Saint Lucia's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucia, is a Christian feast day celebrated on 13 December in Advent, commemorating Saint Lucia, a 3rd-century martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution, who according to legend brought "food and aid to Christians hiding in the catacombs" using a candle-lit wreath to "light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible". Her feast once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year before calendar reforms, so her feast day has become a Christian festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucia's Day is viewed as an event signaling the arrival of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar, on Christmas Day.
Saint Lucia's Day is celebrated most commonly in Scandinavia, with their long dark winters, where it is a major feast day, and in Italy, with each emphasising a different aspect of the story. In Scandinavia, where Saint Lucia is called Sankta Lucia in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, she is represented as a lady in a white dress (a symbol of a Christian's white baptismal robe) and red sash (symbolizing the blood of her martyrdom) with a crown or wreath of candles on her head. In Norway, Sweden and Swedish-speaking regions of Finland, as songs are sung, girls dressed as Saint Lucia carry cookies and saffron buns in procession, which "symbolizes bringing the light of Christianity throughout world darkness." In both Protestant and Catholic churches, boys participate in the procession as well, playing different roles associated with Christmas, such as that of Saint Stephen. It is said that to vividly celebrate Saint Lucia's Day will help one live the long winter days with enough light. A special devotion to Saint Lucia is practiced in the Italian regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto Adige, in the north of the country, and Sicily, in the south, as well as in Croatian coastal region of Dalmatia. In Hungary and Croatia, a popular tradition on Saint Lucia's Day involves planting wheat grains that will eventually be several centimetres high on Christmas, representing the Nativity.
Video Saint Lucy's Day
Origins
An inscription in [a g o o dand pure life for about 25 years, died on my Saint Lucia'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". 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 Lucia in Italy as well as in England.
Later, Christian missionaries arrived in Scandinavia to evangelize the local population, carrying the commemoration of Saint Lucia with them, and this "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". Saint Lucia is one of the few saints celebrated by the overwhelmingly Lutheran Nordic people -- Danes; Swedes; Finns and Norwegians but also in the United States, Canada and Italy. It is speculated that the St. Lucia's Day celebrations in Scandinavia may retain a few indigenous Germanic pagan, pre-Christian midwinter elements. Some of the practices associated with the Feast of Saint Lucia 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. Lucia is first attested in the Middle Ages, and continued after the Protestant Reformation in the 1520s and 1530s, although the modern celebration is only about 200 years old. It is likely that tradition owes its popularity in the Nordic countries to the extreme change in daylight hours between the seasons in this region.
The pre-Christian holiday of Yule, or jól, was the most important holiday in Scandinavia and Northern Europe. Originally the observance of the winter solstice, and the rebirth of the sun, it brought about many practices that remain in the Advent and Christmas celebrations today. The Yule season was a time for feasting, drinking, gift-giving, and gatherings, but also the season of awareness and fear of the forces of the dark.
13 December
In Scandinavia (as late as until the mid 18th century) this date was the longest night of the year, coinciding with Winter Solstice, due to the Julian Calendar employed at that time. The same can be seen in the poem "A Nocturnal upon S. Lucy's Day, Being the Shortest Day" by the English poet John Donne.
While this does not hold for the current Gregorian calendar, a discrepancy of 8 days would have been the case in the Julian calendar during the 14th century, resulting in Winter solstice falling on 13 December. With the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century the discrepancy was 10 days and had increased to 11 days in the 18th century when Scandinavia adopted the new calendar, with Winter solstice falling on 9 December.
The Winter solstice is not visibly shorter than the several days leading up to and following it and although the actual Julian date of Winter solstice would have been on the 15 or 14 December at the time when Christianity was introduced to Scandinavia, 13 December could well have lodged in peoples mind as being the shortest day.
The choice of 13 December as Saint Lucia's day, however, predates the eight-day error of the 14th century Julian calendar. This date is attested in the pre-Tridentic Monastic calendar, probably going back to the earliest attestations of her life in the 6th and 7th centuries, and it is the date used throughout Europe. So, while the world changed from a Julian to a Gregorian calendar system--and hence acquired a new date for the Winter Solstice--St Lucy's Day was kept at 13 December, and not moved to the 21.
In the Roman Empire, 25 December (in the Julian Calendar) date was celebrated as being the day when the Sun was born, the birthday of Sol Invictus, as can be seen in the Chronography of 354, this date corresponding to the date of the Winter solstice. Early Christians considered this a likely date for their saviour's nativity, as it was commonly held that the world was created on Spring equinox (thought to fall on 25 March at the time), and that Christ had been conceived on that date, being born 9 months later on Winter solstice.
A Swedish source states that the date of (Winter Solstice, St. Lucia, Lucinatta, Lucia-day, Lussi-mass ...) i.e. 13 December, predates the Gregorian which implies that "Lucia's Day" was 13 Dec in the Julian Calendar, which is equal to 21 December in the Gregorian, i.e. now. Same source states use of the name "Little Yule" for the day, that it was among the most important days of the year, that it marked the start of Christmas month, and that with the move to the Gregorian calendar (in Sweden 1753) the date (not the celebration) "completely lost its appropriateness/significance".
Lussi
Lussinatta, the Lussi Night, was marked in Sweden 13 December. Then Lussi, a female being with evil traits, like a female demon or witch, was said to ride through the air with her followers, called Lussiferda. This itself might be an echo of the myth of the Wild Hunt, called Oskoreia in Scandinavia, found across Northern, Western and Central Europe.
Between Lussi Night and Yule, trolls and evil spirits, in some accounts also the spirits of the dead, were thought to be active outside. It was believed to be particularly dangerous to be out during Lussi Night. According to tradition, children who had done mischief had to take special care, since Lussi could come down through the chimney and take them away, and certain tasks of work in the preparation for Yule had to be finished, or else the Lussi would come to punish the household. The tradition of Lussevaka - to stay awake through the Lussinatt to guard oneself and the household against evil, has found a modern form through throwing parties until daybreak. Another company of spirits was said to come riding through the night around Yule itself, journeying through the air, over land and water.
St. Lucy
According to the traditional story, Lucia was born of rich and noble parents about the year 283. Her father was of Roman origin, but died when she was five years old, leaving Lucy and her mother without a protective guardian. Although no sources for her life-story exist other than in hagiographies, St. Lucia, whose name Lucia refers to "light" (Lux, lucis), is believed to have been a Sicilian saint who suffered death in Syracuse, Sicily around AD 310. Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend first compiled in the 13th century, a widespread and influential compendium of saint's biographies, records her story thus: She was seeking help for her mother's long-term illness at the shrine of Saint Agnes. There she was in fact cured, and Lucia, availing herself of the opportunity, persuaded her mother to allow her to distribute a great part of her riches among the poor. Lucy refused to compromise her virginity in marriage and was denounced to the Roman authorities by the man she would have wed. According to the legend, she was threatened to be taken to a brothel if she did not renounce her Christian beliefs, but were unable to move her, even with a thousand men and fifty oxen pulling. Instead they stacked materials for a fire around her and set light to it, but she would not stop speaking, insisting that her death would lessen the fear of it for other Christians and bring grief to non-believers. One of the soldiers stuck a spear through her throat to stop these denouncements, but to no effect. Soon afterwards, the Roman consulate in charge was hauled off to Rome on charges of theft from the state and beheaded. Saint Lucia was able to die only when she was given the Christian sacrament. All the details of her life are the conventional ones associated with female martyrs of the early 4th century. John Henry Blunt views her story as a Christian romance similar to the Acts of other virgin martyrs. In another story, Saint Lucy was working to help Christians hiding in the catacombs during the terror under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and in order to bring with her as many supplies as possible, she needed to have both hands free. She solved this problem by attaching candles to a wreath on her head.
Charles Macfarlane says, "Her chief offence may have been that she bestowed the whole of her large wealth on the poor instead of sharing it with her suitor who accused her to the governor of professing Christianity..."
There is little evidence that the legend itself derives from the folklore of northern Europe, but the similarities in the names ("Lussi" and "Lucia"), and the date of her festival, 13 December, suggest that two separate traditions may have been brought together in the modern-day celebrations in Scandinavia. Saint Lucia is often depicted in art with a palm as the symbol of martyrdom.
Maps Saint Lucy's Day
Celebration
Italy
Catholic celebrations take place on 13 December and in May. Saint Lucia, whose name comes from the Latin word "lux" meaning light, links with this element and with the days growing longer after the Winter solstice.
St. Lucia is the patron saint of the city of Syracuse (Sicily). On 13 December a silver statue of St. Lucia containing her relics is paraded through the streets before returning to the Cathedral of Syracuse. Sicilians recall a legend that 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.
St. Lucia is also popular among children in some regions of North-Eastern Italy, namely Trentino, East Lombardy (Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona, Lodi and Mantua), parts of Veneto, (Verona), parts of Emilia-Romagna, (Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia and Bologna), and all of Friuli, 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 her escort, 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.
Croatia and Hungary
In Hungary and Croatia, a popular tradition on Saint Lucia's Day involves planting wheat grains that will eventually be several centimetres high on Christmas; this new wheat serves as symbolic of the new life born in Bethlehem, the Nativity, and a candle is sometimes placed near the new plant "as a symbol of the Light of Christ".
Malta
Santa Lu?ija is the patron saint of the villages of Mtarfa (Malta) and Santa Lu?ija, Gozo. On 13 December Malta also celebrates Republic Day.
In the Nordic countries
In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland, Lucy (called Lucia) is venerated on 13 December in a ceremony where a girl is elected to portray Lucia. Wearing a white gown with a red sash and a crown of candles on her head, she walks at the head of a procession of women, each holding a candle. The candles symbolize the fire that refused to take St. Lucy's life when she was sentenced to be burned. The women sing a Lucia song while entering the room, to the melody of the traditional Neapolitan song Santa Lucia; the Italian lyrics describe the view from Santa Lucia in Naples, the various Scandinavian lyrics are fashioned for the occasion, describing the light with which Lucia overcomes the darkness. Each Scandinavian country has lyrics in their native tongues. After finishing this song, the procession sings Christmas carols or more songs about Lucia.
Sweden
The Swedish lyrics to the Neapolitan song Santa Lucia have traditionally been either Natten går tunga fjät (The Night steps heavily) or Sankta Lucia, ljusklara hägring (Saint Lucy, bright mirage). There is also a modern version with simpler lyrics for children: Ute är mörkt och kallt (Outside, it's dark and cold).
Although St. Lucia's Day is not an official holiday in Sweden, it is a popular occasion in Sweden. At many universities, students hold big formal dinner parties since this is the last chance to celebrate together before most students go home to their families for Christmas.
The modern tradition of having public processions in the Swedish cities started in 1927 when a newspaper in Stockholm elected an official Lucia for Stockholm that year. The initiative was then followed around the country through the local press. Today most cities in Sweden appoint a Lucy every year. Schools elect a Lucy and her maids among the students and a national Lucy is elected on national television from regional winners. The regional Lucies will visit shopping malls, old people's homes and churches, singing and handing out gingernut cookies (pepparkakor). Guinness World Records has noted the Lucy procession in Ericsson Globe in Stockholm as the largest in the world, with 1200 participants from Adolf Fredrik's Music School, Stockholms Musikgymnasium and Stockholmläns Blåsarsymfoniker.
Boys take part in the procession, playing different roles associated with Christmas. Some may be dressed in the same kind of white robe, but with a cone-shaped hat decorated with golden stars, called stjärngossar (star boys); some may be dressed up as "tomtenissar" (Santa's elves), carrying lanterns; and some may be dressed up as gingerbread men. They participate in the singing and also have a song or two of their own, usually Staffan Stalledräng, which tells the story about Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, caring for his five horses. Some trace the "re-birth" of the Lucy celebrations in Sweden to the tradition in German Protestant families of having girls dressed as angelic Christ children, handing out Christmas presents. The Swedish variant of this white-dressed Kindchen Jesus, or Christkind, was called Kinken Jes, and started to appear in upper-class families in the 18th century on Christmas Eve with a candle-wreath in her hair, handing out candy and cakes to the children. Another theory claims that the Lucia celebration evolved from old Swedish traditions of "star boys" and white-dressed angels singing Christmas carols at different events during Advent and Christmas. In either case, the current tradition of having a white-dressed woman with candles in her hair appearing on the morning of the Lucia Day started in the area around Vänern in the late 18th century and spread slowly to other parts of the country during the 19th century.
A special baked bun, Lussekatt (St. Lucia Bun), made with saffron and in use as early as November, is a very popular Christmas tradition.
Since 2008 there has been some controversy over males as Lucia, with one male who was elected Lucia at a high school being blocked from performing, and another performing together with a female. In another case a six-year-old boy was not allowed to appear with a Lucia crown because the school said it couldn't guarantee his safety.
Finland
The Finnish celebrations have been historically tied to Swedish culture and the Swedish-speaking Finns. They observe "Luciadagen" a week before the Winter Solstice. St Lucy is celebrated as a "beacon of brightness" in the darkest time of year. The first records of St. Lucy celebrations in Finland are from 1898, and the first large celebrations came in 1930, a couple of years after the popularization of the celebrations in Sweden. The St. Lucia of Finland has been elected since 1949 and she is crowned in the Helsinki Cathedral. Local St. Lucies are elected in almost every place where there is a Swedish populace in Finland. The Finnish-speaking population has also lately begun to embrace the celebrations.
Denmark
In Denmark, the Day of Lucia (Luciadag) was first celebrated on 13 December 1944. The tradition was directly imported from Sweden by initiative of Franz Wend, secretary of Föreningen Norden, as an attempt "to bring light in a time of darkness". Implicitly it was meant as a passive protest against German occupation during the Second World War but it has been a tradition ever since.
Although the tradition is imported from Sweden, it differs somewhat in that the church celebration has always been strongly centered on Christianity and it is a yearly local event in most churches in conjunction with Christmas. Schools and kindergartens also use the occasion to mark the event as a special day for children on one of the final days before the Christmas holidays, but it does not have much impact anywhere else in society.
There are also a number of additional historical traditions connected with the celebration, which are not widely observed. The night before candles are lit and all electrical lights are turned off, and on the Sunday closest to 13 December Danes traditionally attend church.
The traditional Danish version of the Neapolitan song is not especially Christian in nature, the only Christian concept being "Sankta Lucia". Excerpt: "Nu bæres lyset frem | stolt på din krone. | Rundt om i hus og hjem | sangen skal tone." ("The light's carried forward | proudly on your crown. | Around in house and home | The song shall sound now.")
The Christian version used in churches is Sankta Lucia from 1982, by priest Holger Lissner.
Saint Lucia's Day is celebrated also in the Faroe Islands.
Norway
Historically Norwegians considered what they called Lussinatten the longest night of the year and no work was to be done. From that night until Christmas, spirits, gnomes and trolls roamed the earth. Lussi, a feared enchantress, punished anyone who dared work. Legend also has it that farm animals talked to each other on Lussinatten, and that they were given additional feed on this longest night of the year. The Lussinatt, the night of 13 December, was largely forgotten in Norway at the beginning of the 20th century, though still remembered as an ominous night, and also celebrated in some areas, especially in Mid, Central and Eastern inland.
It was not until after World War II that the modern celebration of Lucia in Norway became adopted on a larger scale. It is now again observed all over the country.
Like the Swedish tradition, and unlike the Danish, Lucy is largely a secular event in Norway, and is observed in kindergartens and schools (often through secondary level). However, it has in recent years also been incorporated in the Advent liturgy in the Church of Norway. The boys are often incorporated in the procession, staging as magi with tall hats and star-staffs. Occasionally, anthems of Saint Stephen are taken in on behalf of the boys.
For the traditional observance of the day, school children form processions through the hallways of the school building carrying candles, and hand out lussekatt buns. While rarely observed at home, parents often take time off work to watch these school processions in the morning, and if their child should be chosen Lucia it is considered a great honor. Later on in the day, the procession usually visits local retirement homes, hospitals, and nursing homes.
The traditional Norwegian version of the Neapolitan song is, just like the Danish, not especially Christian in nature, the only Christian concept being "Sankta Lucia". Excerpt: "Svart senker natten seg | i stall og stue. | Solen har gått sin vei | skyggene truer." ("The night descends black | in stable and living room. | The sun has gone away | the shadows threaten.")
Estonia
In Estonia St. Lucia Day (Luutsinapäev in Estonian ) was traditionally celebrated by the local Estonian Swedes. It is also celebrated annually in the Gustav Adolf Grammar School, which was founded by Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus in 1631, making it one of the oldest extant secondary schools in Europe.
Saint Lucia (Caribbean)
In Saint Lucia, a tiny island in the Caribbean named after its patron saint, St. Lucia, 13 December is celebrated as National Day. The National Festival of Lights and Renewal is held the night before the holiday, in honour of St Lucia of Syracuse the saint of light. In this celebration, decorative lights (mostly bearing a Christmas theme) are lit in the capital city of Castries; artisans present decorated lanterns for competition; and the official activities end with a fireworks display. In the past, a jour ouvert celebration has continued into the sunrise of 13 December.
United States
The celebration of St. Lucia Day is popular among Scandinavian Americans, and is practiced in many different contexts, including (but not limited to) parties, at home, in churches, and through organizations across the country. Continuing to uphold this ritual helps people keep ties with the Scandinavian countries.
In the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which is the successor church to hundreds of Scandinavian and German Lutheran congregations, St. Lucia is treated as a commemoration on 13 December, in which red vestments are worn. Usually, the Sunday in Advent closest to 13 December is set aside for St. Lucia, in which the traditional Scandinavian procession is observed.
In Lindsborg, Kansas, their public St. Lucia celebration is a way to display the town's Swedish heritage, and serves as a point for the community to rally around. It also brings visitors to the town, which benefits the town financially.
Since 1979, Hutto, Texas, has held a St. Lucia celebration for their town at the Lutheran church. Every year a Lucia is picked from the congregation. The procession then walks around the church, sings the traditional St. Lucia song, and serves the traditional saffron buns and ginger cookies.
Gustavus Adolphus College , as a school founded by Swedish immigrants, has celebrated the Festival of Saint Lucia annually since 1941. Six sophomore women are chosen to be a part of the Court of St. Lucia. The women are chosen by their peers honoring the qualities of the legendary Lucia. In an effort to keep the tradition relevant to today, the selection process changed in 2011 to be more based upon qualities of the legendary Lucia that can be universally celebrated. The selection of the court and Lucia is a two step process. First, the campus community is invited to submit nominations of any sophomore woman who exemplifies the qualities of courageous leadership, service to others, strength of character, and compassion and therefore is a light to others. These women do not have to have a Swedish connection or the ability to sing (since the court goes caroling in the early morning). Sophomore women then vote who should be on the court. The highest three nominees are included. Then the Guild of St. Lucia, a senior honors society, reviews the remaining nominations and selects up to three more women to serve on the court with the goal of having the court be representative of the sophomore class.
Venezuela
The town of Mucuchíes in Mérida state, Venezuela, has chosen as their patron saints St. Lucia and St. Benedict the Moor. Patron saint festivities are held during the month of December.
Notes
References
- Eriksson, Stig A. (2002). Christmas traditions and performance rituals: a look at Christmas celebrations in a Nordic context. 2002. Applied Theater Researcher. No. 3. 6/3
- Nygaard, J. (1992). Teatrets historie i Europa ("~ History in Europe"). Volume 1. Oslo: Spillerom.
- NRK radio (2002). Språkteigen. NRK radio. December 2002.
External links
- Nordisk Familjebok, article Lucia Nordisk Familjebok, 1912 (in Swedish)
- "A Nocturnal upon Saint Lucy's Day," poem by John Donne (1572-1631)
- http://www.italyheritage.com/traditions/calendar/december/saint-lucia.htm
Source of article : Wikipedia
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