Today is Lucia day in Sweden, one of Sweden’s favorite holidays! When I moved here, I didn’t know what this day is about, but then I understood is the same celebration of Saint Lucia as in Italy. There are 2 versions of the story here, one of them is that Lucia was a female martyr in the beginning of the christianity around year 200 a.C and this is a Christian tradition as in Italy. The other one is that she was the mistress of the devil and this is a scary tradition, as the legend says that during lucia night animals gets possessed and bad spirits arise. Lucia is celebrated in Italy, Malta and Scandinavia.

Lucia Traditions in Sweden

Everyone eats and bakes Lussekatter – saffron buns – and pepparkaka, and enjoy them with glögg. More about glögg and pepparkaka, here.

Procession of Santa Lucia. Children dress up in white gowns, wear candles on the head and sing Lucia traditional songs.

This is a very funny video about Lucia Day in Sweden. Enjoy!