Lucia

[scripsi]

Today it's Lucia's Day in Sweden, which is an important celebration here. It's an interesting mix of legends of the saint and old Swedish folklore. It was considered the longest night of the year (it actually was until the calendar was changed in the 18th century), a night when Lussi, a demonlike creature (depending on which part of Sweden Lussi can be either sex.) could come down the chimney to punish naughty children.

Here is a video with a short explanation of the Lucia tradition (with English subtitles). Extra fun for me as the Lucia bride is a friend of mine. you also get to see the beautiful interior of Seglora church, built in 1729.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[lirazel]

What a gorgeous, gorgeous video! Thank you for sharing!

I was familiar with Lucia from childhood because of a children's book, and one year for Halloween my little sister actually dressed up as Kirsten-as-Lucia.

[liadt]

Thank you for posting the video and sharing your region's traditions. I was impressed how assured your friend was wearing a crown of burning candles.

[immortalje]

I actually understood more of the Swedish than I had expected, but less than I had hoped considering it's probably been about 2 years since my last class (which got cancelled as the number of students dropped below the minimum required).
I learned about Lucia's Day in that class as all of my teachers students and others from Sweden she knew met up around that time for a celebration, but nothing really about the history behind it (at least non that I remembered), so this was really interesting :)

[motodraconis]

Tell me more about Lussi! I found a small bit about her on a Norsk site, but tell us more!

[dragonyphoenix]

This is great. Thanks for sharing.

[angrboda]

She is familiar to us in Denmark as well, although I think she's a more important figure in Sweden than here. We usually get Lucia optog in schools or nursing homes and such, and it's usually children, but that's about it.
Although a group at work decided to give us one today, complete with LED candles (we're not allowed real ones) and light crown and everything. Of course they had made the classic mistake of leaving out a candle in the crown, so that Lucia was wearing an advent wreath on her head, but hey, who's counting. :)