St. Lucy Day

How do you celebrate St. Lucy's Day? Do you call it Sankta Lucia or Lussidag? Do you think of her with a crown of candles and tray of saffron buns or bearing a martyr's palm and plate of eyes?

Lucy was a real person, a Christian in the classical era during the times of persecution, and such an ancient saint naturally has had meaning and customs added to her feast day over time.

There are dozens of articles you can read on the internet about her story and later legends, about how her feast day (December 13) became associated with the winter solstice in the far north, and her light-bearing symbolizes the promise of the return of summer in the middle of deep winter.

I want to offer just what I am thinking about this year, as a person who is neither of Scandinavian nor Italian descent (the regions most associated with Lucy's veneration), but who welcomes Lucy into my winter days of remembrance for many reasons.

Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

A hero, virgin, martyr, saint

There is no disconnect between Lucy as martyr for Christ and a symbol of the return of the sun in winter. They are the same thing, understood on the spiritual and natural levels. 

A bringer of light in winter

[These are the day's readings in the Catholic lectionary (if you're protestant, you might hear slightly different readings, since Sirach is not used in later Bibles). I'm using them here as a framework to meditate on, not as any kind of biblical proof for Lucy in the Bible or anything. Of course not, she is just one of many early Christian saints, who become special to certain peoples over time. I think God planned it that way. He knows the best ways to speak to every kind of person, in every time, in every language. Lucia, of course, means "light" and her feast day (the day she was martyred, of her death) is marked on the old calendar's winter solstice, before Gregorian calendar reform.]

Reading 1: Sirach 48:1-4, 9-11

In those days,

like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah

whose words were as a flaming furnace.

Their staff of bread he shattered,

in his zeal he reduced them to straits;

By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens

and three times brought down fire.

How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!

Whose glory is equal to yours?

You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,

in a chariot with fiery horses.

You were destined, it is written, in time to come

to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,

To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,

and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.

Blessed is he who shall have seen you 

and who falls asleep in your friendship.

Lucy, like Elijah, became a sign to a people. It was a thousand years ago when the Norse peoples were first evangelized (around 1100 AD), and probably a few hundred years later until the story of Lucy made its way from Sicily to Scandinavia. Over time, the connection was made between the celebration of winter solstice and the saint's story. Today, when the region, and much of the world. has forgotten most of its Christian era, the promise God made to love mankind and establish his reign over all the world is still current, still true, still full of hope. Scripture is wonderful that way. It is timeless, applying to the past, the present when it was written, today, and for the future.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 80:2ac and 3b, 15-16, 18-19

R. (4) Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

O shepherd of Israel, hearken,

From your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.

Rouse your power.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

Once again, O LORD of hosts,

look down from heaven, and see;

Take care of this vine,

and protect what your right hand has planted

the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

May your help be with the man of your right hand,

with the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

Then we will no more withdraw from you;

give us new life, and we will call upon your name.

R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.

When I read this psalm, and think about the Scandinavian people, I think of  Norwegian writer Sigrid Undset and her quest for truth. Her novels (the most famous is Kristin Lavransdatter) are about women and men realizing their own faults and facing them unflinchingingly; seeking truth outside themselves, looking for honesty in romantic relationships and seeing one's self clearly as a mother, father, wife, husband, son, daughter, and ultimately as a child of God. Sigrid was raised agnostic and modern, she chose to become a Christian (a Catholic Christian in Lutheran Norway in the 1930s) and separated from her husband because of this choice (he had been married before and his first wife was still living).

Lucy may have been raised a Christian or converted later in her childhood, but at some point, she decided to dedicate her life to Christ completely. She vowed to live as a virgin and give her bridal dowry to the poor. Her intended fiancee was angry and had her arrested, and ultimately tortured and killed because she would not change her mind to give up her faith.

These brave women remind me that we all have to face difficulties in life, whether they are little ones that seem trivial (saying no to gossip, or finding that you've been gossiped about) or big ones, such as they faced. Knowing the Truth and keeping the Vision in front of us helps us to bear the hurts, both big and little, and also to confront the pain we may have inflicted on others.

Alleluia Lk 3:4, 6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:

All flesh shall see the salvation of God.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

These are the words of John the Baptist. 
And Lucy says them too with her flames and crown, with the witness of her life.
Yes, Lucy lights the way.
A light in the midst of winter to remind us of summer's return.
A light in the darkness that points us toward the coming of Christ.
St. Lucy Day is a reminder to prepare, in the same way that St. John the Baptist says "prepare!"
Christmas is coming, the Lord is coming. The winter will end, and the sun return.

Do you know about the tradition called Ember Days?

They are seasonal days of penance held after certain dates on the calendar leading up to the traditional quarter days (Christmas, Annunciation, St. John's Day, Michaelmas).  These days are set aside for prayer, for the blessing of the earth and our human care of it (preparing, planting, growing, harvesting), for fasting and thanksgiving.

St. Lucy's Day is the marker for the Advent Ember Days. This coming Wednesday, Friday and Saturday are the Ember Days of wintertime. Her day reminds us to prepare ourselves for Christmas, through prayer, confession, charity, love for others
.
The tradition of Lucy bearing the saffron buns is a remind of her generosity to the poor. Whether you hold the tradition today by having the oldest daughter in the house bring coffee and pastries to the family in bed before dawn, or you attend a community service to hear seasonal songs, watch the star boys, handmaidens and Lucy process with candles and enjoy treats in the church afterward, the point is to remember Lucy's charity.

If you live in an area with no such ceremony to participate in, an act or gift of charity on this day is in keeping with the spirit of Lucy. Actually, an act of charity should always be part of any feast day or saint's day remembrance.

I also use this time as reminder to get to confession before Christmas, whenever it is available during Advent. The schedule at the parish church may be a little different than usual because of all the different activities going on, so make sure to check before you go. The Friday of Ember Days is traditionally a day of abstinence from meat or other penance, and Ember Saturdays were often the days of priestly ordinations. Doing something nice for your local priests or seminarians, and offering prayers for them, would be appropriate on this day.

The Ember Days this week are December 17, 19, and 20th.

Gospel: Matthew 17:9a, 10-13

As they were coming down from the mountain,

the disciples asked Jesus,

“Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

He said in reply, “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things;

but I tell you that Elijah has already come,

and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. 

So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood

that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

The story of Lucy's martyrdom is not pleasant. Most Catholic images of Lucy show her with a plate of eyes, some with the martyr's palm, and fewer with a sword stabbed into her neck, or with bleeding wounds of any kind. John the Baptist was beheaded and his head placed upon a plate to please Herod's niece as punishment for preaching against the world and for repentance and Christ.

Lucy is one of thousands of martyrs to suffer in a similar way, and like all of them, she also calls us to repent of our sins, to love others, and to love Christ, to look for the light in the midst of winter, and have faith in the return of the sun.

Lucy belongs in my winter tradition because she reminds me to

 prepare, 

make ready, 

light the lights! 

Christmas is coming!

Christ is coming!

How different those two phrases are, and yet they are the same. 

So there is my very long meditation on St. Lucy's Day, and I am sure I have more to learn and incorporate into my devotional life as the years go by. This year, at my house, there were no saffron buns or candle crowns, but we did observe St. Lucy's Day in other ways that are also part of the tradition, bringing light into the darkness, giving love to others and giving thanks to God.

You can see how we've celebrated St. Lucy in the past in my post called Winter Saints.

Drawing Quarters

I've been working on the next installment of my liturgical calendar drawings, Winter 2015. I originally thought this would be the last of them, since it would make a complete year. I figured why go to the hassle of drawing the same framework every three months, just make something more perpetual and be done with it. But then I realized that I enjoy the process, it is actually a kind of meditation on the year, and I can imagine choosing different bits of each quarter year to illustrate every time. So, this will not be the last! The proportions may move a bit and which saints' days I include may also change from year to year.

The first was Spring 2014, which covers Annunciation (March 25) to Midsummer (June 24).

Spring 2014

The drawing is an Easter Vigil procession. Every time I look at it, I see the one goof, the date of Corpus Christ should have been June 22. This drawing was published in Soul Gardening Journal.

There's a lily for Annunciation/Lady Day and water droplets to represent baptism for St. John's Day/Midsummer (for St. John the Baptist). Flowers for May Day, a little rock covered tomb for Holy Saturday. Some other little symbols for some of the Sundays.

The second drawing was Summer 2014, which I drew and colored and posted to SGJ's facebook page.

Summer 2014

I am pretty happy with how this one turned out. I added more detail about the quarter days, since these are pretty unrecognized in the USA. Summer runs from St. John's Day to Michaelmas, with Lammas in the middle as the cross-quarter day. The drawing is of two women on a walking pilgrimage. This continues the theme across the bottom of the picture, first the Easter Vigil procession, then the continuation of pilgrimage through life.

For the saints days I included, I made the men's days red and Mary's days blue (also St. Ann's and St. Hildegard's, who are included because they are family patrons). I drew a little loaf of bread for Lammas and a St. John's Wort flower for Midsummer, along with an Aster/Michaelmas Daisy for Michaelmas. I added different kinds of green leaves for the Sundays of Ordinary Time.

Third is another black and white drawing, published in Soul Gardening Journal's most recent issue. Unfortunately, my scanner made kind of a mess of it and it was reproduced really small in the journal, so a lot of the detail did not come through.  

Autumn 2014

This drawing was really tricky to plan out. There are so many saints' days and important feasts in Autumn, plus I realized that Michaelmas and All Saints' Day are really not that far apart from each other, so the arrows of the calendar wheel had to be adjusted slightly. Every three months has 13 Sundays in it, but each quarter has slightly more or less, making some creative rearrangement necessary.

I really liked the decision to make the saints days stars in the night sky, and All Saints is a cloud, because of the "cloud of witnesses." I wish I had made the Nativity arrow bigger and easier to read. I liked the overall effect of the stick figure Christmas scene at Bethlehem. I included a few phrases from hymns and scripture as I thought of them while drawing.

For the fourth and current drawing (unfinished), I knew I wanted the background to be a wintry sky of some sort. It covers the period of Christmas to Annunciation (Dec 25-March 25) and Candlemas is the cross-quarter day (Feb 2). I included a bit more explanation of the quarter days template, since it is not the usual way Americans think of the calendar. If people have heard of it, it is either from old English novels or from neopagan holiday articles. The Quarter Days and Cross-Quarter Days are part of a seasonal calendar system that fits nicely with the Christian liturgical calendar. 

Winter 2015

I'm not quite sure if I will do more to this or not. Sometimes the calendar drawings are so busy, I wish I'd left them more plain, but I do like having the Sundays colored to match the vestment colors, so there are always going to be a few more colors included in the drawing than I would generally prefer. I tried to keep it simple by only including a few extras outside the Sundays: Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Valentine, St. Patrick and St. Joseph. Ash Wednesday and the Lenten Ember Days are there too. As well as the arrival of spring. There are six Sundays before Candlemas and eight Sundays from then to Annunciation, so again, a little tweaking necessary to make the dates all fit properly.

I love the wintry sky blended colors. I'm happy with my cartoon of Mary Hodegetria (She shows the way) and even the little angel with the strangely curled trumpet. I added even more verses that popped into my head as I worked on this, with the theme of stars, sun, moon. January 1 is a holy day that sort of sneaks up on you, and so it does in the drawing too, as a little gold cloud to begin the new year. At the bottom right, Annunciation/Lady Day reads "nine months to next Xmas!" Pretty much it is always either almost Christmas, during Christmas or going to be Christmas again soon it feels like! ha ha

When this is finished, I may share it on the Soul Gardening Journal facebook page again for their readers to enjoy, as I don't think they'll be publishing another issue until Spring.

You can roughly see what all four drawings would look like if pieced together (if Blogger is cooperating). For the next drawing, Spring 2015, I need to take the time to make a scan of the finished black and white before I color it in (if I do). Or I could do the entire year in one go. Hmm....

Gifts

How to Host a Birthday Party for 12 Teenage Girls Without Losing Your Mind.

If you know the answer, send me a note. In the mean time, I tried to keep it as simple as possible, but still, my evening ended with my wishing I could just crawl into bed at 7:30 p.m. But instead, of course, I stayed up past midnight re-watching season four of Downton Abbey with my No. 1. We made it halfway through the season finale before we started snoring. Getting up this morning was rough. Ugh.

Birthday Table in Green.
Always a challenge to decorate for a birthday in the middle of Advent/Christmas.
I used the ceramic piece No. 2 made over the summer as the centerpiece.

Since it looked a bit like a tree stump, I was inspired to add one of my gnomes and
a trail of candy making a path over the tabletop.

The party was at home, in the afternoon, only one girl is sleeping over, no fancy activity, just two simple holiday crafts and a new dvd (The Giver) for back up. Can twelve teenage girls really get bored with all the talking and eating they do?

Experience says, no. They didn't need the video. They really didn't need the craft activities. They talked and laughed and talked and talked and took photos of each other for so long I wondered if they were ever going to get hungry. But they were and they ate a lot and enjoyed the snow globe craft also.

Making mason jar snow globes mainly from items I had on hand.
Like all those mason jars I bought, intended for canning that just never happened. Ahem.

Batman in a snowstorm!
I asked the girls to bring their own plastic figurines.

I took the menu plan from this inspiring post on My Little Norway. So, hot dogs with potato chips.

Yes, I needed inspiration to come up with that idea. Reading that blog post actually relieved my anxious mind. I decided to stick to obvious, simple foods rather than try and impress myself and the girls with something fancy. Simple and basic is what I need these days. Hot dogs, buns, chips, Coca-Cola, some chocolates, cookies from a tin, store-bought red velvet mini cupcakes, put on a tiered stand with strawberries, and frozen mini eclairs for a fancy dessert instead of birthday cake.

Ketchup and mustard in little jars on a tray is just fancier than putting plastic bottles on the table.

Mini cupcakes and strawberries for dessert.

What were they most excited about? The strawberries!

Now to go do a second round of cleaning up glitter from my floor.

Let it go and go glitter.
My son made the one on the bottom left. Isn't it cute?
I cut up some of last year's Christmas cards for the kids to use.

Breakfast on a tray for the sleepy girls that stayed up late talking.

St. Nicholas Day

Last night, the kids put out their shoes with wish lists or letters inside and wake up on 12/6 to find them replaced with treats to eat and a small gift. I found these printable letter forms on Mr. Printables that are really simple and cute. A lot of other cool free stuff on the site, like the modern advent calendar made of tiny houses.

This year I kept it simple for Nicholas gifts: a chocolate orange, a peppermint stick, a chocolate biscuit, a new hairbrush and a pair of winter/xmas socks for the girls and one of those water pinball games for my son.

Boots outside her bedroom door.
In the hallway is nicer than leaving them on the front porch, where
there might be slugs or other unwelcome wet weather effects.

He loved the water game and all his candy, plus the hairbrush.

But didn't care for the orange-flavored chocolate after all.
Win for Mom!

The nice thing about my kids knowing that it is me who plays Santa is that they come thank me for the gifts. My younger two, ages 8 and 11, were really at the age where they wanted the truth acknowledged and couldn't live with the sort of teasing joking about Santa seeing what they are doing, that kind of thing. They are happier now that they know what they perceived to be the truth is the truth after all. For my son, I think this is part of his literal-mindedness from autism.

I tell them that I gave the gifts in honor of St. Nicholas and read them his stories, but yes, I did play St. Nick. And they can do it too...which should kind of be the point of the whole thing, right? To inspire our children to give freely and lovingly to others?

Making a wish...

...for a happy fifteenth year

Winter Saints

This December cluster of saints' days, Nicholas on 12/6, Guadalupe on 12/12, Lucia on 12/13 and also Immaculate Conception on 12/8: I find it hard to feel like we've appreciated them all equally. They are so close together and two of them are Marian and only four days apart.

My dining room sideboard this year.

We have gotten pretty good about St. Nicholas day since we started the shoes tradition when the oldest was little.

This tradition started for us in German preschool. The apple, orange, chocolate, nuts, peppermint stick and a small present are exchanged for the letters to St. Nick found in their clean shoes. 

Immaculate Conception is one of my daughter's birthdays, so it has always involved both going to Mass and a birthday party for us.

Always a birthday princess.

December 8
The Immaculate Conception of Mary

Our Lady of Guadalupe, over the years, has come to mean a day to show appreciation for our local Hispanic community, honoring their devotion to Mary, participating in the festivities.

Our parish church in 2008. So pretty with the trees and roses.

St. Lucia though, the observance of this day has been eluding us, despite the many years of reading picture books written about her.

Picture Books and Kids: things I have more of than the average American woman.

I have been learning about the Ember Days for a few years now and the winter ember days are set to follow after St. Lucy. So this year, they will be Wednesday, 12/17, Friday 12/19, and Saturday, 12/20.

So far, we've never managed to get up at before dawn to serve saffron buns.
But one year we made Pillsbury orange rolls from a can. 

I am thinking of St. Lucy with her candle crown as our guide into the second half of Advent, the ember days of preparation, repentance, confession, before Gaudete Sunday.

St. Lucy and Star Boy surrounded by lazy non-sprouting lentils that were supposed to be making a nice green field of Christmas manger hay.

We are not a family of Italian, Sicilian or Scandinavian heritage, but Lucy lights the way toward Christmas for us also.

The winter sun.

The stars we bring inside.

Leading us to the manger.

Leading us to the Baby.
Gloria!