Christmas time begins on St. Lucia Day—December 13th. St. Lucia was a brave lady who brought food to Christians who were in hiding every night. She wore candles on her head to light her way. Today, on St. Lucia Day, before sunrise, the oldest girl in the family dresses all in white. She puts a wreath of Evergreen with seven lighted candles on her head. She then carries coffee and buns to her family in their rooms. Because we are only 6 years old, coffee didn't sound appealing. Instead, St. Lucia (Ms. Brown) delivered hot chocolate and cinnamon buns to each of us in our class. (Thanks to our fantastic parents for supplying the hot chocolate and cinnamon buns!)
Because St. Lucia Day is Sweden's Christmas tradition we wanted to be apart of all the action as well! We made our own wreath with candles, where we got to wear them all day! (Of course, we were overdue for a class photo...)
Another Swedish Christmas tradition is the Tomte, or Christmas gnome. He delivers gifts and is pulled in a sled by goats. Instead of our Canadian tradition of setting out milk and cookies for Santa, people in Sweden set out a bowl of porridge for the little gnome.
Of course, we had to try Porridge! Some of us LOVED it, others, not so much..
-- God Jul !!
Love,
Division 16
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