13/12/2025
Lucy Light🕯The shortest day, the longest night.
St. Lucia’s Day, kept on 13 December, honours light in the depth of winter’s darkness. In Scandinavia, where daylight may dwindle to only a few hours, the feast marks a luminous threshold.
In the Julian calendar, this date aligned with the winter solstice, and though the solstice shifted under the Gregorian reform, the celebration remained fixed — preserving Lucia as a herald of returning light.
The day commemorates St. Lucia of Syracuse, martyred in 304 CE under Emperor Diocletian’s persecution. Born into a noble Sicilian family, she vowed her life to Christ, defied a pagan suitor, and was denounced to the authorities.
Tradition tells that when condemned to the flames, the fire refused to consume her. She was finally slain by the sword, becoming one of the most venerated virgin martyrs of early Christianity.
Her name, from lux (“light”), made her patroness of the blind and a beacon of illumination. By the Middle Ages, her feast was woven into folk calendars as a turning point of the year, blending Christian devotion with older solstice rites.
In Sweden, Lucia opens the Christmas season: processions of children in white gowns sing by candlelight, led by a chosen Lucia crowned with greenery and flames. The hymn Sankta Lucia fills the air, invoking peace and hope. Saffron buns (lussekatter), golden with raisins, are shared as symbols of warmth, endurance, and the sun’s return.
Beyond Scandinavia, Lucia is honoured in Italy, especially in her native Syracuse, where her relics are carried through the streets. Her cult spread widely in medieval Europe, and she remains venerated in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions.
Helen Demetriou
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Photo by Unknown