Santa Lucia

Lucia is a event that takes place 13 of december every year.
Lucia was once a beatiful , young woman that acording to the legend died, when a young man was rejected by Lucia , and he told the ruling authorities that she was indeed christian.,
In the old nordic calender the night of Lucia( between 13 and 14th)was the longes night of the year.
I also was filled with trolls, spirits and other evial ness. At this night you should stay inside.
All the work that was left undone by dawn was done by the spirits ,whiches and trolls and nisser(elfs) by the next day.
The name Lucia comes from a latin word,: lux, which means light.
In Sically /Italy, they still celebrate the day with a light/candel fest.
In the nordic contries we have the tradition for a young girl( a virgin..) , all dressed in white, walks in a parade with candles on her head and in her hands, with white dressed girls walking behind her singing the Lucia song..
In Denmark there is a tradition for girls in schools to join the parade and there is a Lucia queen taken out to actually be Lucia..It is one of the most beatiful traditions we had in our school and with the lights turned off ,everybody got very silent and it is all very moving. The one day in the whole schoolyear that 600 kids could be quiet.
The parade walks around the school, later in the elderly community to spread some christmas spirit.
3 years ago my daughter was The Lucia Queen. Oh, she was so proud of the job( and so was I)