How to Celebrate St. Lucia Day

Thứ bảy - 27/04/2024 01:14

St. Lucia Day is celebrated on December 13th around the world, but it is especially popular in Sweden. The holiday is the feast day of the Catholic St. Lucia, but it originated as a pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice. Learn to...

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St. Lucia Day is celebrated on December 13th around the world, but it is especially popular in Sweden. The holiday is the feast day of the Catholic St. Lucia, but it originated as a pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice. Learn to celebrate like the Swedish do by holding a St. Lucia procession, throwing a party, or celebrating St. Lucia Day at home in the traditional Swedish way.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Planning a St. Lucia Procession

1
Find your participants. St. Lucia Day processions are traditionally done by children and teenagers. There isn’t a required number of participants, but you need at least one older girl to portray St. Lucia. Other girls will be her Maidens, and boys participate as Star Boys. Very young children often participate as elves, gingerbread people, or other mythological creatures.
- If you don't live in Sweden, contact your local Swedish cultural association to ask for volunteers.
- Ask your family and friends!
- You can also try posting a request for volunteers on your local neighborhood message boards.

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The procession should take place on the evening of December 13th, when it's dark enough for the candles to give off lots of light. You can hold the procession indoors or outdoors--some suitable places include parks, churches, Swedish cultural associations, or even your own neighborhood streets.^{[1] X Research source}

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St. Lucia and her Maidens wear long-sleeved white dresses with a red sash and red stockings. You can buy all of these at most big clothing stores, but you can also sew them yourself.

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St. Lucia also wears an evergreen wreath (often called a crown) with seven candles on her head. Premade St. Lucia wreaths are available, but you can also make one yourself.^{[2] X Research source}

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Star Boys wear white robes with a white cone-shaped hat with stars on it--very similar to a wizard’s hat. You can easily make the hats out of white posterboard and star cutouts.

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You will need one candle for each participant, as well as seven candles for St. Lucia’s wreath. Electric candles are recommended for safety.

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Make sure you have printouts of the traditional St. Lucia Day song. This is especially important if you plan to sing it in Swedish but have participants who don’t speak the language.

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Make sure all the lights in the room or outside are off. Everybody should have their candle on before the procession begins!^{[3] X Research source}

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In the actual procession, St. Lucia walks ahead, with the Maidens immediately behind her. The Star Boys and other participants walk behind the Maidens. Traditionally, the procession would go along the entire main street of the town, but nowadays it is much shorter. The procession can be as short as a walk up the main aisle of the church.^{[4] X Research source}

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After the walk is completed, St. Lucia stands in the center, with the Maidens in a semicircle behind her and the other participants along the sides and back of the semicircle. St. Lucia leads the whole group in singing the St. Lucia Day song, either in Swedish or in translation. You can listen to the Lucia song in Swedish here.^{[5] X Research source}