Saturday 12 December 2009

Lucy in the Sky


The celebration of St Lucy spread over all of Europe. But the place where she is most beloved is Scandinavia, where light is especially welcome in the long hours of winter darkness. On her day, the eldest (or youngest) daughter rises before dawn and fixes a breakfast of special pastries and coffee for her family. She appears in their bedrooms, dressed in a white dress belted with a red sash, and wearing a wreath of greens and four (or seven or nine) lighted candles. Sometimes the wreath is made of green rue and decorated with red ribbons. She serves traditional pastries called lussekatter (or Lucy cats), x-shaped pastries, sometimes flavored with saffron. Other traditional foods served in her honor include saffron buns, ginger biscuits and glogg, a hot spiced wine with aquavit.
(source: School of The Seasons)


With this post I throw some thoughts and light upon my friends living in the Northern hemisphere and those of You that see darkness around
You, despite the presence of the Sun. I hope there will be light falling upon us all, but most of all - You are the Light of my Life!

Have a lovely light season,

Anna-Lys

26 comments:

ANNA-LYS said...

*May The Light be With You*

<3 <3 <3

GMG said...

No sign here; but darkness isn't easy to find around... ;))

ANNA-LYS said...

GMG
Obrigado.

... or within? maybe I should move to Portugal during the dark Season? :-D

GMG said...

You surely should move to Portugal... Any season!! ;))

dianne said...

What a lovely tradition and although many of you are in the darkness you have those beautiful Northern Lights and I would suppose a faint hint of light just on the horizon. ♡

Little Lamb said...

That sounds like an interesting tradition.

Rune Eide said...

You forgot "... with diamonds" :-)

It would have fitted the Queen ;-)

Charles Gramlich said...

A light in the darkness is a welcome sight.

Unknown said...

How are you? Too much aquavitae? When you are sober, read this: celebration of "Lusse" night (the longest night of the year) occurred in Västergötland til Svenska Dagbladet made it a national tradition in 1920 or so. Originally it was not St. Lucia, but Lucifer. Later it was transformed to our saviour Jesus Christ. The candles resemble his gloria. I think you know this, but want to confuse your readers.
Lusse
Come on baby, light my fire!

imac said...

The light shines upon your soul and spirit Anna-lys.

Tis a wonderous song too.

Anonymous said...

standing like that with burning candles on your head...

you will be sure to light up.. *winks*


wonderful post...

Anonymous said...

send lucy
across the sky
with diamonds of light
and warmth (-28C here this day)

that is a lovely tradition, anna-lys

thanks <3

× × ×

/t.

Jeannette StG said...

The light of St. Lucia you need in the greyness of the winter. That is so different in my area here, close to the equator. Light and mild temps. all year around.

Like the new look of your blog! Reminds me of warm chocolate (which I love)!
Your question and that of others on my last post were very helpful, so I changed some things in the post, because I realized I was not clear in some things -so, thank you!

darkfoam said...

ute är mörkt och kallt ...

but inside is light ..

thanks .. :)

laughingwolf said...

thx anna-lys... we followed that trad in our home, too :)

Gunnar said...

Good morning!
When we lived abroad we scared the hell out of our neighbours when they saw the Lucia coming in the dark night.I guess they thought it was Kulux Klan or something like that..
i-)

ANNA-LYS said...

Natten går tunga fjät


Natten går tunga fjät runt gård och stuva

kring jord som sol'n förgät skuggorna ruva

||:Då i vårt mörka hus stiger med tända ljus

Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia .||



Natten var stor och stum, nu hör det svingar

i alla tysta rum, sus som av vingar

||:Se på vår tröskel står vitklädd med ljus i hår

Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia :||



Mörkret skall flykta snart ur jordens dalar

så hon ett underbart ord till oss talar

||:Dagen skall åter ny stiga ur rosig sky

Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia :||

Conrad Johansson said...

Staffan var en stalledräng
Vi tackom nu så gärna
Han vattna sina fålar fem
Allt för den ljusa stjärna
Ingen dager synes än
stjärnorna på himmelen de blänka

Hipp hopp halmen!

/ Krt

Dick said...

You are our light, maybe we should have an Anna-Lys(light) day also. lol.
I guess you don't get much daylight so far to the North. Santa Lucia will help you through.
Have a great weekend.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee

The Phosgene Kid said...

So if I want someone else to make breakfast I have to move to Sweden?

JeromeProphet said...

Some of us aren't so lucky, but we do have Anna-Lys to be our friend, and warm our hearts during these long cold winter days and nights.

JP

Nihal said...

Did you make some lussekatter for St. Lucia Day, Lucy? Maybe some cocoa next.. Happy belated St. Lucia's Day to you:) I hope it was a wonderful day for you and your family. Lets never mind the darkness but essential is that we have light in our souls.
Stay in warm & light the candles~

Cynthia said...

Hi Anna-Lys, Oh, I'm falling in
love with this lovely tradition,
perfect for my tastes.

Annay-Lys, please visit poemflesh
and offer your thoughts on my
interview with Michele Battiste.

Thank you.

Steve Malley said...

I really enjoyed this post, thanks for sharing it. Here in New Zealand, it's lovely, warm and summery!

puerileuwaite said...

In my house, I substitute Aqua Velva ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_Velva ) for aquavit.

Calli said...

This is a lovely tradition. Thank you, so much for sharing it with us!

Light for all of us...

have a lovely, love-filled holiday season, ANNA-LYS~ xxoo
Calli