You haven’t lived until you’ve worn fire on your head! (Put it on your bucket list now.) Today is St. Lucia Day — Glad Lucia to all of my Scandinavian friends! It’s been a little nuts around here lately, so I thought I’d take advantage of the timeliness, and share a post I wrote a couple of years ago for #SundaySips today. Enjoy the vintage photo of me wearing a crown of fire. Time to make the Glögg. Skål!
This is what I looked like when I played Lucia. Not at all.
A Happy St. Lucia Day to all of my Scandinavian family and friends! For the non-Vikings in the crowd, St. Lucia Day is a celebration of light on the darkest day of the year. Oh, and there’s eating. And drinking. Because what respectable Viking celebrates anything without eating and drinking?
And there are candles . . . lots of candles.
Before Christianity spread to northern Europe, the most important holiday in Scandinavia was the mid-winter Pagan Festival of Yule, which took place each year on the winter solstice (the shortest day of the year), around December 21st. Families and friends gathered together to share food and sustenance (read as: alcohol) — bonfires were lit and candles burned — darkness was overcome. Pretty nifty, right? Today, St. Lucia Day celebrations retain a lot of these same elements.
So…
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