Santa Lucia

… was yesterday (December 13) and though I don’t have a drop of Swedish, Norwegian or Italian blood in me, I decided to celebrate with a walk to the Norwegian Seaman’s Church. It’s a beautiful building with stunning views in a lovely neighborhood and so my wife and I parked in the last remaining place in San Francisco with 4 hours of free parking (of course, I’m sworn to secrecy) and on a crisp, sunny, winter’s day, began our five mile city walk with the church as our first stop. 

 

Long ago, our Holiday Play theme at The SF School was Festival of Lights and one of the plays was about this holiday. So I knew something of its origins, but with the help of a book (remember those?) called Customs and Holidays Around the World and some addition Wikipedia info, I caught up on the story. Do you know it? 

 

The short version is that long ago and far away, the third century, to be exact, the newly formed Christian religion was actually the minority. Paganism ruled the day and though to my knowledge, pagans didn’t (and don’t) tend to be fanatic and punish people for not worshipping a tree or one of the multiple pagan gods, the story says otherwise. (History told by the winners to justify their revenge in the next 17 centuries to persecute, enslave or obliterate all who didn’t worship their Christian god?) 

 

As the story is told, Lucia was a wealthy young woman in Sicily betrothed to a rich and noble pagan. She was not entirely thrilled about this and kept putting off the wedding with the excuse that she had to attend her sick mother. In fact, her mother was sick and having heard stories of miraculous cures at the tomb of Sait Agatha, Lucky took her mother there and she was cured. Lucy then begged her mother to break off the engagement and she agreed. 

 

Here's where the story gets gruesome, so parental guidance advised. Her fiancé was furious with Lucy and reported to local authorities that she was (gasp!) a Christian. (Another version reports that Lucy persuaded her mother to distribute all her riches amongst the poor and her fiancé, furious that he wouldn’t benefit from the dowry, outed Lucy as a Christian). When Lucy refused to make offerings to the pagan gods, he was arrested and sentenced to execution. The soldiers came to get her, but were unable to move her, even with strong oxen trying to pull her. They build a fire around her but she remained untouched by the flames. They finally killed her with a sword thrust through her throat. 

 

Yet another version says they first gouged out her eyes and thus, when she became one of Christianity’s eight female martyrs, she became the patroness saint of ophthalmologists and invoked by those with eye disease and throat infections. Who know who decides this or how they decide it, but she is also the patroness saint of authors, cutlers, glaziers, martyrs, peasants, saddlers, salesmen, stained glass workers and more. 

 

While celebrated in Italy, the most well-known celebrations are in Scandinavia, most prominently in Sweden, but also in Norway, Denmark and parts of Finland. A young girl is chosen to dress in a white dress with a red session and a crown of candles on her head processes in neighborhoods, schools, churches, offices and hospital carrying a tray filled with special cakes. (One story says that the original Saint Lucy wore the crown of candles on her head so her hands were free to distribute food to the poor.) She is accompanied by other young girls in white gowns holding single candles and boys called Star Boys who carry sticks with a star on top and wear long pointed hats. They sing special songs, most famous of all the Neapolitan folk song, Santa Lucia.

 

While celebrated in Italy, the most well-known celebrations are in Scandinavia, most prominently in Sweden, but also in Norway, Denmark and parts of Finland. A young girl is chosen to dress in a white dress with a red sash with a crown of candles on her head and processes in neighborhoods, schools, churches, offices and hospitals carrying a tray filled with special cakes. (One story says that the original Saint Lucy wore the crown of candles on her head so her hands were free to distribute food to the poor.) She is accompanied by other young girls in white gowns holding single candles and boys called Star Boys who carry sticks with a star on top and wear long pointed hats. They sing special songs, most famous of all the Neapolitan folk song, Santa Lucia.

Why do Scandinavians celebrate this Italian martyr and sing an Italian song (with words in their language)? One hint is that Lucia shares an etymological root with lux, the Latin word for light. December 13^th was the old date for the Winter Solstice and because the darkness is especially pronounced in the far north of Europe, the pagan rituals blended with the Christian mythology and Lucia became a potent symbol for celebrating the return of the light. Indeed, the English words to the Santa Lucia song confirm this:

 

Night comes with heavy steps, shadows surround us.

Round earth the sun has left, we wait in darkness.

She brings us heaven’s light, candles aglow so bright.

Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.

 

So there you have it. More than you thought you needed to know when you woke up this morning. There will be a test.