Happy Natalie

Natten går tunga fjät....

The night, with heavy stalking footsteps...

Runt gård och stuva...

Envelopes farmyard and dwelling...

Skuggorna ruva...

The shadows brood...

Då i vårt mörka hus...

When in our gloomy dwelling...

Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.

Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia

Judah, David and Graham as "stjärngossar", and Linda as a "tärna"

The end of a beautiful celebration, and the beginning of a new tradition at UBC...

LUCIA PAST

Celebrated during the long, dark winter on December 13 in Sweden, in Finland on the island of Åland and in parts of Norway and Denmark, "Lucia" is a festival of light with a long and complex history and lore.

All that is known of Lucia of Syracuse is that she was martyred around AD 300 during Diocletian's reign; the rest is legend. Allegedly she cured her mother of the "bloody flux" through intense prayer. She was also betrothed, but did not want to marry as she had devoted herself to God; instead, Lucia gave her dowry to the poor, and as punishment for her deeds, her betrothèd reported her to the prefect Paschasius, who ordered her captured and sent to a brothel to be defiled and humiliated. When the soldiers came to take her away, she was immovable, and when they built a bonfire around her, dowsed it in oil and set it afire, she remained unharmed. It was only when she was stabbed with a sword that she died, but in her last breaths she prophesied against her persecutors. In AD 600 she was recognized by the Church as a saint.

Throughout the Middle Ages, many legends grew around Saint Lucia. One was that she tore out her eyes and gave them to a suitor who admired them, and God rewarded her for this by giving her new eyes, even more beautiful than the first. She is the patron saint of the blind and the poor. She is also mentioned briefly in Dante's Inferno, where she represents Divine Light.

The night of December 13 was the winter solstice according to the Julian calendar which was used in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages. The Lucia festival combined many pagan-rooted and Christian traditions. By the 1700's when the Gregorian calendar became widespread, the winter solstice was no longer on December 13, though the folk tradition of Lucia continued.

The name "Lucia" comes from the Latin "lux", which means light. She represents peace, love, hope and light that scatters the winter darkness. She wears a white gown and a crown of candles on her head.

LUCIA PRESENT

Lucia is celebrated in households with the eldest daughter carrying coffee and sweet saffron buns ("Lussekatter" - Lucy cats) to her parents. The modern Lucia celebration took shape in 1927, thanks to the efforts of Stockholms Dagbladet, the local newspaper in Stockholm, Sweden, at the time, which published photos of young Lucia candidates. The readers then selected a Lucia for the first public Lucia celebration.

Today Lucia processions are held on December 13 in cities, schools, daycare facilities, offices and communities. A young woman is selected to be Lucia, and is followed by her female attendants "tärnor," and "stjärngossar" (star boys). Everyone in the procession wears long, white shifts, and the women wear sashes. Lucia's sash is red, to represent the blood from her fatal sword wound. Her female attendants carry a single candle in their hands, and the star boys wear pointed caps and carry stars. The procession sings as it moves from room to room, with the sound slowly growing as it enters each room. The popularity of Lucia has grown so much in Sweden that Stockholm annually hosts an enormous Lucia festival in the arena Globen, which has a seating capacity of up to 16,000 people.