Happy Sancta Lucia Day 10 days late!
Never heard of Sancta Lucia? (pronounced as it looks, by the way, except Lucia is Lu-chi-a :-)) Well, you aren't the only one.
Lucia (Lucy) was a martyr for Christ during the Roman Empire. According to legend at least, she was sentenced to be burnt at the stake for her faith. However, when set on fire, she didn't burn, so she was killed by a spear instead. Afterward, she became associated with light (because of the fire, apparantly). She became a saint in the Catholic church (hence Sankta), and somewhere along the way, became beloved to Scandanavians (and my mother is a Swede, therefore I know about all this :-)). They celebrate Sancta Lucia day on the 13th of every December. The oldest daughter of the house wakes early to bake saffron buns and make coffee to give to the rest of the house, dressing in white with wreaths and candles in her hair. In my house, we vary this to cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate and candles on a tray :-). Then, we celebrate the Christian origins of the festival by singing songs and reading Scriptures related to Jesus as He is our Light. Here are two of my favorites:
John 1:4-5~ "In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not overcome it."
2 Corinthians 4:6~ "For God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness' made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
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I remember talking about the Christian Martyrs in my history class last semester. The Romans had traditions of worshiping the gods on behalf of the Emporer. Those who refused were assumed to be ememies of the Emporer. When Christians objected the Roman gods, they were given three chances. The Romans would, often, threaten to torture family members because family was important to Roman tradition, second to the Emporer. I thought it was pretty cool stuff.
Fascinating!
Why is it pronounced lu-chi-a, by the way?
Your family celebrates a lot of things usually unnoticed, don't they? And all of it with a Christian perspective...'tis quite nice.
Candles in her hair? Goodness, as if trying to burn someone at stake wasn't bad enough, here they are trying to burn the poor eldest daughters of a bunch of households. ^_^
Well then, happy ten-days-late Sancta Lucia day to you as well!
--Josiah C.
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