Happy Saint Lucy’s Day to all citizens and friends of Lorenzburg!
This day is celebrated on the 13th of December – the feast day of the Sicilian saint Lucy. In this part of the world the Saint Lucy celebrations are an amalgamate of pre-crhistian and christian figures and traditions. According to the earlier Gregorian calendar Lucy’s day fell on the winter equinox – the longest (and most dangerous!) night of the year, which led to many superstitious and folkloric practices to ward oneself from the dark forces. Maybe it’s not so strange that Saint Lucy’s day is celebrated as a feast of light in the darkness. Appropriately, the name Lucy comes from the Latin lux – meaning “light”.
The magical Saint Lucy night, just like the midsummer’s night and the christmas night, was useful in practicing magic and divination. In the days of old, those who were brave could discover hidden things or see the future by method of the “Year Walk” – a ritual walk in the night. One who wished to use the hightened magical energies had to fast all day and abstain from looking at fire. They also had to wander in silence, with an utterly serious face and without greeting anyone the would meet. Someone who met these requirements could see visions of the future.
Originally the Saint Lucy celebrations were a Swedish tradition where many local practices were combined into a national romanticist fantasy in the end of the 19th century. This, the more standardized, Saint Lucy celebration spread to the rest of the country and eventually to the rest of some of the Nordic countries.