The day for celebrating the life and death of Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy) was determined centuries before the Gregorian calendar (the one we use now) was in effect. Lucia’s Day was set when the Julian calendar was in use and when December 13th was in fact the Winter Solstice (it falls this year on Friday, December 21st). 

The celebrations for Lucia are most pronounced in Sicily (where she was born), in Italy, and throughout Scandinavia. Hers are celebrations of lights! Light in the darkness! Some legends have it that Lucia herself took a candle and food to Christians who were hiding deep in the catacombs to escape the violent deaths planned for them. Some of the Scandinavian festivities include having a procession with a young girl wearing a wreath (often of holly) into which lighted candles are placed. Yes, you read that correctly! (However, I understand that Sweden now has a law that the candles may only be of the battery-operated variety–as a safety measure.)

Butler relates that Lucia, at an early age, had vowed her virginity to God and kept that vow a secret from everyone, including her mother. Mom, however, began seeking an appropriate match for her daughter and found a very wealthy pagan nobleman, who plied Lucia with jewels and various gifts in an effort to woo the young virgin.

Then, in the midst of this one-sided courtship, Lucia’s mother fell gravely ill. Lucia convinced her mother to travel with her to the tomb of St. Agatha, and there they offered up prayers of supplication to God. Her mother recovered, and, at that point, Lucia revealed to her mother her vow of virginity, and her mother accepted this revelation as part of God’s plan. 

Then mother and daughter, out of a spirit of generosity, made a tactical though not a spiritual misstep: they took all the jewels and gifts of the aforementioned pagan suitor and sold them all to raise funds for the poor. When the suitor found out that not only were his gifts sold but that the engagement was off, he was understandably infuriated. He took advantage of Christian persecutions that were raging at the time to turn Lucia over to the authorities.

Uncowed by the magistrate, Lucia stood firm in her faith. Butler picks up the story:

The judge commanded the holy virgin to be exposed to prostitution in a brothel-house; but God rendered her immovable, so that the guards were not able to carry her thither. He (God) also made her an overmatch for the cruelty of the persecutors, in overcoming fire and other torments.

Alas, although Lucia became too heavy to be moved and too fire-proof to be burned, she finally succumbed to beheading. 

The Swedish song that is sung each year to celebrate this saint, Sankta Lucia, is translated so:

Night walks with a heavy step
Round yard and hearth,
As the sun departs from earth,
Shadows are brooding.
There in our dark house,
Walking with lit candles,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!

Night walks grand, yet silent,
Now hear its gentle wings,
In every room so hushed,
Whispering like wings.
Look, at our threshold stands,
White-clad with light in her hair,
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!

Darkness shall take flight soon,
From earth’s valleys.
So she speaks 
Wonderful words to us:
A new day will rise again
From the rosy sky…
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!