Light in dark December with Saint Lucia

"December 13th is the date when children across Sweden dress up in white sheets, set their heads on fire (they actually don't, they just put flaming candles in their hair) and parade through the city singing Christmas carols. Welcome to Lucia, a slightly weird but beautiful winter celebration, deeply rooted in the heart of every Swede." These are the words of Kalle Bergman in a good article in the Huffington Post article about Lucia with recipe.

Lucia in Uppsala Cathedral, 2012

Kalle Bergman continues to describe Lucia and its history in the article: "Lucia is weird partly because its origin is a medieval patchwork of folklore combined with pagan, Catholic and Lutheran traditions from Italy, Sweden and Germany. The Catholic roots come from Sicily where Saint Lucia was killed for her beliefs and subsequently celebrated as a saint... on the 13th of December. Pagan, because the winter solstice was considered an especially dangerous time in 16th century Sweden. Evil powers were at play, and even the animals were believed to be able to speak during the winter solstice. Actions were taken to keep ghosts and goblins away, and the Chrismas pig was supposed to be butchered before this day."

Here are a few more articles about Lucia if you are interested: Lucia Traditions and from the Washington Post, here.

December is a very dark month in Sweden. Depending upon where in the country you are, you may or may not even see the sun. In the far north, it is dark most of the winter. Hours of daylight in Sweden (table of daylight hours).

Perhaps because of the darkness all around us (except thankfully now we have crisp white snow brightening Uppsala, and lovely frost-covered trees) Swedes are quite obsessed with light. And what better way to acknowledge the love of light, and all that it symbolizes, than with a festival dedicated to light: Saint Lucia (Sankta Lucia).

As the article above states, the 13th of December is Lucia in Sweden. Generally in the morning, at home, the children will wake up their parents and present "fika" (special saffran-flavored rolls and other treats like gingerbread cookies) and songs. And all over in society one can find Lucia celebrations. I am very excited to attend Yaminah's Lucia at her daycare. She comes home singing Lucia songs so I know they have been practicing for a while now.

Collegium Cantorum's Lucia Concert 2012

In Uppsala's beautiful Cathedral we have a traditional Lucia celebration on the Sunday of the week of Lucia, which was today. My choir, Collegium Cantorum, joined the girls' choir (Flickkören) for a lovely Lucia program. We sang traditional Lucia songs, and some nontraditional, beautiful songs, including "O Magnum Mysterium" by Lauridsen. We started the program with eight sopranos singing "Det är en ros utsprungen" from the balcony and then we gradually moved to the very front of the church, everyone dressed in a white gown and carrying a candle, following the girl with the candles on her head, the Lucia.

Here are a few videos of the last songs we sang during our concert. Note that Tomas filmed these from his chair, while holding Yaminah on his lap, so the filming is a bit so-so, ahem...but at least you can get the idea! (Note: it took forever to upload videos so I have reduced their size a lot, but hopefully you can still see something!)

 

 

 And now, the recessional...

 

 

And then on December 13, we were very excited to attend Yaminah's Lucia at her daycare. They had been practicing for weeks, as I mentioned earlier. Parents and grandparents gathered to watch the daycare children, most dressed in white gowns or some as little santas or other Christmasy things, gave us a Lucia program. The singing was so much fun to watch, I have to share it with you! Unfortunately, you will hardly be able to see--it was nearly totally dark inside so my phone did not capture much--but you can listen. And yes, the girl's voice you probably hear singing quite loudly, is Yaminah. Afterwards people told us that she had done a great job (she seems to know all the verses to every song and sang out, to say the least). One other mother said, "She is like a pop music star already!" but I am pretty sure she meant that in a positive way. :)  Maybe you can get a sense of what the program was like when the cameras flash--chaotic, with one little child running back and forth and making funny noises, but lots of kids singing and just looking adorable. Here is our little Lucia.

 

 

Lucia...a time to stop, celebrate the light within winter's darkness...and a time to think ahead to Christmas. I wish you a bright December, full of light!