Celebrating St. Lucia Day with the W. Family
My name is Jill and I’m raising four children ages 1-12 with my husband in a suburb just outside of Seattle, WA. Thank you Beth for inviting me to share with your audience how our family celebrates Lucia Day.
One winter when my oldest kids were just toddlers I managed to catch a PBS special called Rick Steve’s: European Christmas. Though modern, originally aired in 2005, it felt from another time than ours. German Christmas markets and real lit candles on a gigantic fir tree. A child rejoices in finding the lucky almond in a bowl of porridge, winning the marizipan shaped like a pig. How is this real life?
Now thanks to the popularity of homesteading and sustainable living blogs, dried orange slices on twine garlands aren’t that unique. But 8 or 9 years ago, the norm was still very glitzy and centered around shopping malls and putting together 3000 plastic pieces to a Barbie dream house. I wanted to bring some of the quiet and charm of that Christmas special to our own traditions.
Featured was Sweden’s celebration of St. Lucia Day. December 13th. And having a daughter named Lucy, who happens to be ethnically part Swedish, it seemed like the perfect first new tradition to take on.
Brief history. Lucia Day originated from the feast for St. Lucy of Sycruse. In Scandinavian countries it’s become a secular holiday celebrated by all. It incorporates some of the legends surrounding the saint as well as pagan influences and a theme of celebrating light during the darkness of winter.
Children dress in white smocks and one lucky girl, typically the eldest daughter, gets to be Lucia. She wears a crown of greenery and candles and a red sash. For large groups, a procession of children following Lucia holding candles is made around their church or town while singing the children’s folk song Sankta Lucia. But for families at home they may sing the song together and “Lucia” and the other children will serve everyone special saffron buns called lussekatt and gingerbread cookies as well as spiced wine or coffee and tea. Boys may choose to dress as star boys wearing cone hats with stars and a wand.
Our family keeps it small. We make a crown made with pine and some birthday candles shared between our daughters, we bake saffron buns, and we read the story Lucia Morning in Sweden which includes a wonderful bun recipe and sheet music for Sankta Lucia.
As Orthodox Christians we also pray to St. Lucia and share an age appropriate version of her martyrdom story. Additionally we encourage the message of being shining lights in this worlds and to be charitable and look out for our community by sharing our bread with others.
To make the crown with fresh greenery you’ll need:
•approximately 6-12 sprigs of pine or similar fresh greenery
•twine
•small candles (do not light the candles)
•strong tape or glue
•scissors
Begin by measuring the head whoever will be Lucia’s using a string. Use this thread as a guide for length.
Then tie small pieces of greenery in a row onto the twine connecting the green ends to the stems
Continue until it is the desired length and then tie closed to create a crown.
Then using glue or tape attach candles to the top.
You can also make the crown out of felt or paper. LED lights would be another fun way to have a lit element without the danger of fire near hair.
I hope you and your families enjoy these traditions as much as we have.
Jill and her family live in the PNW where she homeschools her children. Jill shares their faith, traditions, and homeschool on Instagram (@Jill.wojslaw)
