Come and listen to Corus Acusticus! They "lussar" for students and employees at Campus Medicinareberget.
The Lucia procession stops at:
The health café at Hälsovetarbacken about 12:15, and
Salt & Acid in Medicinarelängan about 12:45.
Times are approximate.
Lucia – bearer of light
The Lucia tradition is as integral to Swedish culture as midsummer and crayfish parties. Immensely atmospheric, this 400-year-old custom brings peaceful joy each year on 13 December.
Celebrated annually in December, this historic custom is an atmospheric event involving a singing line-up of candle-carrying characters dressed (mostly) in white gowns. These tuneful “Luciatåg” processions – led by Lucia herself – play out on national TV and in kindergartens, schools, care homes, churches and offices across the country. Waiting in anticipation, the audience’s first sign that Lucia and her posse are nearing is a mellow chorus approaching from the distance, followed by soft light cutting through the pre-dawn darkness.
Lucia Day – also called Saint Lucy’s day – can be traced back to the 4th century. A Christian feast day, it commemorates the martyr Lucia of Syracuse, who, as legend has it, brought food to Christians hiding in Roman catacombs, lighting her way with a candlelit wreath on her head.
The 13 December was the historic Julian calendar’s shortest day, and according to Swedish folklore, the long night was dangerous, with dark spirits out in force. Staying awake was paramount, and eating helped – another connection to the small feast associated with today’s Lucia celebration. Lucia made her first recorded appearance in a Swedish rural home in 1764, but the custom really established itself in the 1900s.
Text from Visit Sweden.
