Monday, December 13, 2010

Lucia


Ok, those of you who know me know that I sort of love to sing. I took singing lessons for about 5 years or so when I was a teenager, and I sang soprano in one of the student choirs here in Linköping when I went to the university. Today is S:t Lucia day here in Sweden, which we celebrate to honor the Italian saint Lucia who was a christian martyr (you can read more about it here). I don't know that we actually celebrate the saint any more, in swedish tradition it's more a festivity of lights to survive the dark time of year. A Lucia procession consists of a woman being the Lucia, wearing white with a crown of candles in her hair. She has a following of maids and star-carrying boys, and they sing lucia songs to celebrate. It's a very beautiful ceremony, and I've participated in too many processions to count. I sort of miss being in a choir just for that!

Tonight on swedish TV there is a lucia procession with Södra Latins Kammarkör (a swedish school choir), and it is just incredibly beautiful! They were just singing Pie Jesu, and my hairs on my arms stood up! It was soo sweet and clear and just amazing. If you want to watch a classical lucia procession, just go to the swedish tv site and watch it here!


/ Jenny

3 comments:

Sarah {The Student Knitter} said...

That's so crazy pretty! Thank you for sharing! :)

and hey.. if you can sing... why didn't you sing me your anthem yesterday?? It couldn't have been THAT much worse than my Canadian anthem. hehe

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Virginia G said...

I got so distracted by that beautiful TV show that I completely forgot to comment. THANK YOU for sharing the link. I'm watching it again with my daughter right now.