Lucia in Sweden
By Lotta Landstrom <[email protected]>
Vallhovskolan School, Sandviken,
Sweden
Yesterday it was a special day
in Sweden because it was Lucia day. You really understand that it will
be Christmas soon when it is time to celebrate Lucia. You can see Lucia
and her maidens, starboys, gingerbread men and Santas in every school,
every working place that morning. If you are an early bird you can watch
her at TV. Every town has got a Lucia of their own.
The legend of Lucia comes
from Italy. She lived in Syracuse, Sicily and was one of the first Christians.
Lucia wanted to serve God and the poor, so when a man feel in love with
her for her beautiful eyes sake, she teared her eyes out and gave them
to him. He became a Christian and God gave Lucia new eyes, even more beautiful.
Later when the Christians were persecuted in Italy, the people tried to
burn Lucia to death but God protected her. At last the people took to swords
and killed her. She was canonized and is the patron of the eye-specialists.
Why Lucia is a Swedish tradition
is not easy to say. She is a catholic saint and in Sweden we are Protestants.
A long time ago we had other traditions this day. Perhaps someone felt
we needed some light in the dark December. It is anyway a beautiful sight
when Lucia, her maidens and the boys come in their long, white "nightshirts".
Lucia is wearing a crown with candles and has got a red ribbon around her
waist. Those things remind us of the fire and the wounds from the swords.
Her maldens are holding candles in their hands and the boys have got cones
with stars on their heads and holding stars in their hands. They are singing
songs about the light that comes to us in the darkest time of the year.
We eat gingerbread cookies and yellow buns with saffron. In our school
it was the 5th graders that celebrated us in this way. We sat in the school’s
gymnastic hall, watching and listening. |
