Santa Lucia Day

These are some funky pictures. I like to play with the light and my camera, which doesn't always turn out quite right especially if the people are moving. But, I think these are kinda cool anyway.The star boys and the tomtar (plural for tomten),

part of the Lucia tradition in Sweden.

For the Santa Lucia Festival this morning, George, Rose and I woke before dawn to go to Salem Lutheran Church here in St. Cloud for the 6:30 a.m. service. Those Swedes have crazy traditions, eh?

Karla is this year's Santa Lucia and since she's one of George's private instrumental students, we had to go see her all dressed up!

But this tradition wouldn't look right during the daylight. The candles on the wreath on St. Lucia's head shine brighter in the dark. It's a tradition in Sweden that the oldest daughter wakes the family on December 13, Santa Lucia Day, wearing a wreath of candles on her head and a white dress with red sash. She brings Christmas buns and coffee.

The legend of Santa Lucia originated in Syracuse on the island of Sicily. Instead of marrying her pagan fiance, Lucia is said to have given her entire dowry to the poor and admitted being a Christian. Her outraged fiance accused her of witchcraft (same old story!) and had her burned at the stake on this day in the year 304 A.D.

Lucia was named a saint by the early church. Her connection to Sweden comes later in the story, when after her death she is said to have been seen in the bow of a ship laden with food coming to the starving people of Varmland, Sweden sometime in the Middle Ages. Here she gained her traditional garb of white and red with the wreath on her head.

Lucia is a symbol of light in our dark world, bringing hope to humanity. She comes on one of the darkest days of the year, in the dark before dawn. Some Swedish Lutheran churches here in the USA celebrate Santa Lucia as we did today (though we go to the Norwegian Lutheran church in town, I'm Swedish too so we can take part...ha ha). We hear the story, we feel inspired to give to the poor as Santa Lucia did, and--most impressively for Rose this morning--we eat cookies for breakfast!

There are so many traditions this time of year, that help us get through the dark time. I prefer to delve into those traditions rather than do all the shopping which Christmas seems to be about these days if you pay attention to the media. Last Friday we went to Velkommen Jul, a Norwegian Christmas celebration, at my alma mater in Minneapolis, Augsburg College. We light the Advent Candles each Sunday. I, at least, spend more time in quiet contemplation, rest and work--which isn't always fun, but it's natural at this time of year to "go inside" of ourselves and, even, be down if need be. Spring will come again, and I will enjoy the warmth and outdoor work, but for now I can enjoy the peace and rest which comes in winter.

Mon at Holistic Mama wrote a wonderful post about the Winter Solstice and I'd encourage you all to go read it here. I would say I'm much more balanced in my life, happier perhaps, since I started paying more attention to the seasons and nature.

I work and play outdoors like crazy in spring and summer, in the garden and making herbal concoctions and just hanging out with friends; I can hardly bring myself to go inside in those months. But in turn this makes me actually look forward to the cold and the dark of winter which brings quieter pursuits like knitting and reading, hibernation, and more sleep. I rarely knit in summer, but of course I don't garden in winter either. We hardly watch a movie all summer long, but in winter we might have three or four a week to settle in with. I wake up naturally after only 6-7 hours of sleep a night in summer, but 10 or 12 hours sleep in winter is not unheard of for me. Some people may think this crazy, but if I listen to my body and to the seasons, this is quite normal

Just as the trees and plants "die back" in the winter, so too must we to some degree. It's time to work on our roots.