Happy St. Lucia Day

Kiddo Holidays

Via: Hagerstenguy.

Friends, you know my obsession with all things Swedish, right? But I think it all culminates in this wonderful holiday, St. Lucia’s Day.

Via: A Polar Bear’s Tale

OK–I’m not Swedish or Italian or have any reason to celebrate St. Lucia Day, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love love love that holiday with all my heart and wanted to share my love/obsession with you all!

The story of St. Lucia isn’t that well known and there are several versions, but I like the one where St. Lucia is portrayed as a fiesty young Italian lass who hid a persecuted Christian family in the catacombs and led them by fixing a wreath of candles on her head.

I just think of this sweet little felt one…

via Frontier Dreams.

And I love Sweden’s take on it with the St. Lucia buns.  Oooh yeah! Spiced with saffron and currants.

via Stephanie Levy

via Flickr user, hfb

The only other person I know that love St. Lucia as much as I do is the wonderful Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy, who one holiday season a couple of years ago created these darling little St. Lucia kits.  Here is some of her work.

I love the Carl Larsson paintings of St. Lucia. So beautiful.  I want that tea set too.

I can’t help but think about what I’d like to try next year.  Would it be wrong to get the Peach to start bringing us cookies and coffee in bed while wearing a cute little crown and lights? I’ll at least print out this sweet St. Lucia paper doll to introduce this tradition to her!

Do you celebrate St. Lucia’s Day? Have you taken traditions from other countries and called them your own just because you like them?  And please tell me I’m not crazy for wanting this!

9 thoughts on “Happy St. Lucia Day”

  1. Oh we do, but then again I live in Norway. And my grandmother is swedish, so her family did it even when it wasn’t a tradition in Norway. The fourthgraders at our school dressed up today and paraded the halls with electric candlelights and buns for all the kids. When I was a kid we used real candlelights, but this is safer I guess. I still have my mothers old … what can I possibly call it… hardhat with room for candlelights. Talk about flaming hazard!

  3. It’s pretty big here in Minnesota among the Lutherans especially. My neighbors just invited me to the Lucia festival at their church but I couldn’t go this year, next year for sure as there are tiny tots dressed up involved!! The woman my dad ALMOST married had a CRISIS because she was not picked as Lucia at her college for their big festival, my mom likes to rib my dad about that one to this day since my mom is pretty proud of HER swedish heritage! I have the American girl doll of course since she is an immigrant now living in minnesota like my relies! Yay! However, are we going to discuss the fact that Tova didn’t dress up this year?? I did put her in a blue velvet Swedish looking dress however. Dottie when are you coming here? We can do the Lucia fests, Laura Ingalls tour and the Betsy-Tacy tour!

    1. Lish, I will be there soon for my St. Lucia/Laura Ingalls/Betsy Tacy tour! And going out vintage shopping with you, girl. Because you have some rad spots!

      I can’t help but think about Tova in her St. Lucia outfit in a few years. Sigh!

  4. I am a Swede living in the US since 1984– my family has always done something or other for Lucia, although I’ve been way lazier about the whole “rising before the family to bring them breakfast in bed” since I’ve been married & living in my own house. My poor hubby has never once gotten breakfast in bed on Lucia Day. Maybe if I still had a proper gown and sash to go with my 37-year old battery-operated Lucia Crown, that would be more incentive to keep doing it up “right.” At least we do the Saffron bread (my sister and I come to our mom’s and bake about a dozen saffron wreaths, filled with cardamon, cinnamon, honey and almond paste) and the Pepparkakor (thin ginger cookies, like Anna’s Brand, which are available all over US stores.) Usually we have Glögg (mulled sweet wine, served warm with almonds, raisins, and cinnamon) or Hot Cocoa, too. But we’ve now kind of turned it into an evening celebration instead of a morning one, so we can all convene at our parents’ house for dinner and sweets, after our respective work days end. Gathering here at 6 a.m. would be a tall order! 🙂 Happy Lucia Day!

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