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Saint Lucy's day
Dec. 13th, 2006 01:10 pmThe 13th of December has always been one of my favorite days, it's called the Lucia day in Sweden and Saint Lucy is the only saint that Scandinavia celebrates at all (in spite of being Lutheran). But there really is nothing religious about the Lucia day, it's a pagan tradition of bringing light into the longest/darkest day of the year that has been transferred into a more fitting context. In Scandinavia people do anything for light - anything to bring some festivity during winter - and on this day pretty girls with long hair parade with lights on their heads, one girl (often the one with the prettiest/longest hair) impersonates Lucia, and the other girls are her maidens, and they have tinsel in their hair and a candle in their hand. There are also "star-lads" in the parade and every one has a long white 19th century night gown on (night-shirt for the lads).
And they sing Lucia songs often with beautiful choir-harmonies. Every school in Sweden and many many work places have a pre-lunch break and a visit from a Lucia-parade, a moment to look at the pretty lights and to eat some ginger snaps and saffron buns with their coffee.
When I was in High School we had an American exchange student in our class, her name was Cara Lee and she was a nice girl, fond of mentioning her Scandinavian roots (back from her great grandpa's days)...but when we had our Santa Lucia-morning at the Malmö Latin high School that year, Cara Lee grew pale and exclaimed right in the middle of the parade:
Oh My GOD, is this a CLAN-MEETING??
Turns out that the Ku Klux boys also parade with lights (on crosses) in white gowns and their pointy head-hats are a bit similar to the pointy hats the Scandinavian Star-lads wear.
We pointed her to the one black girl in the Lucia parade (she was one of three Lucias, because she had one of the best singing voices in the School) and the american girl grew calm again.
Anyway, to see the faint likeness between the Ku Klux Klan's aesthetics and Saint Lucia's, go here for a good example. The similarities might have something to do with both these two vastly different phenomena growing in size during the 1800's.
I miss Sweden on this day, the smell of strong coffee and the sweet sound of songs with words like "around sun-forgiven earth" and "Dreams with the sound of wings, Santa Luciiia".
In a week we'll go there though, and I'm scrambling like a maniac to get everything ready for the trip.
This project I'm working on at the Archives is not for the weak armed or weak minded ones. Most days I feel like my chest is unsupported and someone hid my bra.
I guess that's the price you pay for wearing a coat with the letters "archivist" on.
And they sing Lucia songs often with beautiful choir-harmonies. Every school in Sweden and many many work places have a pre-lunch break and a visit from a Lucia-parade, a moment to look at the pretty lights and to eat some ginger snaps and saffron buns with their coffee.
When I was in High School we had an American exchange student in our class, her name was Cara Lee and she was a nice girl, fond of mentioning her Scandinavian roots (back from her great grandpa's days)...but when we had our Santa Lucia-morning at the Malmö Latin high School that year, Cara Lee grew pale and exclaimed right in the middle of the parade:
Oh My GOD, is this a CLAN-MEETING??
Turns out that the Ku Klux boys also parade with lights (on crosses) in white gowns and their pointy head-hats are a bit similar to the pointy hats the Scandinavian Star-lads wear.
We pointed her to the one black girl in the Lucia parade (she was one of three Lucias, because she had one of the best singing voices in the School) and the american girl grew calm again.
Anyway, to see the faint likeness between the Ku Klux Klan's aesthetics and Saint Lucia's, go here for a good example. The similarities might have something to do with both these two vastly different phenomena growing in size during the 1800's.
I miss Sweden on this day, the smell of strong coffee and the sweet sound of songs with words like "around sun-forgiven earth" and "Dreams with the sound of wings, Santa Luciiia".
In a week we'll go there though, and I'm scrambling like a maniac to get everything ready for the trip.
This project I'm working on at the Archives is not for the weak armed or weak minded ones. Most days I feel like my chest is unsupported and someone hid my bra.
I guess that's the price you pay for wearing a coat with the letters "archivist" on.
