Advent 13 – 13 December 2021
Happy St Lucy’s Day…
Or Sankta Lucia’s Day, the start of Christmas celebrations for many people in Sweden, Norway and Finland. The observance commemorates Lucia of Syracuse, an early-4th-century virgin martyred during the Diocletian Persecution, who, it is said, brought food and help to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, wearing a candlelit wreath on her head to light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible.
Girls in Nordic lands wear elaborate head-dresses with candles, signifying light during the darkest time of the year. Last year, Maya and I were invited to join friends with Scandanavian roots for an outdoor gathering to celebrate the day. We sang Natten går tunga fjät, the Sankta Lucia Song, and ate delicious spiced cookies. And Maya wore the traditional head-dress with candles…
An English translation of the song is as follows:
The night goes with weighty step
round yard and stove
round earth, the sun departs
leave the woods brooding
There in our dark house,
appears with lighted candles
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.
The night goes great and mute
now hear it swing
in every silent room
murmurs as if from wings.
Look at our threshold stands
white-clad with lights in her hair
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.
The darkness shall soon depart
from the earth’s valleys
thus she speaks
a wonderful word to us
The day shall rise anew
from the rosy sky.
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia.
We are surely longing for the speedy departure of darkness from earth today, and a new day rising from a rosy sky. Here is another image, from the East Sands, from a walk I took earlier this year, of just such a hopeful sky.
One or two readers of the Advent Calendar have wondered if I’ve been a bit downcast in recent days as constraints seem to be returning. They could be right. So to cheer us all up, here’s a joke you might like.
Why is it getting harder to buy Advent calendars?
Because their days are numbered!
Indeed they are – this is the thirteenth day of our Advent Calendar, and we are just over the half-way point to Christmas. Some lovely St Andrews-themed windows to come.
Yours,
Donald.