St. Lucy
Her name means light, and her feast lands in the darkest part of the year.
Lucy was a young Sicilian woman killed in the persecution under Diocletian, around the year 304. Very little else is certain about her, and the details that survive are more legend than record.
What is certain is the name. Lucia, from lux, light. Under the old calendar her feast fell on the shortest day of the year, and the coincidence was too good for northern Europe to pass up.
So in Sweden, on the darkest morning of the winter, the oldest daughter puts on a white dress and a crown of candles and carries breakfast to everyone else in the house while it is still dark outside. A Sicilian girl nobody knows much about is the reason.
St. Lucy facts for kids
- Her name comes from the Latin for light
- In Sweden and Norway, girls wear crowns of candles on December 13
- Under the old Julian calendar her feast was the winter solstice
- Patron of eyesight, which is why she's often painted holding eyes on a dish
Feast day: December 13 · Patron of eyesight and the blind
St. Lucy, bring a little light into the darkest part of my day.