers then came for her and she was to be placed in a whore house to learn how her God didn't care about her and all that, but no matter how much the soldiers tried to take her there she wouldn't budge. So they tied her with rope and tried to pull her but that didn't work either. 1000 soldiers were called in to pull and that still didn't help. Then 1000 pair of oxes were to pull her but that still didn't help. So then someone poured urine all over here (supposed to hurt witches or some shit like that) but that didn't matter to her either. Then her husband-to-be got so mad that he rammed her in the throat with his sword and so she died, on December the 3rd 304 A.D.

*fingers hurts from typing so much*

[Edwina's Secretary]

Hey Ann...don't you want to tell the story of what you do on St. Lucia Day????? (I grew up in a Swedish community!)

I don't remember all the details....just the long white dress, candles on a head wreath, and breakfast in bed!

Tell us!

[kimlovescats]

Lovely story! hehehe ... Anyone to tolerate all of that would HAVE to be a saint!;)

[NoahsMommy]

Very interesting....

Please, tell us what you do to celebrate/honor her life. It sounds really neat.

[Ann]

Well, for one you always light a lot of candles at home and eat a special cake called "Lussekatter" (which literally means "LuciaCats", but don't worry, cats aren't an ingredient ;)). Then, at your work or school there is usually a little concert, where girls are dressed up in long white gonws with glitter ribbons in their hair, one Lucia with a crown with candles in her hair, boys with a long hat with stars on it, boys and girls in santa like clothes and boys dressed up as gingerbreads. Songs are sung, mainly in Swedish of course but also one old song in Italian.

Here is a picture (but you can only see the Lucia, the girls with glitter ribbons who are called "tärnor" and the boys with the star hats):

http://www.peachkin.com/pics/lucia.jpg

And here's two more where you can see everyone (but it's small kids so the candles are electrical for safety's sake):

http://www.peachkin.com/pics/lucia3.jpg

http://www.peachkin.com/pics/lucia2.jpg

[NoahsMommy]

How neat. I love the idea behind this celebration.

Those children are so cute! Especially the last picture.

So, today you have your candles lit and get to eat the cake. Is this a family holiday? Where everyone comes together?

[Ann]

Not really actually, it's more your closest family like your parents and so (atleast the way my family celebrates it).

Glad you think it seems fun :D

[NoahsMommy]

I hope you have a nice day.

I think its very cool that a good person is being honored that way. Is this a day that a lot of people celebrate?

[Ann]

Thanks :)

And absolutely EVERYBODY in Sweden celebrates it. That's one of the things that's so great about this holiday, you can be a Christian or an Atheist or whatever and you still celebrate it and have a good time :)

[NoahsMommy]

That is cool. I like seeing unity like that. :)

[tatsxxx11]

Having Scandinavian parents, I am very familiar with this celebration! I wore those candles myself growing up!!:D Even here on Cape Cod all Lutheran churches have a St. Lucia celebration; it's lovely! As a matter of fact, I made my St. Lucia buns yesterday! Have any Ann??:)