The Lucia tradition
Lucia, with a crown of lit candles on her head, stands in front of the handmaidens who are each holding a lit candle in their hands.
A traditional Lucia procession. Photo: Cecilia Larsson Lantz/imagebank.sweden.se
What does midwinter have to do with white gowns and candles? It’s Swedish Lucia!
The annual celebration of Lucia in Sweden involves girls and boys clad in white full-length gowns singing songs together. The candlelit Lucia procession on 13 December is perhaps one of the more exotic-looking Swedish customs.
Many now replace the real candles with battery-powered ones, but there is still a special atmosphere when the lights are dimmed and the sound of the children singing grows as they enter from an adjacent room.
Tradition has it that Lucia is to wear ‘light in her hair’, which in practice means a crown of electric candles in a wreath on her head. Each of her handmaidens carries a candle, too. Parents gather in the dark with their mobile cameras at the ready.
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