Celebrated throughout Scandinavia and Italy, St. Lucia Day is marked by girls in white dresses wearing candle-filled crowns and bearing trays of baked-goods. How have I missed out on it all these years?
There is so much to tell about St. Lucia Day, I'll let Wikipedia do most of the work for me (though I prefer Posie Gets Cozy's more personal telling), but here are a few of my favorite details...
- Like most winter (and especially Scandinavian) holidays, St. Lucia Day evokes the struggle between light & dark, life & death.
- First celebrated in Sweden during the 18th Century, it spread throughout Scandinavia, faded a bit, and then experienced a strong renewal during World War II. For example, "In Denmark, the Day of Lucia (Luciadag) was first celebrated on December 13, 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." (Thanks, Wikipedia.) The same holds true even for countries with a longer St. Lucia tradition.
- Early on the morning of December 13th, the eldest daughter of a family dons a flowing white gown and a wreath of candles (electric these days, I hear) and brings breakfast in bed to her parents. The traditional saffron breakfast rolls are called Lussekatter, or St. Lucia buns, and here is a recipe, thanks to King Arthur Flour.
- In public processionals, the festivities are once again led by a be-gowned & be-candled girl, always blonde, which confuses me because St. Lucia was Italian. As a brunette, I especially love the gorgeous dark-haired girl in the photo above. Brunettes can wear dangerous hair-accessories, too!
- Carl Larsson painted this evocative glimpse of St. Lucia Day in 1908- don't you feel like you're there? The early morning darkness, the gratefully accepted cup of coffee, the scent of saffron and wax in the air. Someday.
- Gingerbread Snowflakes has a nice tutorial on how to convert a standard wreath into a St. Lucia wreath, including finding a reasonable facsimile for lingonberries.
- Over at Posie Gets Cozy, you can buy a Santa Lucia Clothespin Dollmaking Pattern, and there are detailed instructions as well.
Images: 1. & 2. Scandinavian Kitchen, 3. & 5. Posie Gets Cozy 4. Gingerbread Snowflakes
Veronica & Keith's Handmade Chic 
The World's Ugliest Condo: The Big Bathroom Reveal 
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Hunslet Dinner Plate
A Beginner's Guide to Superb Stir-Fry: Quick, Healthy Meals from a Wok
Homesteaders' Cocktail Recipe: Lovage Simple Syrup
Comments (17)
I was St. Lucia in our 5th grade Holidays Around the World play.
I can't be the only '90s girl here thinking about digging her Kirsten American Girl out of storage and decking her out in her St. Lucia Day garb, can I?
Oh man. And in looking her up online, I just found out they're discontinuing her. Cue heartbreak.
I've always wanted to set my hair on fire. Thanks for the tip.
bodicegoddess - She's always my first thought when I hear of St. Lucia's day. I'm sad they're retiring her, she was my favorite! (I never did get the doll, but I had a mini Kirsten and had all the books, and my mom made me her dress from the American Girl patterns - I loved her.)
Yes to Kirsten! Love her!
I had Kirsten too! One year she and I both dressed up in Saint Lucia costumes...I don't think I served breakfast in bed to anyone, though!
FUNNIEST scene in a movie almost ever was the scene in The Ref where they have an argument at the table, and someone is wearing a St. Lucia candle crown. They play the scene entirely straight except for that one hilarious detail.
Baking rolls right now! :)
Happy Lucia! God Jul! My family just got back from the Santa Lucia procession here in Chicago. Our Lucia was brunette and chosen by a name draw from a hat around lunch time. She also wore real candles! It's a great celebration!
Yes! I was in Sankta Lucia processionals from about age 6 to age 13, when I was Lucia by default (the college student they'd arranged couldn't come). Other Luciasdag kid outfits include Star Boys and little girls dressed with tinsel crowns instead of candles. Being Swedish in the Midwest was awesome.
I'm baking limpa bread for the first time today. Loaves are rising right now and will go in the oven shortly. It was an ordeal, but I can't wait to taste the results!
No saffron, so no lussekatter. Krumkake and spritz are next on my holiday baking list.
I'm not Swiss, and I don't want to offend anyone, but this just looks dangerous. Some traditions need to be updated, like using led lights instead of wax candles. Seriously.
Yeah, Kirsten! That was the very first thing I thought when I saw the title of this post...I was always a Molly girl (brunette AND glasses? Hello, role model.) but this Kirsten book was my favorite.
@ HP Stephanie...you might want to read the article more carefully...and take a geography lesson ;)
my family celebrates st. lucy every year. we dont eat any meat, like our holiday lights and eat pasta with anchovies and breadcrumbs.
@Patrick, I was wondering if anyone would mention The Ref! That was the first thing I thought of when I saw this picture! Great movie!
Blonde might be because it is a color of lightness. Candles, white robe...blonde hair. It all ties together, thematically.
I personally prefer the contrast against dark hair, too, but it's not really a holiday about BLENDING two states. :)
Kirsten was the first thing i thought of too ! I loved that doll and how the doll had a doll :)