Happy (Belated) Saint Lucy / Lucia Day!

Happy (Belated) Saint Lucy / Lucia Day! In Sweden, Saint Lucia is a young girl in a candle head dress bringing the light. Light is celebrated on Saint Lucy / Lucia Day because on the former calendar, December 13 was the winter solstice. In Italy, Lucy is a martyr who put out her own eyes to avoid seeing evil deeds, also celebrated on December 13.

Saint Lucy / Lucia Day Procession, original painting by Echoing Multiverse, available via Saatchi Art. Greeting cards, stickers, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America.

While in Italy, Lucy carries her eyeballs on a platter, in Sweden, the platter is traditionally covered with Lussikatter, curled up cat shaped saffron buns with raisin eyes. Which makes total sense as Freya and her cat sleigh preceded Santa and his reindeer.

Lussikatter

Freya's Cat Chariot - first published in 1865

"For the Pre-Christian Pagans of Europe, it was not Santa Claus but Goddess Freyja who arrived on Christmas Eve. Until 18th century, even many Christians used to address her as "Mother Christmas. The myth of Santa claus was appropriated from her "- Swedish Historian Ebbe Schön"

Lucy also rules the night, with Saint Lucy's Eve, Lussinatten, and/or the entire stretch of nights between Saint Lucia's Day and Yule being considered dangerous. Don't go out at night, or she and her troll entourage, the Lussiferda might get you, as illustrated in the 1922 painting below. Even if you stay inside, if you've been a naughty child she might come down the chimney to snatch you away.

"Nils Bergslien’s painting “Julereia” (1922) shows Lussi stealing a child and leading a parade of trolls, gnomes, murderers, and general degenerates."

Why is this lady of the light stealing children? According to sweden.se, a Swedish government-funded website, "The Lucia tradition can be traced back both to the martyr St Lucia of Syracuse (died in 304) and to the Swedish legend of Lucia as Adam’s first wife. It is said that she consorted with the Devil and that her children were invisible infernals. The name may be associated with both lux (light) and Lucifer (Satan), and its origins are difficult to determine."

Lussi = Satan's wife? Lussiferda = infernal children of the devil?

"In agrarian Sweden, young people used to dress up as Lucia figures (lussegubbar) that night and wander from house to house singing songs and scrounging for food and schnapps." Christmas Halloween!

"The first recorded appearance of a white-clad Lucia in Sweden was in a country house in 1764. The custom did not become universally popular in Swedish society until the 1900s, when schools and local associations in particular began promoting it. The old lussegubbar custom virtually disappeared with urban migration, and white-clad Lucias with their singing processions were considered a more acceptable, controlled form of celebration than the youthful carousals of the past. Stockholm proclaimed its first Lucia in 1927."

Lucia Day Procession from VisitSweden.com

Christmas Halloween sounds more fun.

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