Santa Lucia Day with Guest Amanda Cabot

Welcome Author Amanda Cabot to the Inkwell!

Blame it on the springerle.  When I started writing Christmas Roses, I had no intention of including Swedish holiday customs in the story.  All I planned to do was mention some of the special foods that my Swedish heroine might have served her guests.  First on the list were springerle, anise-flavored rolled cookies that my mother-in-law said her Swedish mother used to make each December.  The fancy designs, compliments of a rolling pin designed specifically for these cookies, would make them perfect for my story.  There was only one problem.  A little research revealed that springerle were German, not Swedish.  Back to the drawing board.

I soon discovered several authentically Swedish cookies I could use, but in the process, I also stumbled across the celebration of Santa Lucia or Saint Lucy’s Day, and I knew that I was going to have to make room for at least a few of the details in my story.  After all, who could resist the image of a young girl wearing a coronet of lighted candles as she delivers breakfast to her family?  Not I.

There are several versions of the St. Lucy story, some more gruesome than others.  What they have in common is that Lucia or Lucy, sometimes referred to as St. Lucy of Syracuse, was a young Christian martyred in 304 AD.  In one version of the story, when she refuses to marry a pagan, Lucy’s eyes are gouged out.  In another, she plucks them out herself.  Some pictures even show her holding a tray or dish with her eyes on it.  See what I mean about gruesome?  It’s understandable that, as a result of these stories, Lucy became the patron saint of the blind.

If you’re wondering how something so nightmare-inducing was transformed into a celebration involving children, keep reading.  Legend has it that when Christian monks came to Scandinavia to preach the Gospel, they brought with them tales of the saints, including Lucy.  Rather than focus on her death or even the story that Lucy’s faith and her prayers to Saint Agnes resulted in her mother’s being miraculously cured of dysentery, the monks told of Lucy’s bravery in bringing food to Christians imprisoned in the catacombs of Rome.  According to the monks, as she made her way through the dark catacombs, Lucy placed candles on her head, thus freeing both hands to carry more food.  

How much of the story is true?  No one knows.  What we do know is that Lucy’s name is derived from the Latin word for light: lux.  Is that coincidence?  Hardly.  Nor is the fact that Santa Lucia Day is December 13.  Though today we observe the winter solstice and the longest night of the year on December 21, the old Julian calendar, which was in use when the monks first came to Sweden, marked December 13 as the solstice.  It makes sense that there would be a celebration of the return of light on the shortest day, especially since prior to the introduction of Christianity to Scandinavia, a pagan celebration of lights occurred on that very date.  The monks clearly wanted to supplant the pagan traditions, replacing them with their own.

And so we move from the picture of a blind martyr holding a dish with her eyes in it to that of a fully-sighted young girl, wearing a coronet of candles and carrying a tray of food.  Which image do you prefer?

St. Lucy’s Day has evolved and become more elaborate.  In the early days, the eldest girl in each family would dress in a white gown, tying a red sash around her waist, and place a crown of evergreen branches and candles on her head as she carried a tray of food to her parents.  What food?  In addition to coffee, the most popular items were and still are gingersnaps and lussekatter, saffron-flavored buns shaped like curled up cats with raisin eyes.  As you might have guessed from that description, lussekatter is the Swedish word for “Lucy’s cats.”

Now the day has become a national celebration, complete with processions through the various towns, singing and, of course, the traditional foods.  And, while individual families may still have their own Lucia, there are also contests designating a girl to become each town’s Lucia as well as one to represent all of Sweden in the annual festival of light.  There’ve been a few other changes over the years.  Not only are the candles Lucia wears now electric, but the procession is no longer confined to girls.  Boys participate as star boys.   

So, why am I telling you all this more than two months before Santa Lucia Day?  Simple.  I’m hoping that you’ll be as intrigued as I was with the legends and customs and that you’ll consider celebrating the festival of lights as the Swedes do.  I don’t plan to wear a white gown, but I am going to try making lussekatter this December.  Given my lack of success in shaping yeast rolls, I suspect my saffron buns will bear little resemblance to cats, but you never know.  As the heroine of Christmas Roses says, Christmas is the season of miracles.

Christmas Roses:

Celia Anderson doesn't need anything for Christmas except a few more boarders, which are hard to come by in this small mining town. She certainly doesn't have a husband on her Christmas wish list. But when a wandering carpenter finds lodging at her boarding house, she admits that she might remarry if she found the right man--the kind of man who would bring her roses for Christmas. It would take a miracle to get roses during a harsh Wyoming winter. But Christmas, after all, is the time for miracles . . .

  Brief Bio

From the time that she was seven, Amanda Cabot dreamed of becoming a published author, but it was only when she set herself the goal of selling a book by her thirtieth birthday that the dream came true.  A former director of Information Technology, Amanda has written everything from technical books and articles for IT professionals to mysteries for teenagers and romances for all ages.  She’s delighted to now be a fulltime writer of Christian historical romances.  Her Texas Dreams trilogy received critical acclaim, and Christmas Roses, her first stand-alone story, was just released.

Look for Christmas Roses at your favorite Christian retailer, Amazon, B&N, CBD, and Goodreads.