Santa Lucia Again

Today is the Swedish holiday, Santa Lucia!  We have celebrated this for years to varying degrees. Some memorable moments shall be divulged before I end this blog.  Anyway, at the very least, we love to make the delicious saffron infused sweet buns that are typically served to those celebrating.  Stina came over on Saturday and the baking commenced with the help of Britta and our friend Laura.

So the basic holiday is this:
In Sweden, St. Lucia(a christian young woman from Italy)is honored in a ceremony where a girl is elected to portray Lucia, who it is told bravely brought provisions to hiding  and persecuted Christians by candlelit in the night.. Wearing a white gown with a red sash and a crown of candles on her head, she walks at the head of a procession of women and sometimes star boys , each holding a candle and singing…Often this tradition involved the oldest girl in the family, who portrayed Lucia and brought a candlelit tray of refreshments to the family members in the wee hours of morning before the sun has risen.

 

So we have on numerous times made Lucia "visitations" to a selected family.  Typically, I would communicate with the woman of the house to ensure that all would be ready and we could sneak into the house in the dark before anyone had awakened.  On one occasion we chose to visit the Svanoes.  We assembled as quietly as we could in the kitchen, and lit the candles on Anna's head before heading up to Rachael's room.  Silently we entered the bedroom and began singing Santa Lucia.  Startled, she sat up in bed with wide eyes and raced past us into her parent's bedroom thinking we were ghosts.  Of course, this is the desired effect!