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!