Lighting the Darkness

While next summer’s BreyerFest may be all about celebrating the longest day of the year, right now in the Northern Hemisphere we are fast approaching celebrating the longest night of the year – the Winter Solstice!

December 13^th, the Feast of St. Lucia, commemorates the 4^th century saint Lucia of Syracuse, who, it is said, hid people fleeing religious persecution in the catacombs of Rome.  She is depicted as wearing a wreath of candles on her head to light her way, leaving both hands free so she could carry food to those hiding.  

Her name, Lucia, means “light,” so it is appropriate that she’s become a symbol for lighting the way during the darkest time of the year and her holiday is now widely celebrated in Norway, Sweden, and Finland – some of the darkest places on earth in the winter. Until the mid-18^th century, Scandinavia followed the Julian Calendar (not the current Gregorian calendar) so the Winter Solstice took place around December 13th. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted, the day of the Feast of St. Lucia wasn’t changed to continue to align with the new Winter Solstice on December 21^st, and the December 13^th date remained.

Traditions in modern Scandinavia to celebrate the Feast of St. Lucia became popular in Sweden in the early 20th century and grew to include singing, wearing a wreath of candles on one’s head, and making and exchanging cookies and saffron buns – all warm and inviting ways to stave off the darkness of a Scandinavian winter.

Interestingly, and conversely, Sweden also commemorates Lussi Night on December 13^th, which is similar to the Wild Hunt of earlier pagan traditions. The witch Lussi was said to ride through the air with her army of the dead from December 13^th through Yule and would punish mischievous children or curse households that had not completed their spinning or threshing in time.  This inspired the tradition of the Lussevaka, staying up all night to guard against malevolent spirits, and is celebrated today by people throwing parties until morning.

The dichotomy of these traditions bearing extremely similar names is fascinating and while there is no evidence of a connection between the two festivals, it is a fun example of two varying cultural traditions colliding and being carried forward into modern times.  We wish everyone who celebrates this weekend a warm and happy Feast of St. Lucia and a safe Lussevaka!