And so on this day, December 13th every year, Lucia comes to Sweden. Compared to the trash and tack of a commercial Christmas that many other countries do, I have to say that if there's one thing that the Swedes do really well — and with a charm and a sincerity we Aussies could do to learn — it's Christmas. Despite their reputation as a cold, clean and organised people, beneath this exterior there beats a heart of the purest softness and sentimentality, and proof of that is things like Lucia.



Lucia is a well loved and cherished Swedish Christmas tradition, even though she's neither Swedish nor is she strictly speaking all that traditional, having only been around for about 75 years in Sweden. As with the discovery of how recent is the "tradition" of lighting candles at the graveside on All Souls Day, when you tell a Swede that Lucia is not that old, they react with disbelief and amazement.

So who is she? The real Lucia was a Sicilian saint who died a martyr's death on this day in c 304. She was apparently engaged to marry a young man who was not a Christian, and after an argument about money (Lucia gave money to the poor), her betrothed betrayed her to the Roman authorities, disclosing her Christian beliefs. She was sentenced to die by burning at the stake, but when the fire didn't harm her, she was killed with a sword. Charming!

I had thought that perhaps the church instituted this feast hundreds of years ago in Sweden to counter the pagan tradition of celebrating the winter solstice. You know - if you can't beat them, join them and distract them. But this was not the case. It seems that this tradition was introduced to Sweden in 1928, when a newspaper began a competition for a girl to be Lucia, inspired by one of the reporters returning from celebrations in Italy. It is a very appropriate for this time of year, as she is seen as the symbol of light in this dark world. She gives hope - soon the days will become longer again and the daylight will return.

Nowadays, little girls dress as Lucia in a white dress with a red sash, and wear a wreath of lingonberry branches with 4 lighted candles on their head (the same number as an Advent wreath). In some households, the children carry coffee and a breakfast of saffron buns (called lussekatt) and gingerbread cookies to their parents in their room. The girls dressed in white carrying lit candles and the boys ("star boys") wearing tall, pointed caps. A traditional song is sung:



This morning, I did a scaled down version, bringing L-G a traditional Lucia breakfast in bed, singing the song. However, because I spent a few years with Italians, I keep pronouncing Lucia as the Italians do (Loo-chee-a) instead of the Swedish (Loo-see-a). I'll get it right one of these days.

Yes, I baked Lucia buns as well! You can see them "proving" before being popped in the oven. As I don't trust Lambi with a lighted candle, she had to be part of the procession in her Christmas hat.



We waited for the Lucia procession to come past the apartment building this evening. It consists of the the girl chosen to be this year's Lucia here in Nynäshamn, along with her attendants in a horse drawn wagon, pulled by lovely Clydesdales with a lot of children dressed in Christmas costumes riding behind on ponies. They sing the traditional songs and wind their way through town to the church where there is a concert. We are lucky that it passes right in front of us. It was lovely to see, but so misty tonight that we couldn't take a picture.

The church was looking really pretty with it's simple lights on a tree.



We couldn't attend the concert as we had an important meeting to go to, but we caught up with Lucia again later tonight at the sailing club. She and her attendants visit various places around the town - old folks homes, church, hotels etc and the last stop is always our yacht club. We went there and grabbed some coffee, glögg, buns etc and chatted with friends. Then the Lucia procession came in singing traditional Lucia songs.



It was a beautiful, simple but very moving ceremony. Now I feel that Christmas is very near.