Travel - St Lucia's Day

Travel - St Lucia's Day

Young women in white robes with red sashes, hiolding candles celebrating the Scandivan tradtion of St Lucia's Day
Young Women celbrating St Lucia's Day
 

Today is a rarer unusual saint’s day that is not really celebrated in the UK all that often but is in Scandinavia

  St Lucia's Day

 

 It's 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 Lucy's Day is viewed as an event signalling the arrival of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar, on Christmas Day

 

Figurines of young women holding the candles of St Luica's day
Figures of the young women holding the candles

In Scandinavian countries, 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.  

 
Image of traditional saffron buns, eaten on St Lucia's Day
Traditional Saffron Buns

Living in Denmark as a very small child, I did not really experience this feast day, but my older brother did sort of at his school (though he was at an international school). But I still light candles, to celebrate the day. It was also the day my brother got married 9 years ago, so it has double meaning for me. So happy wedding anniversary to my brother.

So do you guys have any saints day's that are under-celebrated?


(all info is from wiki and pictures from google)

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Pintreset graphic for the blog post about St Lucia's Day

Nic xx 

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