St. Lucia Day in Sweden

The story of St. Lucia goes like this: Way back in like the 300s or something, a wealthy (and engaged) Italian woman became a Christian, saw the poverty around her, and gave her entire dowry to the poor. Her greedy fiance couldn't believe that any sane person would do this, so he denounced her as a witch and had her burned at the stake.

Sometime in the 1000s or something, there was a famine in Sweden, and it was said that a woman with a golden light surrounding her brought food to starving people, and it was believed that she was Lucia.

Ever since, St. Lucia Day has been celebrated in Sweden (and in some Swedish American communities/homes). Traditionally, the oldest daughter brings food to her family in the morning, wearing a white robe (purity) with a red sash (martyrdom), and a crown of candles on her head. Communities will sometimes have choir concerts and/or dinners celebrating this day. (To be chosen as the community Lucia is an honor.)

We never celebrated it in my home, but my mother and I did within the Swedish community. After having performed in Lucia concerts (literally) hundreds of times, I was not remotely surprised when I was in Sweden and at 4:30 in the morning on December 13th, a girl in a white robe with a crown of lights came into our room singing and bringing us cardamum (similar to cinnamon, but better) rolls. In fact, I was excited about it.

I'm not quite sure how the others felt about it. I think there was a lot of confusion, a lot of 'why did they wake me up?', and a lot of people thinking it was nice to get in on a little Swedish culture while they were there. Or in the case of my roommates, they thought, "That was cool. Now we're all awake. Let's go running together!"