Saint Lucia Day
Luciadagen (Saint Lucia Day) is on the 13th of December. It is traditionally a feast day from the Calendar of Saints which comes from the early Christian custom of commemorating martyrs on the anniversary of their death (or birth into heaven). Even though Norway recognises the other feast days in the Catholic Church, only St Lucia, St John and St Olav’s days are celebrated nation-wide.
After the Reformation in the 1500s (when the Protestant Church became the State Church of Norway) St Lucia day was forgotten. It wasn’t until after WWII that Norway re-adopted St Lucia Day from the Swedes. Today the celebration is observed in schools and community organisations all over the country.
The school activities on St Lucia Day include a casual procession of singing children. One girl is chosen to lead, who represents St Lucia. She is dressed in white with a red sash and a wreath of candles around her head. Traditionally the procession is made up of all girls dressed in white. However, today, boys also join in, dressed as Nisse – a Norwegian elf. They travel through the school buildings handing out Lussekatter (Lucia buns) and sing the Saint Lucia song:
(Note: Norway, Denmark and Sweden have their own versions of the Saint Lucia Song.)
Sankta Lucia (Norwegian Lyrics)
Svart senker natten seg i stall og stuer.
Solen har gått sin vei, skyggene truer.
Inn i vårt mørke hus stiger med tente lys,
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia!
Natten er mørk og stum. Med ett det suser
i alle tyste rom som vinger bruser.
Se på vår terskel står, hvitkledd med lys i hår,
Sankta Lucia, Sankta Lucia!
Saint Lucia (English translation)
Black night is falling in stables and homes.
The Sun has gone away, the shadows are threatening.
Into our dark house enters with lit candles,
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia!
The night is dark and silent; suddenly a rush
in all quiet rooms, like the waving of wings.
See, at our threshold stands, dressed in white with lights in her hair,
Saint Lucia, Saint Lucia!
Lussekatter
Lucia buns are the traditional treats handed out during the children’s procession and are a sweet bread or ‘boller’. The literal translation is ‘Lucia cats’. This is because of the characteristic winding tail design. The buns are also decorated with raisins.
Lussekatter Recipe
50 grams of fresh yeast or 1 packet of dry yeast
(note: sweet dough yeast is best to use)
150 grams butter
500mls of milk
1 gram of saffron (or half a teaspoon of turmeric)
150 grams of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cardamum
about 1.3 litres of plain flour (measure in a water jug)
For decoration:
1 beaten egg for glazing
Raisins
Method
Melt butter. Add milk. Crumble yeast in a mixing bowl in some of the lukewarm milk/butter mix. Then add rest of wet ingredients. (Skip this step if using dry yeast.)
Mix in sugar salt cardamum and saffron. Add flour knead until a nice firm dough. (If using dry yeast add packet to flour before adding to the mix.) Cover in plastic wrap and let raise until double the size.
Sprinkle some flour on a kneading area and knead dough well. Cut dough into pieces and roll them to long finger thick sausages. Shape them into the famous Lussekatter double spiral. Place on a baking sheet and cover in plastic. Allow to raise for 15 minutes. Glaze with beaten egg and decorate with raisins (usually one raisin in each eye of the swirl.)
Bake at 225°C for 5-8 minutes (depending of size). Let them cool on a rack. They taste best lukewarm.
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someone at work made some of these buns and brought them to work. the colour, the taste, the amount of raisins, the shape, absolutely perfect. yuuummm…
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from L-Jay:
At my old work we would have cake day once a month. Everyone would get together for lunch and have the Norwegian cream cake – very fattening, but very goood!
L-Jay, thank you for sharing the recipe and for translating the Norwegian words. I love to learn about the meaning behind each celebration and you’ve done a wonderful job in this.
I have a surprise for you on my Heart Choices Saturday post, my friend. No obligation; just blessings to you.
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from L-Jay:
Ah – I can’t take credit for the translating – that was Moose. I’m still very much a beginner at Norwegian.
I must admit, it is very nice to celebrate all these traditions. They are all centred around children, family or community. We live in such a singular world, it’s nice to have an excuse to get together and celebrate. (So often too! lol)
Nice thay these holidays are celebrated to brighten things up a bit during the dark winter months!
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from L-Jay:
Hm – very good point! All these traditions probably came about from the Old Norse getting bored of staying inside all the time…lol.
Yep. St. Lucia is celebrated in a couple of northern Italian towns, and in Scandinavia. It’s got to do with a need to fill the old pagan feasts with Christian celebrations back when the area was converted, can’t go and reduce the number of party days, after all! The version of the celebration included mostly drinking.