Today is Luciadag (Saint Lucy´s Day), which is celebrated every year on 13th of December and it seems to be a popular event in Sweden. Saint Lucy´s Day is celebrated in many countries but in Scandinavia it is a popular occasion and many public events take place. Sankta Lucia is represented by a girl in white dress who wears a crown with burning candles. She is the bearer of light in long and dark winters and candle processions and choirs are related to this celebration.
In the city, there is a lot of events related to celebration of Luciadag. Typically, you can go on Luciakonsert to the church and enjoy the ceremony. This is what I did with my friends. We bought tickets (more than one month in advance) to Uppsala Domkyrka to see this traditional feast and it was beautiful. Domkyrka inside is really huge and a lot of people came to see Luciakonsert. Whole cathedral was covered in darkness and only light of candles created cosy atmosphere.
As it was dark inside, my pictures are not really suitable to reflect that nice atmosfere of the concert. But you can google a lot of pictures or here is information about this year´s concert.
With Luciadag is related a special baked bun – Lussekatt (St. Lucy Bun), which is now literally in every bakery and shop. These buns are made with saffron and therefore they have typical yellow colour and as I noticed Swedes are crazy about making every pastry yellow in this part of the year. Even cinnamon buns, almond buns, sugar buns turn into yellow and new varieties and shapes of Lussekatt come into stores. I tried even saffron ice-cream and I have to admit that it is not my favourite taste and I am looking forward till all pastries are without that specific taste again.
I am so glad that we bought tickets for Luciakonsert as it was something new for me and I really enjoyed that. After this event, I got into real Christmas mood. So if you are in Scandinavia for Luciadag in the future, do not hesitate and buy tickets.
Bye,
Lucia
Denisa 😀