"it's strange" No, because Lucia is as much a remnant of pre-christian culture as anything else. So catholicism and protestantism makes absolutely no difference. "syncretised" No, you most likely got it backwards. Pre-christian traditions survived by masquerading as christian... Try investigating how the use of runescript has recently been found to probably be relatively normal in Nordic nations up until the mid 19th century. And up until at least 18th century, it is likely that it was very commonly known and used. And we're not finding traces of it, because it was used on highly perishable writing media, like bark, wood, waxtablets and the like. But the church still reported that literacy was nonexistant. Despite the priests effectively had to know how common runes likely were. It was just part of the background culture. People kept it from competing with christian latin, and as such, the church didn't care. "cant be a connection" Of course there can be a connection. Santa is based on Yule-traditions, and with the calender getting messed with, of course santa needs to be included with Lucia. Or maybe he's there as a show of "i'm coming...". There's many possibilities really. I've read several possible explanations for the gingerbread peoples and they range all the way from "oh dear..." via "OMG!!!" to "not only plausible but also not horrible". For example, there's a lot of traditions around food over the course of yule and x-mas. And that's most likely the origin, together with how rare it was to get many of the expensive spices, like those used in gingerbread.
There is a very logical link between the most well-known saint and mystic of Sweden , Saint Birgitta, who is the only saint that has founded her religious community in Rome.
In Finnish elementary and middle schools, being selected as the year's Lucia for the Lucia mass was and is still something similar to being prom queen in US. Usually the most popular and pretty blonde girl won the title.
Yes, well we Northern Europens do like our girls pretty and blond. It's the same in Scotland. Although we don't have this particular tradition. 🏴🤝🏽🇫🇮
In Jyväskylä, Finland, we were taught in basic school that Lucia's day is an old remnant of the time when it was celebrated as the midwinter solstice, but when the calendars were reformed, the celebration moved away from its original place. But Lucia's day is not as messed up as Nordic Christmas, which was originally a harvest festival celebrated in autumn, for example the Finnish kekri festival, before it was moved to midwinter.
I think the connection to the winter solstice explains why it is more popular in Nordic countries. Whatever the pre-Christian tradition it replaced was also probably always considered more important the more north you go, as the effect of the solstice gets more extreme.
I was born in raised in very Cajun household in st martinville, Louisiana (the town was named for a catholic saint) and the church, St Martin De Tours still celebrates and observes St Lucy’s feast day every year on December 13th with the “saint Lucy’s Festival of Lights” and there are glowing angels handing from the trees and the entirety of the church grounds are lit with warm hued Christmas lights.
As an Italian, I can add that S. Lucia is not even a very common "holyday" here. I'd say it's a day of celebration only in Sicily, but definitely almost ignored in the mainland, except maybe for single cities (Venice, for example, because it's where's Lucia's body currently is). It's still interesting to know that in Sweden something happens that I would expect from Southern Italy - although it doesn't look like you spend that day eating fried things like they do here. :D
Same in Spain. It's celebrated locally in different parts but not widely as a national holiday. My grandma's name was Lucía and the patron saint of her village was Santa Lucía. There it is celebrated with a religious parade by boat. The statue of the saint is placed on a fisherman boat and paraded alongside the coastline 😐
I'm from Vicenza. I still remember my grandma giving me present from Santa Lucia the 13th Dec, and from the Befana tin January, while on the 2th Dec she will just give us some candies and fresh fruit.
I love that you, Religion for breakfast, esoterica, and Angela work together and support each other. All four of you have a different role in communicating religious studies and it is great.
Since forever, on St. Lucy's day my mother says "Santa Lucia, il giorno più corto che ci sia" (in italian: Saint Lucy's, the shortest day ever), and today I've learnt why. Ty! (Also, she insists that we pray to St. Lucy, because everyone in the family wears glasses and she's supposed to protect the eyes...)
Idk if all Croatians do this, but in my family it's tradition to make Božićna Pšenica on St. Lucy's Day. For those who don't know, Pšenica is a traditional ornamental wheat grass that's grown in a small vessel during the holiday season, and is sometimes wrapped in a ribbon or has a candle placed in the middle.
It's actually completely celebrated in Croatia, Slovakia, Czechia and Poland. Not sure why he mentioned that it's almost only in Scandinavia and Italy. The worship likely differs and the west Slavs (snow about you croats) celebrate her as a replacement for an old pagan witch ghost that sweeps evil and bad spirits out of people's homes.
@@tomasvrabec1845 We don’t celebrate the saint at all in Sweden. We have no existing saint tradition. This is an atmospheric event with light and beautiful songs during the darkest month of the year.
@@Crlmrtn You're saying Lucia isn't a a celebration of.. Lucia? It doesn't matter that YOU don't think of it like that. It doesn't matter that its meaning has adapted to the local context over centuries - religion always does this. The Lucia tradition is still permeated with St Lucy's (and generally catholic) imagery. So yes, it's an "atmospheric event with light and beautiful songs", like the main one: "Sankta Lucia". But is it also a "saint tradition"? It absolutely is..
As a Swede I've always wondered why we were celebrating a Catholic saint, but it also being a pagan ritual and celebration makes so much more sense. Today it's more of a fun tradition than anything else. As for gingerbread men and Santas, those come from pre-school and elementary schools where the young boys were given options to partake. Not everyone wanted to wear a cone on their head and white dress. So to accommodate those kids, they allowed other Christmas related figures into the parade too. In the name of inclusivity. And it is absolutely profound to listen to professionals sing some of the more beautiful Christmas songs. At work we used to get a visit from the Adolf Fredrik's School of Music choir. They were like angels. Some celebrate this just so they can eat lussebullar without judgement, and some celebrate it as just something really nice and cozy to do on a dark, cold day. Since Lucia is a tradition that brings joy, there's no reason for us to remove it. It's just as big of a part of the Christmas season as the Christmas tree is. I just wish more dark haired girls were given the chance to be Lucia. I know this is changing, but the little 10 year old me still thinks it's unfair that I wasn't even considered because of my hair color.
I am from the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia 🇱🇨. It is said the Island was discovered on the 13th of December. We have a celebration called the festival of light's, it is held on the night of the 12th of December. It is a festival of home made lanterns
When I was in 1st grade, my teacher decided to make the holidays the perfect time to learn about other cultures and how they celebrate. I got to dress up as Mary and sang spanish songs we sing in Puerto Rico. A few talked about Hanukkah and Kwanza. One kid talked about how Cambodia celebrated it. But the one to stand out was St. Lucy’s day. We loved seeing our friend dressed as her and give cookies out. I’m 31 now but I still remember this
In Norway, we sometimes call this Lussinatt - where the vette known as Lussi travels around and checks in on everyone's preparations for jol. Not sure about the chonology of which version came first, but vette is a creature from older Nordic folk beliefs.
Yes very much prechristian and as the local refused to give it up the church made it christian. Much as they did with Halloween in Scotland and Ireland, nothing to do with their church.
I'm reminded of the persistence of candlemass in the church of England, I have vivid memories of being handed an orange, wrapped in a ribbon, with a candle in it and processing down to the Abbey on a midwinter evening and being entranced by the luminous oddness of it all
I think this is Christingle as practised in my Anglican church also . The candle 🕯️ standing for Jesus as the light of the world , the orange as the world , the red ribbon as the love of god for the world through the sacrifice of Jesus , 4 cocktail sticks the 4 seasons/corners of the world , and the dried fruits as the Creation 🕊️
Loved Lucia day since I studied Nordistics in the 90s, Every year the Swedish Institut invited in the dark morning hours to the procession and Glögg and Lussekatter. It was truly an enchanting experience, sitting in the dark and hearing the faint, but approaching voices and to see the rapidly nearing bright light from all the (mostly dripping) candles and suddenly - boom! there was light! And all the special smells ,,,,.. - loved it, and so did my kids .Remarkable experience, won´t miss it. And thanks to IKEA the custom is spreading 😀
Although this mostly holds, there are actually some examples that have gone the other way around in religion - I am pretty sure the Jewish tu bishvat seder was derived from mystical teachings and then instituted, rather than vice versa.
Since Lucy’s name means “light,” it seems natural to celebrate her day with lights (which, until recently, meant candles). Lucy/Lucia is also the patron saint of eyesight, I suppose because her martyrdom supposedly included having her eyes plucked out. Medieval statues of her often shows her holding a plate on which there are two eyes.
I can easily see how beautiful this can be. The single most breathtaking moment of my life was having the honor of witnessing the light procession at the International Military Pilgrimage in Lourdes. It's a procession with tens of thousands of people ending at the square before the basilica, everyone carrying a candle. There's gospels being read, songs being sung, and during the refrain of Ave Maria everyone raises their candles. A sea of light, it's so awe inspiring
St Lucy is also quite celebrated in Catalonia, where she is called Santa Llúcia and is also considered the patron of sight. The 13th December was the traditional date when nativity scenes were set up (to stand until February 2nd). Now all the Christmas decorations are usually set up earlier (and set down earlier too), but still the Christmas market in Barcelona (Fira de Santa Llúcia) is dedicated to her. Also, in the town of Gelida it is customary to cook a big soup and share it to the people after the mass, in remembrance of the saint's assistance to the poor. I had no idea, though, of the Swedish tradition, which looks really beatiful. Thanks for this great video!
In Rockford Illinois, a very Swedish and Italian immigrant town in the 50s and 60s we celebrated St Lucia's day with the candle parade and young girl in the crown of candles at our Swedish Covenant church. That was after a crazy night of 'kidnap caroling' where we went house to house after midnight, singing Christmas carols until they let us in, fed us, and then joined us for the next victims. I think the normal Swedish reserve demeanor needed some celebrations and rituals to keep from going mad...especially in the dark.
Also a thing in Hungary. But the Pagan origins of this holiday are well understood here. Lucia's or Luca's persona is more similar to Christmas's Krampus or the Slavic Baba Yaga so more like a hag and some of the songs which used to be sung in the countryside were also pretty vulgar for Christian sensibilities. When we celebrated this in school it was quite tame compared to it. :D There's an emphasis on the Luca's stool and the wheat prepared for the holiday and sometimes celebrated similarly as in the Scandinavian countries but without all the goofy gingerbread and Santa stuff. We also celebrate Martinstag like mentioned from countries also celebrating this, we had these huge pyres one time and i remember it was raining that day. It was memorable. Not sure if the latter is universal or celebrated only in towns with Danube Swabian traditions. Kids will probably always think of it as the day they have to go through the chore making the lanterns with the pressure of getting bad grades if you don't. :)
I have known about St Lucia for a long time tho have never celebrated. Have also personally long known of Scandinavian love for Italians, my Danish Grandfather loved my Italian Grandmother. 💚Winter is really about celebrating the return of the light, candles lit here in California. Thanks for this beautiful video, heaing over to Angel's page now.
My parents hosted a Lucia Party, in Louisville Kentucky, in the late 60’s/early 70’s. A pre dawn breakfast feast with a young girl from the neighborhood chosen to wear the crown of candles.
I live in Wisconsin and I went to an elementary school that taught us about cultures around the world, and we celebrated Lucia day! one girl was picked to be Lucia and we all sang around the school. It was fun
I think part of why it's still so popular is because while it can be a really beautiful performance if done by professionals, it's also a really child-friendly tradition. As you mentioned, schools do it and even younger kids (my 3 year old is having lucia at daycare today -they've been practicing the songs for weeks). Children think it's fun with the dressing up and singing... And most of us have nice memories of doing it as kids, so we want our own kids to have that experience too, and we like to watch our kids doing it because it's cute, and so keeping the tradition going. Traditions that kids hate tend to not survive as well nowadays (my personal non-scholarly observation) because if you hated it as a kid and now with maybe less social pressure than in the past you have the choice to not do it, you probably won't do it 😅
What a wonderful video. I love taking a peek behind the curtain to see how layered and complex and OLD some of our traditions are. Your videos always leave me in a good mood like that. Keep it up!
I think it makes perfect sense that she is one of our most popular saints considering how little light we get, especially in pre-industrial times when there weren't lamps everywhere
Indeed, we celebrate her every year in Norway! Really beautiful ritual and song Interesting to see the pagan syncretism; might indeed be the explanation for it.
We are looking really looking forward to lucia! Nice that you made a video about it! All children learn about it in school but not many might remember it!
I live in california, but I went to an odd elementery and middle school, my 2nd-4th grade teacher was of Swedish descent, and so every year we would did Saint Lucia's day celebrations with the candle crown and everything, it was really fun
its also celebrated in slovakia , i havent watched the video trough yet, but i tought i should tell you , thank you for the amazing vidoes by the way, its really a treat to have somebody as curious and capable as you bring theese concepts and historical happenings to perspective , Thank you 😁
The story I was told was that Saint Lucia appeared to some Norwegian sailors during a time of peril and they adopted her as a saint in Scandinavia after that.
For those of you worrying about the fire hazard of a candle crown, When i was a Lucia my music teacher was sitting a few meters away from me with a water bucket in case i fainted. I have heard siminar stories from other people.
Imagine before electricity and gas, how dark it would be. Candles would be expensive before stearin, spermaceti and paraffin wax appeared in the 19th century. It was not something people would use a lot of. So in Scandinavia, they would be in a lot of darkness. I've talked with and old who remembered back to when she was young, she would sit with the ironcast oven open, so she could read her homeworks. In such dark times, the joy of a light festival must have made quite the impact on people. Something hard to imagine now when we chase away the darkness with electricity, we don't really get to experience long term darkness anymore.
I adore strange little tidbits of culture like this, absurdities hidden in plain sight. Speaking of Italian islands, have you considered dedicating a video to the religion in Malta? I've just been, and the language alone is fascinating! P.S. I still have a logo concept I could share with you, if you're interested!
I am from Slovakia and we also celebrate the feast of St. Lucia. It is celebrated primarily in kindergartens and elementary schools. There is a rumor that girls named Lucia will become witches in the future (that's why it was a very unpopular name in the past, nobody wanted a witch at home). During this holiday, girls dress up in white dresses and do various witch rituals as the prominent name of witches is celebrated. Above all, the name of future grooms and brides is divined. From St. Lucia's net to Christmas, there are various rituals associated with spider webs and other things I can't remember.
It was an important day in Croatia as well, it disappeared in the 1990s when Croatia was taken over by the customs and culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia. Otherwise, pumpkins were decorated on Saint Lucia, Halloween was not celebrated.
I attended a Lutheran church while growing up in the US. We would celebrate "Santa Lucia" every December. It was, by that point, just "one of the things we do". The local chapter had been started by a small group that included people with both Swedish and German roots.
Thank you for another fascinating video. I’ve always considered Saint Lucy as the Christianised version of the Roman Goddess Juno Lucina, whose name clearly links the associations with light, childbirth etc. Were any of the Norse Goddesses similarly linked with these themes and celebrated around this time of year, prior to being Christianised as this saint?
About the boys dressed as "star-boys" (stjärngossar) with cones on their heads, some dressed as little Santas and gingerbread men - as I've heard they were included when schools and kinder gartens started to celebrate Lucia and teachers had to invent roles for the boys. And then some songs and traditions from old Saint Stephens traditions, that were more "boys songs" were incorporated in the Lucia celebration, together with Christmas songs. For example a medieval folk- song about "Steven stable boy", which mostly is about his different horses. Maybe because in a mainly agricultural society horses was something people would relate to? Maybe more so than the biblical stories, which in those medieval times most people couldn't read about.
Lucia is celebrated in other countries also for example Poland , Croatia some places in Hungary. She was one of the early Christians before the Church split into East and West so its a bit strange that she became a Catholic Saint.
@@pedrod854 no. Each year one girl was randomly chosen. The procession was through the school hallways. All pupils had costumes and sang the St lucia song. I can remember the soliminity of the moment. I would leave work just to watch. obrigado
In the area where I live in Norway, we still celebrate Lossi on the 12th of december. Children dresses in costumes and goes knocking on doors to get sweets. Similar to Halloween in a way. But I believe this tradition is kind of older than the Lucia tradition, and was more common throughout Scandinavia before. The Dalane region in Southwest Norway, is the only place I've heard of with such a celebration.
St Lucia day is apparently also widely celebrated in Slavic countries, where she is relied upon to protect people from witches and malicious supernatural beings
Fun fact! The small town in Michigan that I grew up in actually celebrates Lucia, I believe some Swedish exchange students brought it over in the 50's and we've celebrated it ever sense. th-cam.com/video/sTLUae8IBtw/w-d-xo.html
Hello from Montreal. When I was a boy, there was a particular cartoon that played on tv, in the U.S. (Tom and Jerry cartoon) where the character sings the Santa Lucia song. Hearing the song now, it brought back that memory to me.
I think you left out Finland - as I recall it, they celebrate Lucia as well! Another Saint we still celebrate is Saint Martin, with a feast the evening before Saint Martins Day - which also just happens to be in the end of the harvest season and overlapping with All Hallows’ Eve, and the Pagan celebrations there undoubtedly where part of life before Christianity….
Lucia in Finland is a bit odd, since ... well, the traditional understanding I was taught, as a Swedish-speaking Finn in the 90s, was that this was something only Swedish-speaking people in Finland do. This is my experience later in life as well - most Finnish-speaking acquaintances have no idea what it is. This unfamiliarity reached a very interesting extreme in the early 2000s, when Folkhälsan r.f. (a non-profit association that works with a variety of things - teaching kids to swim, charity, retirement homes, but also organized until recently at least the biggest Lucia event in Finland every year) patented Lucia and the accompanying celebrations. Apparently, the patent handler had never heard of it before, and so figured it was a new thing and granted their patent. Looking in this comment section, though, it seems people all over the country are celebrating it nowadays, so maybe it's spread into Finnish Finland as well since I was a kid?
@@markusmiekk-oja3717 Thank you for your response. I had a Karate Instructor who was from Finland, and judging by how awful her Swedish was when we went on camps and at tournaments in Sweden, I highly doubt she was from the Swedish speaking part - as I recall it she were from somewhere in the Northernmost Eastern part, but I don't know how many speak Swedish or have Swedish ancestry there. But this was back in the 90's and she had been Lucia several times as a kid, I remember we joked a lot about it, because back when I was a kid in Denmark it was very often the pretty tall blonde girl who ended up being the Lucia, but my instructor were definitely not a tall blonde, (but she was still pretty, very smart, and really really funny). She's probably in her late 60's today, so it must have been used in at least some parts of Finland, aside from the Swedish speaking parts? But it might have been in a few smaller communities - and it might very well have been due to some level of Swedish or Norwegian influence I guess... But anyway, thank you so much for taking your time to respond - the part about taking a patent really made me laugh... I needed that!
I’ve hear on Swedish radio P1 once that “Lusse” is an old Swedish word for midvinterblot that was what was celebrated on the 13th in the old calendar. My guess is that people continue celebrating it.
Good video! I however miss the comparision to the christmas processions from other places in Europe. One such procession that is relevant to the Lucia procession in Scandinavia is the Pertcha/Bertcha/Bertha procession in Germany in the Alpine region. That procession is also led by a female being/goddess and she too is described as "the bright one" (even though she has much more to do with "Lusse" then "Lucia"). I once read (do not remember where) that there were an abbot/bishop (or the like) in Bohemia that wanted to get an end to this commoners parade (that had demonic undertones) so he started to use Lucia instead of Pertcha/Bertha and made the procession more "angelic" instead of "demonic". It just so happen that one of the first known Lucia-celebration in Sweden with a white robe/shirt was done by a german from Bohemia. The intrigue goes even further though. The german Pertcha/Bertha are in some regions known as "Frau Godan" and Frekke in this case is a local name of Wodan aka Odin. She is also connected to him as his companion in, and sometimes the leader in her own right for, "the Wild Hunt". The wild hunt in turn is a very old mythology and similar myths can be found in for example Rig Veda (written some 3500 years ago, perhaps describing legendary events as old as 5000 years or older). So there are much more to unravel here then just the connection to the scicilian saint Lucia 🙂
There is no reason to deny the bright Christian message in a dark and hopeless world marked by violence, war, poverty and disease. Our Lucia is rather something we should be proud of and pass on to future generations. Lucia heralds Advent and a bright, hopeful future. Amen.
Where I come from in Brazil we would put candles on the windows on Saint Lucy day, there we call her Santa Luzia, but also the name Lúcia/Lúcio is a very common name in Brazil, but not commonly associated with the Saint.
Lucia happens to be my birthday, so I have of course a bit of a special interest in the topic. I was hoping there might be some more about St Stephan and how his song in the celebration adds a horse connection that apparently didn't exist in biblical canon and may have some pre christian roots. In different versions of his song "Staffan var en stalledräng", he has something of a protector role. He goes out to kill a wolf, and then the song ends with everybody having their christmas needs of porridge, pig and candles met. His connection to Christmas is also based on legend rather than canon, as he originally was active something like 35 AD, but legend has him tell king Herod that the savior has been born.
I live in Illinois and went to an Evangelical college; it didn't allow dancing, except at Junior Senior and the Santa Lucia dance. The dance was loved by most people, except the ones who hated it because they knew it was Catholic.
Reminds me also regarding the witch and her followers, of the earlier Holda and the Wild Hunt. Holda and her southern cousin Perchta in the traditions are also both connected to a witch figure and a benevolent figure. Connected to winter and the winter solstice, next to rituals of holding candles, lamps or other sources of light. The northern version, linked to Scandinavia according to Marija Gimbutas is Frigg and Frejya. Looking at the similarities in ritual that survives in other regions in Germany, and then also at 6:00 the reference made to Lussi and her followers. Make me suspect that there could be a connection here with this. But that is then more of a speculation. What we do know about Holda is that there is a witch figure also connected to her, that normally roams around and steals cattle, or otherwise brings harm to the community. Where her other side as Holda that is benevolent is connected to the carrying of light. We can see this also with Perchta. Another cousin of Holda. Having similar rituals connected to light, and a duality of character. Benevolent and potentially dangerous in a witch form. I happen to be somewhat of an expert on Holda and Wotan, and other linked Proto-Indo-European traditions. In the more Southern variants of this pagan tradition there is first the light ritual, followed by the perchtenlaufen ritual, connected to fertility and the shooing away of the spirits that can cause harm. I happen to also know people personally who practice the rituals linked to Perchta, and this aligns well with what you said about Lucia and Lussi.
The claim that 13th December was the shortest day of the year under the Julian calendar for a very short while. The winter solstice moved backwards by roughly a day per century until Pope Gregory reset the calendar to as it was in the 4th century. So the argument that S. Lucia was celebrated for this reason assumes that the holiday was introduced around the 12th century.
First protestants were a radicalization of catholicism, not a rupture. Then many catholic structures are retained among first protestants. Hard ruptures came after with later protestants, like calvinists and anabaptist derivatives. But judaic (C)Hanukkah is also celebrated around this date, maybe it is a very basal folkloric celebration, related with solstice and perihelion.
She was the most popular saint in Catholic Church during the medieval times and Renaissance as saint Ursula . But traditions had remained only in northern countries
In Denmark 🇩🇰 Sankta Lucia is celebrated without gingerbread man and Santa Claus. The song start like this in the altered translation…”Now the light is brought in”
What I have learned and confirmed by searches. Is that since ancient times, December 13 was a feast day linked to the midwinter solstice, according to the old calendar. Even though we changed the calendar, the celebration continued on December 13. People got really drunk and this bothered many. To change this, someone figured out that you can celebrate something else on that day. Since it was Lucia's day, it became natural to celebrate Lucia. It started at a university (Lund I think) and spread over time by the students to their home towns. It was never very big but lived for many decades. However, it became big in the 1950s when a newspaper decided that the readers would be allowed to vote for this year's Lucia. After that, the tradition grew very quickly and became something everyone celebrated. The characters that you dress up as have increased over the years, Santa/the elf and the gingerbread man are relatively recent additions.
I thought the newspaper thing was from the 1920:s. When my mum was a child in the 50:s and 60:s, people dressed up as whatever they liked for Lucia. There were always Lucia and the maidens (tärnor), but also for example a baker or a chimney sweeper. Crossdressing was common.
In Northern Italy, traditionally christmas gifts where actually given on Saint Lucia day, but now we are loosing this tradition. The standard present for Saint Lucia day (so the christmas present) where Mandarins or Oranges, and they weren't brought by Santa, but by Il Bambin Gesù (The little Jesus)
Looks like in Finland it is more common in the Swedish-speaking areas (well not really a surprise). Helsinki and Turku seem to have a celebration/event; in Tampere I have never heard of it. The main main page I found about it is from the Swedish Finn Historical Society.
Sweden Our History: In the first printed description of Värmland, E. Fernow's Description of Wärmeland in 1773, a fuller description of the Lusse tradition in Värmland is given: On that day one should be up early to eat, with some people even having a little drink. Then one goes to sleep, and then another breakfast is eaten. Among the peasants this is called 'eating Lussebete', but among the nobles 'celebrating Luciäottan'. While Hofsten described the custom as only occurring among the common people, Fernow says that it also occurred on the manors. - It also seems to have spread outside Värmland. In 1791 Lucia was celebrated at the Värmland nation in Lund. The dean C. Fr. Nyman tells the story in the unprinted Märkvärdigheter uti Ingelstads härad from a trip to Västergötland in 1764, how he then came across the Lucia tradition, which was completely unknown to him: Just as I was lying in my best sleep, a Vocalmusique was heard outside my door, from which I was awakened. Immediately afterwards, first a white-clad woman entered with a girdle around her waist, wings on each shoulder, large lit candles in each of the large silver candlesticks, which were placed on the table, and immediately afterwards another came with a small table covered with all kinds of delicate, edible and wet goods, which were placed in front of the beds... it is Lussebete.
Thanks for these insights into this Swedish holiday, Filip. 🙂 What are those pointy white hats about I saw toward the end of the video? Looked like boys wear them as part of the larger ritual??
Star boys or stjärngossar, sometimes they are holding a star in their hands instead of a light (maybe more common in a childrens lucia) and they have stars on their hats
The gingerbread men and elf/gnome/tomte figures have come later in the tradition, often connected to a specifik song. Earlier there were Lucia (1) and her maidens (tärnor). If there were any boys, they were stjärngossar (star boys) that probably were a variant of the singing students doing rounds in the christmas holidays begging money. The stars can also be reffering to the wise men following the star. The popularity can also be a sort of countdown ceremony. Halfway through advent, Lucia appears.
Nothing wrong not knowing about it I grew up in Sweden and most swedes do not care about it, people celebrate it just because it looks cute and children can sing in school christmas songs ...Mostly one " song " called Sankta Lucia ... Most swedes do not even know what Sankta is as it comes from latin the more common swedish word is Helig -- i.e. heliga As it is a woman ....
The video clip you used showed the boys dressed in white robes with tall conical hats. Were these the "gingerbread men"? In US those conical caps are not associated with gingerbread men, but perhaps in Scandinavia they are. As a descendant of Swedes from Skane I enjoyed learning more about Lucia Day
Luca day is also celebrated in Hungary, but there it is more like a folk tradition then a church holiday. I think this rules out a purely Scandinavian origin.
Yule tide as christmas time is called in scotland. as we in the nordic countries says juletid. the celebration of the passing of the seasons predates historical time.
Lucia in Scandinavia is nothing but a pagan adaptation and later became culture. And now Scandinavians only celebrate this just because of that and not because of that she was a saint or Christian, 90 % don't even know the true story about her and about Staffan (Saint Stefanus). Tacksam för videon och infon.
Interesting. I did not know that Lucia was not a thing outside of Nordic countries, at least Finland besides Sweden. I always thought it was normal christian or at least Lutheran thing around the world.
I wish you had touched upon the story of Santa Lucia song as well. It adds yet another curious layer on top of this already slighly confusing syncretic background. How did a Neopolitan song describing the beautiful local seascape become adopted and rewritten as the main theme song of Scandinavian Lucia celebrations? As the song itself is from 1800s and the earliest mentions of the celebrations of Lucia's day date from that time period as well I am pretty sure at least modern Lucia celebrations are not older than that. I believe that most likely they are kind of "re-invented" history probably based on the historical catholic calendar entry of Lucia's day.
I have heard that in some viking traditions it was thought that killing a young virgin as a sacrifice would bring back the sun that was going away in the winter, much like the throwing into a volcano a young virgin would appease the volcano gods.
Watch Angela's Companion Video Here: th-cam.com/video/hRibH2NCu-8/w-d-xo.html
😃 It's very useful! 😃
"it's strange"
No, because Lucia is as much a remnant of pre-christian culture as anything else.
So catholicism and protestantism makes absolutely no difference.
"syncretised"
No, you most likely got it backwards.
Pre-christian traditions survived by masquerading as christian...
Try investigating how the use of runescript has recently been found to probably be relatively normal in Nordic nations up until the mid 19th century.
And up until at least 18th century, it is likely that it was very commonly known and used.
And we're not finding traces of it, because it was used on highly perishable writing media, like bark, wood, waxtablets and the like.
But the church still reported that literacy was nonexistant. Despite the priests effectively had to know how common runes likely were.
It was just part of the background culture. People kept it from competing with christian latin, and as such, the church didn't care.
"cant be a connection"
Of course there can be a connection. Santa is based on Yule-traditions, and with the calender getting messed with, of course santa needs to be included with Lucia. Or maybe he's there as a show of "i'm coming...". There's many possibilities really.
I've read several possible explanations for the gingerbread peoples and they range all the way from "oh dear..." via "OMG!!!" to "not only plausible but also not horrible".
For example, there's a lot of traditions around food over the course of yule and x-mas. And that's most likely the origin, together with how rare it was to get many of the expensive spices, like those used in gingerbread.
There is a very logical link between the most well-known saint and mystic of Sweden , Saint Birgitta, who is the only saint that has founded her religious community in Rome.
In Finnish elementary and middle schools, being selected as the year's Lucia for the Lucia mass was and is still something similar to being prom queen in US. Usually the most popular and pretty blonde girl won the title.
A Finn here, and can confirm this. Can also confirm that no one has any idea of the history of Lucia's day. It's just a thing that schools do.
Same in Sweden
Yes, well we Northern Europens do like our girls pretty and blond. It's the same in Scotland. Although we don't have this particular tradition. 🏴🤝🏽🇫🇮
In Jyväskylä, Finland, we were taught in basic school that Lucia's day is an old remnant of the time when it was celebrated as the midwinter solstice, but when the calendars were reformed, the celebration moved away from its original place. But Lucia's day is not as messed up as Nordic Christmas, which was originally a harvest festival celebrated in autumn, for example the Finnish kekri festival, before it was moved to midwinter.
That was litteraly the thing that happened in my class here in Denmark 😅
Always lovely collaborating with you, Filip! Keep up the great work 🤓
A pleasure, as always!
I think the connection to the winter solstice explains why it is more popular in Nordic countries. Whatever the pre-Christian tradition it replaced was also probably always considered more important the more north you go, as the effect of the solstice gets more extreme.
I was born in raised in very Cajun household in st martinville, Louisiana (the town was named for a catholic saint) and the church, St Martin De Tours still celebrates and observes St Lucy’s feast day every year on December 13th with the “saint Lucy’s Festival of Lights” and there are glowing angels handing from the trees and the entirety of the church grounds are lit with warm hued Christmas lights.
Interesting! ~~~regards from Finland.
It sounds beautiful. These celebrations of light in the darkest days really uplift the spirit.
As an Italian, I can add that S. Lucia is not even a very common "holyday" here. I'd say it's a day of celebration only in Sicily, but definitely almost ignored in the mainland, except maybe for single cities (Venice, for example, because it's where's Lucia's body currently is).
It's still interesting to know that in Sweden something happens that I would expect from Southern Italy - although it doesn't look like you spend that day eating fried things like they do here. :D
In bergamo, it's her that brings gifts rather than baby jesus/santa
Same in Spain. It's celebrated locally in different parts but not widely as a national holiday. My grandma's name was Lucía and the patron saint of her village was Santa Lucía. There it is celebrated with a religious parade by boat. The statue of the saint is placed on a fisherman boat and paraded alongside the coastline 😐
Not only Sweden, all over Scandinavia, and as I recall it, Finland as well!
We celebrate St Lucia in Tuscany.
I'm from Vicenza. I still remember my grandma giving me present from Santa Lucia the 13th Dec, and from the Befana tin January, while on the 2th Dec she will just give us some candies and fresh fruit.
I love that you, Religion for breakfast, esoterica, and Angela work together and support each other. All four of you have a different role in communicating religious studies and it is great.
Since forever, on St. Lucy's day my mother says "Santa Lucia, il giorno più corto che ci sia" (in italian: Saint Lucy's, the shortest day ever), and today I've learnt why. Ty!
(Also, she insists that we pray to St. Lucy, because everyone in the family wears glasses and she's supposed to protect the eyes...)
She must have done a poor job then, if everyone is wearing glasses.
According to legend she was blinded and therefore the patron saint for the blind (and of poor eyesight, I guess).
It's also celebrated in Croatia. Lovely video, as always!
Idk if all Croatians do this, but in my family it's tradition to make Božićna Pšenica on St. Lucy's Day.
For those who don't know, Pšenica is a traditional ornamental wheat grass that's grown in a small vessel during the holiday season, and is sometimes wrapped in a ribbon or has a candle placed in the middle.
It's actually completely celebrated in Croatia, Slovakia, Czechia and Poland. Not sure why he mentioned that it's almost only in Scandinavia and Italy.
The worship likely differs and the west Slavs (snow about you croats) celebrate her as a replacement for an old pagan witch ghost that sweeps evil and bad spirits out of people's homes.
@@tomasvrabec1845 We don’t celebrate the saint at all in Sweden. We have no existing saint tradition. This is an atmospheric event with light and beautiful songs during the darkest month of the year.
@@Crlmrtn You're saying Lucia isn't a a celebration of.. Lucia? It doesn't matter that YOU don't think of it like that. It doesn't matter that its meaning has adapted to the local context over centuries - religion always does this. The Lucia tradition is still permeated with St Lucy's (and generally catholic) imagery. So yes, it's an "atmospheric event with light and beautiful songs", like the main one: "Sankta Lucia". But is it also a "saint tradition"? It absolutely is..
As a Swede I've always wondered why we were celebrating a Catholic saint, but it also being a pagan ritual and celebration makes so much more sense.
Today it's more of a fun tradition than anything else. As for gingerbread men and Santas, those come from pre-school and elementary schools where the young boys were given options to partake. Not everyone wanted to wear a cone on their head and white dress. So to accommodate those kids, they allowed other Christmas related figures into the parade too. In the name of inclusivity.
And it is absolutely profound to listen to professionals sing some of the more beautiful Christmas songs. At work we used to get a visit from the Adolf Fredrik's School of Music choir. They were like angels.
Some celebrate this just so they can eat lussebullar without judgement, and some celebrate it as just something really nice and cozy to do on a dark, cold day.
Since Lucia is a tradition that brings joy, there's no reason for us to remove it. It's just as big of a part of the Christmas season as the Christmas tree is.
I just wish more dark haired girls were given the chance to be Lucia.
I know this is changing, but the little 10 year old me still thinks it's unfair that I wasn't even considered because of my hair color.
I am from the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia 🇱🇨.
It is said the Island was discovered on the 13th of December. We have a celebration called the festival of light's, it is held on the night of the 12th of December. It is a festival of home made lanterns
I figure the celebration on the night of the 12th is because traditionally, sunset has been seen as the point when the day changes.
That’s wonderful
When I was in 1st grade, my teacher decided to make the holidays the perfect time to learn about other cultures and how they celebrate. I got to dress up as Mary and sang spanish songs we sing in Puerto Rico. A few talked about Hanukkah and Kwanza. One kid talked about how Cambodia celebrated it. But the one to stand out was St. Lucy’s day. We loved seeing our friend dressed as her and give cookies out. I’m 31 now but I still remember this
In Norway, we sometimes call this Lussinatt - where the vette known as Lussi travels around and checks in on everyone's preparations for jol. Not sure about the chonology of which version came first, but vette is a creature from older Nordic folk beliefs.
The old tradition in Sweden was also Lusse not Lucia.
Yes very much prechristian and as the local refused to give it up the church made it christian.
Much as they did with Halloween in Scotland and Ireland, nothing to do with their church.
I'm reminded of the persistence of candlemass in the church of England, I have vivid memories of being handed an orange, wrapped in a ribbon, with a candle in it and processing down to the Abbey on a midwinter evening and being entranced by the luminous oddness of it all
I think this is Christingle as practised in my Anglican church also . The candle 🕯️ standing for Jesus as the light of the world , the orange as the world , the red ribbon as the love of god for the world through the sacrifice of Jesus , 4 cocktail sticks the 4 seasons/corners of the world , and the dried fruits as the Creation 🕊️
Candlemas is the 2nd February in the Western calendar, and Christingle services are usually held before Christmas day, aren't they?
@@georgem7502 you're quite right, i have no idea why the parish I grew up in used the names interchangeably
Loved Lucia day since I studied Nordistics in the 90s, Every year the Swedish Institut invited in the dark morning hours to the procession and Glögg and Lussekatter. It was truly an enchanting experience, sitting in the dark and hearing the faint, but approaching voices and to see the rapidly nearing bright light from all the (mostly dripping) candles and suddenly - boom! there was light! And all the special smells ,,,,.. - loved it, and so did my kids .Remarkable experience, won´t miss it. And thanks to IKEA the custom is spreading 😀
Awesome!! I love Nordic culture
'Rituals are performed first and explained secondly.' That's a nice phrase.
Although this mostly holds, there are actually some examples that have gone the other way around in religion - I am pretty sure the Jewish tu bishvat seder was derived from mystical teachings and then instituted, rather than vice versa.
Since Lucy’s name means “light,” it seems natural to celebrate her day with lights (which, until recently, meant candles).
Lucy/Lucia is also the patron saint of eyesight, I suppose because her martyrdom supposedly included having her eyes plucked out. Medieval statues of her often shows her holding a plate on which there are two eyes.
The saint is also important in Portugal and in Brazil (Santa Luzia).
I can easily see how beautiful this can be. The single most breathtaking moment of my life was having the honor of witnessing the light procession at the International Military Pilgrimage in Lourdes. It's a procession with tens of thousands of people ending at the square before the basilica, everyone carrying a candle. There's gospels being read, songs being sung, and during the refrain of Ave Maria everyone raises their candles. A sea of light, it's so awe inspiring
I highly recommend a reading of John Donne's poem, 'A Nocturnal upon St Lucie's Day' .
St Lucy is also quite celebrated in Catalonia, where she is called Santa Llúcia and is also considered the patron of sight. The 13th December was the traditional date when nativity scenes were set up (to stand until February 2nd). Now all the Christmas decorations are usually set up earlier (and set down earlier too), but still the Christmas market in Barcelona (Fira de Santa Llúcia) is dedicated to her. Also, in the town of Gelida it is customary to cook a big soup and share it to the people after the mass, in remembrance of the saint's assistance to the poor.
I had no idea, though, of the Swedish tradition, which looks really beatiful. Thanks for this great video!
In Rockford Illinois, a very Swedish and Italian immigrant town in the 50s and 60s we celebrated St Lucia's day with the candle parade and young girl in the crown of candles at our Swedish Covenant church. That was after a crazy night of 'kidnap caroling' where we went house to house after midnight, singing Christmas carols until they let us in, fed us, and then joined us for the next victims. I think the normal Swedish reserve demeanor needed some celebrations and rituals to keep from going mad...especially in the dark.
kidnap caroling sounds a bit like an old swedish yule tradition
Also a thing in Hungary.
But the Pagan origins of this holiday are well understood here.
Lucia's or Luca's persona is more similar to Christmas's Krampus or the Slavic Baba Yaga so more like a hag and some of the songs which used to be sung in the countryside were also pretty vulgar for Christian sensibilities.
When we celebrated this in school it was quite tame compared to it. :D
There's an emphasis on the Luca's stool and the wheat prepared for the holiday and sometimes celebrated similarly as in the Scandinavian countries but without all the goofy gingerbread and Santa stuff.
We also celebrate Martinstag like mentioned from countries also celebrating this, we had these huge pyres one time and i remember it was raining that day.
It was memorable.
Not sure if the latter is universal or celebrated only in towns with Danube Swabian traditions.
Kids will probably always think of it as the day they have to go through the chore making the lanterns with the pressure of getting bad grades if you don't. :)
I have known about St Lucia for a long time tho have never celebrated. Have also personally long known of Scandinavian love for Italians, my Danish Grandfather loved my Italian Grandmother. 💚Winter is really about celebrating the return of the light, candles lit here in California. Thanks for this beautiful video, heaing over to Angel's page now.
My parents hosted a Lucia Party, in Louisville Kentucky, in the late 60’s/early 70’s. A pre dawn breakfast feast with a young girl from the neighborhood chosen to wear the crown of candles.
I live in Wisconsin and I went to an elementary school that taught us about cultures around the world, and we celebrated Lucia day! one girl was picked to be Lucia and we all sang around the school. It was fun
This was beautiful. Thank you!!
I think part of why it's still so popular is because while it can be a really beautiful performance if done by professionals, it's also a really child-friendly tradition. As you mentioned, schools do it and even younger kids (my 3 year old is having lucia at daycare today -they've been practicing the songs for weeks). Children think it's fun with the dressing up and singing... And most of us have nice memories of doing it as kids, so we want our own kids to have that experience too, and we like to watch our kids doing it because it's cute, and so keeping the tradition going. Traditions that kids hate tend to not survive as well nowadays (my personal non-scholarly observation) because if you hated it as a kid and now with maybe less social pressure than in the past you have the choice to not do it, you probably won't do it 😅
What a wonderful video. I love taking a peek behind the curtain to see how layered and complex and OLD some of our traditions are. Your videos always leave me in a good mood like that. Keep it up!
I think it makes perfect sense that she is one of our most popular saints considering how little light we get, especially in pre-industrial times when there weren't lamps everywhere
Recently it was also 'the feast of the Imaculate Conception' here in Italy which is not celebrated in all Catholic countries.
...and in extension, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Hispanic world.
Indeed, we celebrate her every year in Norway! Really beautiful ritual and song
Interesting to see the pagan syncretism; might indeed be the explanation for it.
We are looking really looking forward to lucia! Nice that you made a video about it! All children learn about it in school but not many might remember it!
I live in california, but I went to an odd elementery and middle school, my 2nd-4th grade teacher was of Swedish descent, and so every year we would did Saint Lucia's day celebrations with the candle crown and everything, it was really fun
its also celebrated in slovakia , i havent watched the video trough yet, but i tought i should tell you , thank you for the amazing vidoes by the way, its really a treat to have somebody as curious and capable as you bring theese concepts and historical happenings to perspective , Thank you 😁
The story I was told was that Saint Lucia appeared to some Norwegian sailors during a time of peril and they adopted her as a saint in Scandinavia after that.
We have no existing saint tradition in Scandinavia.
@@CrlmrtnAlla helgons dag.
For those of you worrying about the fire hazard of a candle crown,
When i was a Lucia my music teacher was sitting a few meters away from me with a water bucket in case i fainted. I have heard siminar stories from other people.
Imagine before electricity and gas, how dark it would be. Candles would be expensive before stearin, spermaceti and paraffin wax appeared in the 19th century. It was not something people would use a lot of. So in Scandinavia, they would be in a lot of darkness.
I've talked with and old who remembered back to when she was young, she would sit with the ironcast oven open, so she could read her homeworks.
In such dark times, the joy of a light festival must have made quite the impact on people. Something hard to imagine now when we chase away the darkness with electricity, we don't really get to experience long term darkness anymore.
I adore strange little tidbits of culture like this, absurdities hidden in plain sight. Speaking of Italian islands, have you considered dedicating a video to the religion in Malta? I've just been, and the language alone is fascinating!
P.S. I still have a logo concept I could share with you, if you're interested!
I am from Slovakia and we also celebrate the feast of St. Lucia. It is celebrated primarily in kindergartens and elementary schools. There is a rumor that girls named Lucia will become witches in the future (that's why it was a very unpopular name in the past, nobody wanted a witch at home). During this holiday, girls dress up in white dresses and do various witch rituals as the prominent name of witches is celebrated. Above all, the name of future grooms and brides is divined. From St. Lucia's net to Christmas, there are various rituals associated with spider webs and other things I can't remember.
An ex of mine was of Swedish origin and grew up in Minnesota, and her family did the whole St Lucia Day thing, crown of candles and all.
I am gearing up to celebrate Lucia tomorrow. I am from Norway.
It was an important day in Croatia as well, it disappeared in the 1990s when Croatia was taken over by the customs and culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia. Otherwise, pumpkins were decorated on Saint Lucia, Halloween was not celebrated.
I hadn't heard of this before, what was the naški/croatian name for it? I'd like to check this out and even revive it with my family.
Halloween was originally from Britain/Ireland something about chasing away spirits.
I attended a Lutheran church while growing up in the US. We would celebrate "Santa Lucia" every December. It was, by that point, just "one of the things we do". The local chapter had been started by a small group that included people with both Swedish and German roots.
In my country (Croatia) we also consider St. Lucy's day as a religious holiday due to Italian influence.
Thank you for another fascinating video. I’ve always considered Saint Lucy as the Christianised version of the Roman Goddess Juno Lucina, whose name clearly links the associations with light, childbirth etc. Were any of the Norse Goddesses similarly linked with these themes and celebrated around this time of year, prior to being Christianised as this saint?
😃 Lovely and very interesting! Have a merry winter season, Filip! 😃
Maybe it's the fact that when i was a child it was her and not santa/baby jesus that brought me gifts but it's definitely my favourite saint.
About the boys dressed as "star-boys" (stjärngossar) with cones on their heads, some dressed as little Santas and gingerbread men - as I've heard they were included when schools and kinder gartens started to celebrate Lucia and teachers had to invent roles for the boys.
And then some songs and traditions from old Saint Stephens traditions, that were more "boys songs" were incorporated in the Lucia celebration, together with Christmas songs. For example a medieval folk- song about "Steven stable boy", which mostly is about his different horses. Maybe because in a mainly agricultural society horses was something people would relate to? Maybe more so than the biblical stories, which in those medieval times most people couldn't read about.
Could there be a connection between Lucia being a prominent festival in Scandinavia and Sicily, and the Norman conquests?
Lucia is celebrated in other countries also for example Poland , Croatia some places in Hungary.
She was one of the early Christians before the Church split into East and West so its a bit strange that she became a Catholic Saint.
2 of 3 of my daughters were lucia in the procession in folke skol.
🇩🇰
Hopefully the one who wasn’t Lucia didn’t get too sad about it. Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷
@@pedrod854 no. Each year one girl was randomly chosen. The procession was through the school hallways. All pupils had costumes and sang the St lucia song. I can remember the soliminity of the moment. I would leave work just to watch.
obrigado
In the area where I live in Norway, we still celebrate Lossi on the 12th of december. Children dresses in costumes and goes knocking on doors to get sweets. Similar to Halloween in a way. But I believe this tradition is kind of older than the Lucia tradition, and was more common throughout Scandinavia before. The Dalane region in Southwest Norway, is the only place I've heard of with such a celebration.
St Lucia day is apparently also widely celebrated in Slavic countries, where she is relied upon to protect people from witches and malicious supernatural beings
Why did you spell it "Solstace" instead of "Solstice" at 5:25? Is this an archaic spelling?
My church was Lutheran and remember a celebration like this in my church they was also a a lot of cinnamon buns served and I remember the song refrain
Fun fact! The small town in Michigan that I grew up in actually celebrates Lucia, I believe some Swedish exchange students brought it over in the 50's and we've celebrated it ever sense.
th-cam.com/video/sTLUae8IBtw/w-d-xo.html
Hello from Montreal. When I was a boy, there was a particular cartoon that played on tv, in the U.S. (Tom and Jerry cartoon) where the character sings the Santa Lucia song. Hearing the song now, it brought back that memory to me.
I think you left out Finland - as I recall it, they celebrate Lucia as well!
Another Saint we still celebrate is Saint Martin, with a feast the evening before Saint Martins Day - which also just happens to be in the end of the harvest season and overlapping with All Hallows’ Eve, and the Pagan celebrations there undoubtedly where part of life before Christianity….
Findland was longly colonized by Sweden, ... Swedes brought christianity to finland ... I think he knows all that ..
Lucia in Finland is a bit odd, since ... well, the traditional understanding I was taught, as a Swedish-speaking Finn in the 90s, was that this was something only Swedish-speaking people in Finland do. This is my experience later in life as well - most Finnish-speaking acquaintances have no idea what it is. This unfamiliarity reached a very interesting extreme in the early 2000s, when Folkhälsan r.f. (a non-profit association that works with a variety of things - teaching kids to swim, charity, retirement homes, but also organized until recently at least the biggest Lucia event in Finland every year) patented Lucia and the accompanying celebrations. Apparently, the patent handler had never heard of it before, and so figured it was a new thing and granted their patent.
Looking in this comment section, though, it seems people all over the country are celebrating it nowadays, so maybe it's spread into Finnish Finland as well since I was a kid?
@@markusmiekk-oja3717
Thank you for your response.
I had a Karate Instructor who was from Finland, and judging by how awful her Swedish was when we went on camps and at tournaments in Sweden, I highly doubt she was from the Swedish speaking part - as I recall it she were from somewhere in the Northernmost Eastern part, but I don't know how many speak Swedish or have Swedish ancestry there.
But this was back in the 90's and she had been Lucia several times as a kid, I remember we joked a lot about it, because back when I was a kid in Denmark it was very often the pretty tall blonde girl who ended up being the Lucia, but my instructor were definitely not a tall blonde, (but she was still pretty, very smart, and really really funny).
She's probably in her late 60's today, so it must have been used in at least some parts of Finland, aside from the Swedish speaking parts?
But it might have been in a few smaller communities - and it might very well have been due to some level of Swedish or Norwegian influence I guess...
But anyway, thank you so much for taking your time to respond - the part about taking a patent really made me laugh...
I needed that!
I’ve hear on Swedish radio P1 once that “Lusse” is an old Swedish word for midvinterblot that was what was celebrated on the 13th in the old calendar. My guess is that people continue celebrating it.
Lucia is one of my daughter's middle names. She is named after Lucia Gonzales Parsons, otherwise known as the anarchist organizer Lucy Parsons.
Good video! I however miss the comparision to the christmas processions from other places in Europe. One such procession that is relevant to the Lucia procession in Scandinavia is the Pertcha/Bertcha/Bertha procession in Germany in the Alpine region. That procession is also led by a female being/goddess and she too is described as "the bright one" (even though she has much more to do with "Lusse" then "Lucia").
I once read (do not remember where) that there were an abbot/bishop (or the like) in Bohemia that wanted to get an end to this commoners parade (that had demonic undertones) so he started to use Lucia instead of Pertcha/Bertha and made the procession more "angelic" instead of "demonic". It just so happen that one of the first known Lucia-celebration in Sweden with a white robe/shirt was done by a german from Bohemia.
The intrigue goes even further though. The german Pertcha/Bertha are in some regions known as "Frau Godan" and Frekke in this case is a local name of Wodan aka Odin. She is also connected to him as his companion in, and sometimes the leader in her own right for, "the Wild Hunt".
The wild hunt in turn is a very old mythology and similar myths can be found in for example Rig Veda (written some 3500 years ago, perhaps describing legendary events as old as 5000 years or older).
So there are much more to unravel here then just the connection to the scicilian saint Lucia 🙂
There is no reason to deny the bright Christian message in a dark and hopeless world marked by violence, war, poverty and disease. Our Lucia is rather something we should be proud of and pass on to future generations. Lucia heralds Advent and a bright, hopeful future. Amen.
Where I come from in Brazil we would put candles on the windows on Saint Lucy day, there we call her Santa Luzia, but also the name Lúcia/Lúcio is a very common name in Brazil, but not commonly associated with the Saint.
Lucia happens to be my birthday, so I have of course a bit of a special interest in the topic. I was hoping there might be some more about St Stephan and how his song in the celebration adds a horse connection that apparently didn't exist in biblical canon and may have some pre christian roots. In different versions of his song "Staffan var en stalledräng", he has something of a protector role. He goes out to kill a wolf, and then the song ends with everybody having their christmas needs of porridge, pig and candles met. His connection to Christmas is also based on legend rather than canon, as he originally was active something like 35 AD, but legend has him tell king Herod that the savior has been born.
Love St Lucia! We orthodox Christians venerate and love her as well!
I live in Illinois and went to an Evangelical college; it didn't allow dancing, except at Junior Senior and the Santa Lucia dance. The dance was loved by most people, except the ones who hated it because they knew it was Catholic.
She was one of the early Christians before the Church split into East and West.
Tack!
Reminds me also regarding the witch and her followers, of the earlier Holda and the Wild Hunt. Holda and her southern cousin Perchta in the traditions are also both connected to a witch figure and a benevolent figure. Connected to winter and the winter solstice, next to rituals of holding candles, lamps or other sources of light. The northern version, linked to Scandinavia according to Marija Gimbutas is Frigg and Frejya. Looking at the similarities in ritual that survives in other regions in Germany, and then also at 6:00 the reference made to Lussi and her followers. Make me suspect that there could be a connection here with this. But that is then more of a speculation. What we do know about Holda is that there is a witch figure also connected to her, that normally roams around and steals cattle, or otherwise brings harm to the community. Where her other side as Holda that is benevolent is connected to the carrying of light. We can see this also with Perchta. Another cousin of Holda. Having similar rituals connected to light, and a duality of character. Benevolent and potentially dangerous in a witch form. I happen to be somewhat of an expert on Holda and Wotan, and other linked Proto-Indo-European traditions.
In the more Southern variants of this pagan tradition there is first the light ritual, followed by the perchtenlaufen ritual, connected to fertility and the shooing away of the spirits that can cause harm.
I happen to also know people personally who practice the rituals linked to Perchta, and this aligns well with what you said about Lucia and Lussi.
The claim that 13th December was the shortest day of the year under the Julian calendar for a very short while. The winter solstice moved backwards by roughly a day per century until Pope Gregory reset the calendar to as it was in the 4th century. So the argument that S. Lucia was celebrated for this reason assumes that the holiday was introduced around the 12th century.
First protestants were a radicalization of catholicism, not a rupture. Then many catholic structures are retained among first protestants. Hard ruptures came after with later protestants, like calvinists and anabaptist derivatives.
But judaic (C)Hanukkah is also celebrated around this date, maybe it is a very basal folkloric celebration, related with solstice and perihelion.
The story of sint lucia has some similarities with sint Nicolas. He is also very popular in a, what used to be, Protestant country.
Side note. Lucia is one of the few holidays that hasn’t been commercialized for some reason. It’s just candles and “lussebullar”.
She was the most popular saint in Catholic Church during the medieval times and Renaissance as saint Ursula . But traditions had remained only in northern countries
In Denmark 🇩🇰 Sankta Lucia is celebrated without gingerbread man and Santa Claus. The song start like this in the altered translation…”Now the light is brought in”
In Sweden Lucia also called "The Queen of light" that explains a little.
Great celebration at Old Swede Church in Philly, with is Episcopal.
What I have learned and confirmed by searches. Is that since ancient times, December 13 was a feast day linked to the midwinter solstice, according to the old calendar. Even though we changed the calendar, the celebration continued on December 13. People got really drunk and this bothered many. To change this, someone figured out that you can celebrate something else on that day. Since it was Lucia's day, it became natural to celebrate Lucia. It started at a university (Lund I think) and spread over time by the students to their home towns. It was never very big but lived for many decades. However, it became big in the 1950s when a newspaper decided that the readers would be allowed to vote for this year's Lucia. After that, the tradition grew very quickly and became something everyone celebrated.
The characters that you dress up as have increased over the years, Santa/the elf and the gingerbread man are relatively recent additions.
I thought the newspaper thing was from the 1920:s.
When my mum was a child in the 50:s and 60:s, people dressed up as whatever they liked for Lucia. There were always Lucia and the maidens (tärnor), but also for example a baker or a chimney sweeper. Crossdressing was common.
@@kajsan760 You're probably right. It's been a long time since I learned that.
In Northern Italy, traditionally christmas gifts where actually given on Saint Lucia day, but now we are loosing this tradition. The standard present for Saint Lucia day (so the christmas present) where Mandarins or Oranges, and they weren't brought by Santa, but by Il Bambin Gesù (The little Jesus)
I love learning brother tyvm
Looks like in Finland it is more common in the Swedish-speaking areas (well not really a surprise). Helsinki and Turku seem to have a celebration/event; in Tampere I have never heard of it. The main main page I found about it is from the Swedish Finn Historical Society.
Sweden Our History: In the first printed description of Värmland, E. Fernow's Description of Wärmeland in 1773, a fuller description of the Lusse tradition in Värmland is given: On that day one should be up early to eat, with some people even having a little drink. Then one goes to sleep, and then another breakfast is eaten. Among the peasants this is called 'eating Lussebete', but among the nobles 'celebrating Luciäottan'. While Hofsten described the custom as only occurring among the common people, Fernow says that it also occurred on the manors.
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It also seems to have spread outside Värmland. In 1791 Lucia was celebrated at the Värmland nation in Lund. The dean C. Fr. Nyman tells the story in the unprinted Märkvärdigheter uti Ingelstads härad from a trip to Västergötland in 1764, how he then came across the Lucia tradition, which was completely unknown to him: Just as I was lying in my best sleep, a Vocalmusique was heard outside my door, from which I was awakened. Immediately afterwards, first a white-clad woman entered with a girdle around her waist, wings on each shoulder, large lit candles in each of the large silver candlesticks, which were placed on the table, and immediately afterwards another came with a small table covered with all kinds of delicate, edible and wet goods, which were placed in front of the beds... it is Lussebete.
Thanks for these insights into this Swedish holiday, Filip. 🙂
What are those pointy white hats about I saw toward the end of the video? Looked like boys wear them as part of the larger ritual??
Star boys or stjärngossar, sometimes they are holding a star in their hands instead of a light (maybe more common in a childrens lucia) and they have stars on their hats
The gingerbread men and elf/gnome/tomte figures have come later in the tradition, often connected to a specifik song. Earlier there were Lucia (1) and her maidens (tärnor). If there were any boys, they were stjärngossar (star boys) that probably were a variant of the singing students doing rounds in the christmas holidays begging money. The stars can also be reffering to the wise men following the star.
The popularity can also be a sort of countdown ceremony. Halfway through advent, Lucia appears.
One of my grandfathers was half Swedish, but this is the first I ever heard of this holiday.
Do you happen to be American?
@@danijeljovic4971 Yes. None of my great grandparents married a person of the same ethnic backround, so I am a bit of a mix.
Nothing wrong not knowing about it I grew up in Sweden and most swedes do not care about it, people celebrate it just because it looks cute and children can sing in school christmas songs ...Mostly one " song " called Sankta Lucia ... Most swedes do not even know what Sankta is as it comes from latin the more common swedish word is Helig -- i.e. heliga As it is a woman ....
The video clip you used showed the boys dressed in white robes with tall conical hats. Were these the "gingerbread men"? In US those conical caps are not associated with gingerbread men, but perhaps in Scandinavia they are. As a descendant of Swedes from Skane I enjoyed learning more about Lucia Day
No, they are the " star boys" ( stjärn gossar ). They were followers of lucia
@@notwwwe That makes more sense given their costumes
In Poulsbo, WA - little Norway - we celebrate it as well. Seeing someone with candles in their hair was really weird at first
Luca day is also celebrated in Hungary, but there it is more like a folk tradition then a church holiday. I think this rules out a purely Scandinavian origin.
Yule tide as christmas time is called in scotland. as we in the nordic countries says juletid. the celebration of the passing of the seasons predates historical time.
Grew up Catholic, was very important when I was growing up to contemplate on the saint whose feast you were born on. Her feast is my bday
This is the present narrative: in our country, it's dark AF at this time of the year. We need Lucia!
Lucia in Scandinavia is nothing but a pagan adaptation and later became culture. And now Scandinavians only celebrate this just because of that and not because of that she was a saint or Christian, 90 % don't even know the true story about her and about Staffan (Saint Stefanus). Tacksam för videon och infon.
bollocks
“Lucia” comes from the Latin “lux, lucis (f): light”. See the connection?
Interesting. I did not know that Lucia was not a thing outside of Nordic countries, at least Finland besides Sweden. I always thought it was normal christian or at least Lutheran thing around the world.
Thank you
I wish you had touched upon the story of Santa Lucia song as well. It adds yet another curious layer on top of this already slighly confusing syncretic background. How did a Neopolitan song describing the beautiful local seascape become adopted and rewritten as the main theme song of Scandinavian Lucia celebrations? As the song itself is from 1800s and the earliest mentions of the celebrations of Lucia's day date from that time period as well I am pretty sure at least modern Lucia celebrations are not older than that. I believe that most likely they are kind of "re-invented" history probably based on the historical catholic calendar entry of Lucia's day.
Came from Angelas video.
A video on brihadaranyaka upanishad ?
I had only heard of "Star Boys" instead of having the boys dress as Santa or gingerbread men.
it is seen as part of the wider Christmas season bc the Advent season starts late Nov/early Dec
I have heard that in some viking traditions it was thought that killing a young virgin as a sacrifice would bring back the sun that was going away in the winter, much like the throwing into a volcano a young virgin would appease the volcano gods.
Volcano ? That nothing to do with Scandinavia .Island is a Volcano island thou.😮
@@asahallberg-vonde2029 The issue is human sacrifice that is done to change ones world as is the case with Christianity and "lamb of God"..
@@marshalldarcy7423 OK. But Volcanos dont exist in Scandinavia exept Island.🤔