Sunday, December 13, 2009

Saint Lucy and her Brides

Saint Lucy and her Brides

Saint Lucy's Day

St. Lucia parade

We celebrate Saint Lucy's Day today. And here is the 2009 National Lucia Bride, Sofia Högmark, surrounded by her six maids. They are Hannadi El Assir, Maria Arvinder, Anna Ekman, Ann-Sofie Larsdotter,Elin Klingfors and Emma Fagerström. It's a busy time for the girls with appearances all over the country, but they did have time to pose for a few photos after their performance in Västerhaninge today, where they sang Christmas Carols before a big crowd. I told them that I would leave a comment at Sofia's blog so that they would know where to see the photos and that seemed to cheer them up a bit! The official crowning took place at Skansen in Stockholm a few hours after I met the girls. In a few days time they will leave Sweden and fly south to Italy where they will visit Syracuse from were the tradition originates.

20 comments:

Gunn said...

Wow, that was a very nice and very interesting posting.
I know the tradition is BIG in Sweden, but I did not know that it was so BIG!

ps. I thought your gingerbread making looked tasty.
Next year I will try too.

Three Rivers, Michigan said...

Oh I love these photos! What a wonderful tradition to follow.

Three Rivers Daily Photo

cieldequimper said...

Very nice, I love these traditions!

rusyena makes said...

interesting tradition...now i read on Wikipedia and learned what it is...
nice to learn it and see the pics... thanks for post...

brattcat said...

How very lovely!

Lowell said...

A lovely group of Swedish belles! I think the Santa Lucia tradition is still big in some Lutheran churches in the States.

Unknown said...

A blond lady with candles in her head is not easy to forget and I already knew about this tradition in your country, but the first shot is the best portrait I've ever seen of Saint Lucy and the Brides!

Kate said...

Love the group photo. Why does the bride only carry a muff and scarf; what's the material...lamb? Didn't know the tradition originated in Italy! Learn so much from blogging, in such a pleasurable way, too.

PS. I'm sure Leif from Eagan will love this series!

Halcyon said...

Happy St Lucia day!! I have heard of this festival before, but it's wonderful to see it in photos. I sort of wondered how the "Lucy" would carry candles on her head.

Don and Krise said...

Interesting tradition and another great post Steffe.

VP said...

Syracuse? It's easier to fly to Sweden from here...
Why didn't this tradition originate in Florence or Pisa?

Tinsie said...

Lovely photos! I'd love to be in Sweden for Saint Lucy's day one year.

B SQUARED said...

It will be a lot warmer where they are going.

Leif Hagen said...

Jacob and Kate are right! Swedish Lutheran Minnesota does celebrate ST. LUCIA! We had a little St. Lucia breakfast at home with our girls. The St. Lucia gal wearing the candle crown in your photos is lovely! Next year, I promise we'll be at the Swedish Institute in Minneapolis on Dec 13 at 6 AM for the St. Lucia fest!

Allison said...

What Leif said...

Amy said...

I hope they are warm under all that

Stefan Jansson said...

It's a popular tradition Gunn. The Nobel Price winners are normally woken up by a Lucia and her maids who will sing for them while they are still in bed enjoying coffee and ginger bread cakes!

Lucia is still being celebrated here and there both around Europe and in North America.

Thanks JM. I'm kinda happy with the photos myself! Have a look at the wikipedia article Kate.

The girls are in Italy as we speak.

Christchurch Photo Diary said...

Nice post. The funny thing is that the day of this post (before I had seen it),I bought a head-torch (a hands-free torch on a strap you wear around your head). I had not heard of St Lucy before. How's that for a coincidence!

Anonymous said...

you captured them beautifully.

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