Lucia

After a long pause from blogging I'm now making an attempt at posting again (hopefully more regularly than the past few months...). My last few posts were related to summertime but now I'm making a huge leap to December and the winter holidays.

This past week Sweden celebrated Lucia. It's a holiday dedicated to the Italian Saint Lucia. Legend has it that Saint Lucia of Syracuse, Sicily, tore out her eyes to give to a heathen besotted by her. The man became a Christian and God gave Lucia her sight back. She was burned at the stake for witchcraft in 304 AD.

All over Sweden, schools, workplaces, towns and homes celebrate Lucia day. Traditionally children of all ages dress in long white gowns. Girls are Lucia's maidens and wear glitter in their hair and around their waists while boys are "star boys" wearing a cone with stars on their heads and holding a wand-like stick with a star on the top. Sometimes there are also kids who dress like Santa's helpers in red and white costumes.

They sing traditional songs and gingerbread cookies and saffron buns called "Lucia cats" are eaten and washed down with Glögg (a hot and spicy wine based drink). Below is a picture of the Lucia cats and here you can find a recipe in English of how to make them:

Image from www.santamaria.se