Saint Lucy's Day

Uncommon card · No. 123680

Saint Lucy's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, is a Christian feast day observed on 13 December. The observance commemorates Lucia of Syracuse, an early-fourth-century virgin martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution. According to legend, she brought food and aid to persecuted Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, wearing a candle-lit wreath on her head to light her way, leaving both hands free to carry as much food as possible. Because her name means "light" and her feast day had at one time coincided with the shortest day of the year prior to calendar reforms, it is now widely celebrated as a festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy's Day is viewed as a precursor of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar on 25 December, Christmas Day. Saint Lucy's Day is celebrated most widely in Sweden and rest of Scandinavia, Italy, and the island nation of Saint Lucia, each emphasising a different aspect of her story. In Scandinavia...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Claudia Gründer, CC BY-SA 3.0