Happy Santa Lucia Day

For the past few weeks I've been donning a white gown and putting a glittery wreath on my head to celebrate Santa Lucia with the Chicago Nordic Choir. Every time I do this, I feel a bit foolish. I remember attending a Santa Lucia festival at my grandmother's Swedish Covenant Church a long time ago. The "Lucia" wears a crown of candles, and her young, virginal court follows behind her in a processional to celebrate the saint.

Now that I'm a member of the Nordic Choir, I've just been going along with this tradition, not really knowing what it means. Something about "light" and of course a saint named "Lucia". But a few nights ago we sang a Lucia concert at a Lutheran church in Evanston and one of the church members read the story of Lucia. Finally, I understood the meaning of the candles, white robes and red sashes we wear around our waists.

Here's the Lucia story:

"The origins of the Santa Lucia tradition are not in Scandinavia, but in Syracuse on the island of Sicily around 304 A.D. According to the Sicilian legend, Lucia's mother, a wealthy lady, had been miraculously cured of an illness at the sepulcher of Saint Agatha in Catania. Lucia, a Christian, persuaded her mother in thankfulness to distribute her wealth to the poor. So, by candlelight, the mother and daughter went about the city secretly ministering to the poor of Syracuse.

Unfortunately, this was during the last great persecution of Christians in the reign of the Emperor Diocletian. The pagan young man, to whom Lucia was engaged, took a dim view of this distributing of her dowry, and denounced her to the prefect, Pascasius, who ordered that she be seized and tortured. Miraculously, when neither boiling oil nor burning pitch had the power to hurt her, she was blinded and slain with a sword. Her martyrdom is recorded in ancient sources and in an inscription found in Syracuse.

How or when this legend and tradition came to Värmland, Sweden, no one knows. With the coming of Christianity to Sweden shortly after 1000 A.D., missionaries and priests may have told the story to inspire new converts. Another possibility is that sailors from Sweden may have been captivated by the popular candlelight festival of Santa Lucia in Italy and brought the tradition back with them. A newer theory, requiring more research is that St. Birgitta (1303-1373), during her stay in Rome (1349-1373) in her effort to get papal approval of the Bridgittine Order for women, probably wrote home to Sweden telling of the Lucia legend which was widely known in Italy. As Lucia Day comes at the darkest time of year, the candies of the ministering Santa Lucia portend and witness to the True Light-the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the morning of the thirteenth of December, the strains of "Santa Lucia" are heard everywhere in Sweden as the white-robed maiden comes out of the night with her burning crown of candies dispelling the darkness. In honor of her martyrdom, It has long been the custom to donate money on Lucia Day to institutions working for the blind."

Now, when I wear the white robe and carry a candle, I will know that I am a witness to the True Light, Jesus Christ.