Friday 13 December 2013

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (11)

11 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.




Remember how we put up some extra lights a few days ago? Well, it’s time to add some more lights into the mix with the celebration of Saint Lucia’s Day.

You’ve—hopefully—baked the buns, I know I have, and you should be getting pretty depressed what with all this darkness around you by now. Cue, a pretty blond girl, or boy, dressed in white—eerily similar to the Ku Klux Klan but hopefully that’s just a coincidence—with candles on her/his head, singing a beautiful tune to cheer you and me up.

I’m being serious by the way. So serious so, that I’m flying to Sweden tonight—the home of Lucia, expect it isn’t—to really celebrate this not-an-actual-holiday. But actually, I’m going to visit a dear friend—beije—whom I haven’t seen in over a year and a half.

I’ll be back on Sunday but don’t worry, I’ll still keep up with my Christmas countdown.

“St. Lucy/Lucia is one of the few saints celebrated by the overwhelmingly Lutheran Nordic peoples (Danes, Swedes, Finns and Norwegians). The St. Lucy's Day celebrations retain many indigenous Germanic pagan, pre-Christian midwinter elements. Some of the practices associated with the day predate the adoption of Christianity in Scandinavia, and like much of Scandinavian folklore and even religiosity, is centered on the annual struggle between light and darkness.”