Saint Lucy's Day is a feast day held on December 13 in honor of Lucy of Syracuse. It marks, along with Advent, the beginning of the Christmas season. Traditionally an important feast day throughout Western Christianity, it is now celebrated in Scandinavia and in southern Europe, particularly in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Italy, Iceland and Croatia.
Saint Lucia of Syracuse
The celebration corresponds to the first day on which the sun sets later than the day before in the northern hemisphere. The saying "Sainte-Luce, the day advances by a flea's leap" corresponds to this observation. Lucie is a first name coming from the Latin word Lux, lucis, meaning light. It is precisely light that is honored during these celebrations.
In Hungary, besides the saint, there was an evil female figure, a spellcaster, a witch from ancient Hungarian mythology associated with this day of the reborn light, the Luca-asszony ("lady Lucy", an ancient name different from the modern name Lúcia). This is why this day is known in Hungary as the day of the year, linked to the greatest number of superstitions and spells.
In Sweden, Saint Lucy (called Lucia) is venerated on December 13 in a ceremony where a girl, elected "Lucia", walks in front of a procession of women; they are all dressed in white with a red cloth belt, Lucia with a crown of candles and the others with a candle in their hands. The candles represent the fire that refuses to take Saint Lucy's life at the stake, and the red belt perhaps the martyrdom of the saint.
The women sing a song of Lucia as they enter the room; the melody is that of the Neapolitan song Santa Lucia, but where the Neapolitan version describes the beautiful view from the Borgo Santa Lucia district of Naples, the various Scandinavian versions speak of the light with which Lucia conquers the dark. At the end of the song, the procession continues with Christmas carols or other songs about Lucia.
When the Scandinavian countries were still Catholic, Lucia Night was celebrated as a holiday among others. However, the tradition continued even after the Protestant Reformation of the 1520s and 1530s. According to the Julian calendar, Lucia Night was the longest night of the year. This is probably why the holiday persists in the Nordic countries, as the nights of November and December are very long and dark before the first snows; the idea of light conquering darkness is then very welcome.
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Today, Nordic and Hungarian Christians celebrate Saint Lucia's Day. The holiday corresponds to the first day on which the sun sets later than the day before in the northern hemisphere. The saying at the "Sainte-Luce, the day advances by leaping a flea" matches this observation. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #December 13 #saintelucia #luce #lucie #lux
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