We celebrated St. Lucy’s Day today (yes, a day early), Swedish-style!
Night walks with heavy tread ’round farm and byre,
dark sun-forsaken earth shadows attire.
Then in our winter gloom candlelight fills the room:
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.Silent and dark the night, now hear descending
rustle of wings in flight, all darkness ending.
Then she comes, dressed in white, head wreathed in candles bright:
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia.“Shadows will soon be gone from earth’s dark valley” —
wonderful words anon us cheer and rally.
Day will soon draw anew in skies of rosy hue:
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia!– Words: Arvid Rosen (1928); Translation: Anne-Charlotte Harvey
From the Orthodox Church in America:
Saint Lucy was born in Syracuse, Sicily during the reign of Diocletian. She distributed her wealth to the poor, and made a vow of virginity. Since she refused to marry him, a rejected suitor denounced her to the prefect Paschasius as a Christian, and she was arrested. She was sentenced to be defiled in a brothel, but with God’s help she preserved her purity.
Then the pagans attempted to burn her alive, but she was not harmed by the fire. Finally, she was killed by a sword thrust to the throat.
The name Lucy (Lucia) is derived for the Latin word for light (lux), and so she is often invoked for afflictions of the eyes. There is a tradition that she was blinded by her torturers, and the church of San Giovanni Maggiore in Naples even claims to possess her eyes.
If you’re wondering about the crown of candles, Florence Ekstrand tells us that “a story, perhaps apocryphal, has Lucia bringing food to Christians hiding in caves. Because she needed both hands free to carry the food, she strapped torches to her head” (Lucia: Child of Light).
