Christmas in Sweden!
Around Christmas time in Sweden, one of the biggest celebrations is St. Lucia's Day (or St. Lucy's Day) on December 13th. The celebration comes from stories that were told by Monks who first brought Christianity to Sweden.
St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304AD. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means 'light' so this is a very appropriate name.
December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old 'Julian' Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia's Day.
St. Lucia's Day is now celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head.
Guys plays a bit shy, but she sure did a wonderful job this year. She prepared last night by getting the coffee pot and tea kettle ready. Bright and early (really early, dad needed to be at work at 7am) she was up to prepare cinnamon rolls and serve everyone in their beds.
(we are camping out at our dear sweet friends' house for the rest of the month, what a blessing in this cold weather!)
What a fun morning! It is also a great way to remember what Christmas is all about...
Share some of your family traditions with us, leave a comment! (please remember to keep our names out of it, so I can post it for everyone to see)
This is so sweet! Makes me wish for a girl :) Hugs!
ReplyDeleteFUN, cool, sweet :-) very interesting. I've always wanted to study, "Christmas around the World", so thanks for the reminder! Your children are precious. I'm researching the Feast of the Tabernacles right now (when they think Jesus was really born...FASCINATING!). Hope you all are well :)
ReplyDeleteI loved hearing all about it directly from Guys! Wonderful new tradition!
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