Honoring St. Lucia...

2nd Grade has been extra fun because we are also studying the Saints. Today, we celebrate St. Lucia's special day. My nice camera has been lost and only resurfaced this afternoon, so I don't have any pictures to share of our celebration this morning. But I have two posts to share from last year.

First, our preparations for making a basic needle felted St. Lucia crown. That can be found here.

And then our celebration is found here.

Some basic information on St. Lucia from my etsy shop listing:

The legend of Santa Lucia is that of a beautiful young woman who was brutally tortured and put to death defending her faith. Abandoning her wealth and promise of a husband, she dedicated her life to serving the poor and feeding the hungry. Later, the stories surfaced of various miracles tied to this Italian maiden, including a legend in the middle ages when a large boat, empty of passengers, arrived in Sweden full of food and drink for the starving people of the town. Some swore they had seen St. Lucia with a light surrounding her head on the bow of the ship just before it landed. Some time later, she was adopted as a very important saint by Sweden and now a lovely holiday tradition takes place yearly in her honor on December 13th.

It was said that she brought bread to the poor Christians hiding out in caves and the wilderness. She strapped torches onto her head to free up her hands to carry and distribute the bounty. Hence, the tradition of the Light Wreath came to pass.

This is an "Old World" St. Lucia - the Italian maiden that probably more closely resembles the real St. Lucia (versus the lovely Swedish version that we've all come to recognize in the waldorf circles)...

No matter what color her hair and skin are, or what kind of clothing she wears, the gifts of St. Lucy, her love for the poor and the magnitude of her faith make her shine like a beacon of light in the night!

Hope you had a fun St. Lucia day!

Happy St. Lucia Day!

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Today, we celebrate Saint Lucy's Day, though our preparations actually began last week. Yesterday, we baked two different Swedish breads, altering the ingredients to suit our diets. One is a Santa Lucia Crown. And the other is the saffron buns which were served by the girls this morning. We also cut out the cute Swedish paper dolls that Jenn at Our Little Nature Nest blogged about here, in addition to making our crowns.

We lit our candles in anticipation and Tony sang the original version of "Santa Lucia" in Italian.

"While you have the light, believe in the light,

that you may become sons of light."

~ St. John the Apostle

The girls changed into their white cotton gowns to go to sleep and cradled the plate of Lussekatter before excitedly heading upstairs to sleep. In the morning, they woke "before us" (wink...wink) and came downstairs to find their needle felted crowns, the plate of buns (shrink wrap removed), and a cup of warm coffee for Momma. They headed upstairs with huge smiles on their bright faces!

I am amazed at what fun they had celebrating their first St. Lucia holiday. Next year, we are hoping to learn one of the songs to be serenaded and maybe they will be ready to actually make Mommy's coffee themselves :D

Now, we enjoy our Saffron bread and celebrate the light and the hope and care of our fellow man on this longest night of the year.

When on this earth she walked,

Bravely confessing,

All to the poor she gave,

All felt her blessing.

Ever her legend grew,

Spanning each ocean.

Light of the longest night,

Maid of devotion.

~ Santa Lucia verse from the wonderful book, "Lucia, Child of Light"

Preparing for St. Lucia

Hark, how the sailor's cry

Joyously echoes nigh:

Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

Home of fair Poesy,
Realm of pure Harmony,
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

~ traditional song

St. Lucia, a Sicilian born in 284, rose to become one of the most celebrated saints in history. Born to a prosperous family, she was devoted to her Christian faith, and was brutally tortured and put to death defending it. Legend has it that she vowed to remain a virgin and to serve the poor. After her mother was miraculously healed from hemorrhaging, when the two women prayed at the tomb of St. Agatha, Lucia convinced her mother to allow her to give her substantial inheritance away to the poor. The story goes that Lucia's father had bequeathed her to a pagan who was furious when the dowry disappeared, along with his future bride after she convinced her mother to allow her to dedicate her life to serving God. The jealous suitor turned her over to the authorities, who (under Emperor Diocletian during the age of Christian persecution) had her basically tried as a witch. They tried several times to kill her, but miracles occurred until she was finally run through with a sword. The beautiful Lucia was a mere 20 years of age.

Later, the stories surface claiming miracles tied to this Italian maiden, who was venerated by Pope Gregory the Great, including a legend in the middle ages when a large boat, empty of passengers, arrived in Sweden full of food and drink for the starving people of the town. Some swore they had seen St. Lucia with a light surrounding her head on the bow of the ship just before it landed.

Some time later, she became the patron saint of Milan. She was also adopted as a very important saint by Sweden and now a lovely holiday tradition takes place yearly in her honor.

It was said that she brought bread to the poor Christians hiding out in caves and the wilderness. She strapped torches onto her head to free up her hands to carry and distribute the bounty. Hence, the tradition of the Light Wreath came to pass.

With two 6 year olds, I decided to instead make two crowns of wool so that the girls can safely partake in St. Lucia's Day on December 13th.

I used pipe cleaners (about 6) and wound three together, then cut the others in half and wound them around to make 5 flames (5-7 is traditional).

Here is Elena modeling one of the wreaths outside of my dad's house.

Here are some nice links on this holiday, including recipes that you might enjoy. We are hoping to make some of the breads, both the candled one and the traditional Lussekatter buns that we will leave out on the eve of the 12th for the girls to take up to us in the morning :D

Here is a wonderful St. Lucia site.

Here is another version of the St. Lucia wreath you can make if you don't wish to needle felt it.

And here is the Star Boy hat for little boys participating in this festival.

- History of Saint Lucia, how this patron saint of Milan became so embraced by the Swedish peoples & recipe can be found here.

- Brief history with recipe and special dough shapes can be found here.

- Here is a beautiful bread to bake in the shape of St. Lucia's crown.

- This is a picture book about St. Lucia. I haven't read this one, but heard about it and thought it looks interesting.

- A recipe for Lussekatter buns served on the morning of the 13th can be found here.

And a wonderful little book (pictured at the top of my blog) can be found here or at the Steiner College Bookstore here. It gives a brief background on St. Lucia and how she became embraced by the Swedish people, ways to celebrate, songs, recipes, and related books and cd's. It also has a short chapter on the Swedish Tomte, who is often included in the St. Lucia festival. The Tomte is connected to the home and to the farm. He cares for all the animals and looks after the sleeping residents of the home, especially the little children, though the Tomte is never seen.

And, of course, this classic can be tied in during the week leading up to St. Lucia's Day, along with the sequel, "The Tomten and the Fox", both by Astrid Lindgren...

Have fun planning for St. Lucia's Day! And happy 2nd week of Advent!