NationStates Jolt Archive

Happy Lucia!

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/images/021209_lucia.jpg

Dec 13 is Saint Lucy's day in Sweden and is one of my favourite holidays. It is a celebration of light and hope, during which one traditionally observes a Lucia Procession, drinks Glögg and has Saffron Buns, all in a very cosy package with a lot of darkness illuminated by candles and pierced with song. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk0FyZqNp5Q)

My saffron buns for this year were a smashing success:

http://i36.tinypic.com/15i8bdc.jpg

So, a very happy and cosy Lucia to you all out there, and I hope this day finds you merry and filled with hope for the coming year. Permit the light to lift your spirits and remember that the days will just become lighter and lighter from now on. :)

Lucia's day is in Finland too. Here it's seen by some as a relic from the Swedish rule.

Lucia's day is in Finland too. Here it's seen by some as a relic from the Swedish rule.

Which could be said about most of your society... :P

Aye, though no one celebrates it except schools and the swedish-speaking Finns.

Now you got that Lucia song into my head again, damnit. Gotta sing Wild Rover another 50 times.

Glögg is a fantastic word, I don't know what it is but I want to drink it.

Glögg is a fantastic word, I don't know what it is but I want to drink it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulled_wine

It is most fantastic. It's ten in the morning and I am already a bit tipsy from it, but I did have akvavit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akvavit) in mine, so...

Which could be said about most of your society... :P

Well, I guess that our society has been influenced Swedish and Russian rule.

Well, I guess that our society has been Swedish and Russian rule.

And you turned out quite decent, wouldn't you think? Apart from the parts that aren't, but this is no day for such things - it is a day for gemyt.

And you turned out quite decent, wouldn't you think? Apart from the parts that aren't, but this is no day for such things - it is a day for gemyt.

Yeah, I think Finland is a nice country. And,what's ''gemyt''?

Glögg is a fantastic word, I don't know what it is but I want to drink it.

We have grog - a generic word for drink - in English, etymology must be from the dastardly Vikings, feeling a bit groggy of a morning etc.,

Otherwise, this looks a little religious to me Fass,

Anyway, have a de-light-ful day - yeah, I'll go shoot myself.

We have grog - a generic word for drink - in English, etymology must be from the dastardly Vikings, feeling a bit groggy of a morning etc.,

Otherwise, this looks a little religious to me Fass,

Anyway, have a de-light-ful day - yeah, I'll go shoot myself.

I was wondering if it was related, I was also thinking of the onomatopoeic 'glug' sound of booze being poured or drunk.

I was wondering if it was related, I was also thinking of the onomatopoeic 'glug' sound of booze being poured or drunk.

Apparently, as usual, I'm wrong...

grog
1770 (implied in groggy "intoxicated"), supposedly an allusion to Old Grog, nickname of Edward Vernon (1684-1757), British admiral who wore a grogram (q.v.) cloak and who in August 1740 ordered his sailors' rum to be diluted. George Washington's older half-brother Lawrence served under Vernon in the Carribean and renamed the family's Hunting Creek Plantation in Virginia for him in 1740, calling it Mount Vernon.

..and grogram comes from...

grogram
1562, from M.Fr. gros grain "coarse grain or texture."

I think they just make it up sometimes.

Careful there Fass, someone might mistake you for a religious person.

Dec 13 is Saint Lucy's day in Sweden

Also people in Bergamo and Brescia usually celebrate Santa Lucia. Presents for kids and sweet stuff etc.

As for me, this evening I'm going to the IKEA restaurant. It's the most swedish thing we get here.

*Sul mare luccicaaaaa..... l'astro d'argentooooooo....*

also people in bergamo and brescia usually celebrate santa lucia. Presents for kids and sweet stuff etc.

As for me, this evening i'm going to the ikea restaurant. It's the most swedish thing we get here.

*sul mare luccicaaaaa..... L'astro d'argentooooooo....*

ikea?

Yeah, I think Finland is a nice country. And,what's ''gemyt''?

A cross between joviality and conviviality.

A cross between joviality and conviviality.

I had to google conviviality.

Well, I see the part about Fass and a religious holiday has already been covered. I'll just toodle along now.

Well, I see the part about Fass and a religious holiday has already been covered. I'll just toodle along now.

If you think Lucia is a religious holiday in this day and age, you probably think Christmas is as well, and... well, I hate to break the news to you...

Careful there Fass, someone might mistake you for a religious person.
He just likes participating in the traditions of his proud, bun-loving people.

If you think Lucia is a religious holiday in this day and age, you probably think Christmas is as well, and... well, I hate to break the news to you...Are you telling me all the pageantry isn't of religious, probably Christian, origin? Then I'll have to reread that crap about Saint Lucia.

Just for the record, I totally love Christmas. I just ignore all that Jesus crap.:)

Are you telling me all the pageantry isn't of religious, probably Christian, origin? Then I'll have to reread that crap about Saint Lucia.

The Saint is a secondary church-imposed accoutrement (like so many things about fun holidays; the Christians thieved what they could since they had so little and that little was so wretched and devoid of niceness) - the primary bits are actually pagan solstice celebrations. No one cares about either bits any more...

Just for the record, I totally love Christmas. I just ignore all that Jesus crap.:)

... which basically is what most of these "religious" holidays here are like: most people just ignore the Christian/Asatro crap.

I thought Fass was an atheist who hated religion, especially Christianity, but he celebrates Saint Lucisa's Day? Isn't that a bit hypocritical for an atheist to celebrate a day honoring a Christian Saint? :confused:

I thought Fass was an atheist who hated religion, especially Christianity, but he celebrates Saint Lucisa's Day? Isn't that a bit hypocritical for an atheist to celebrate a day honoring a Christian Saint? :confused:

And it's not hypocritical of Christians to celebrate Christmas? Here's news to you: Christmas trees and Santa are not so much Christian, no... and "the birth of Jesus", in December as it so happens when the Romans celebrated Sol Invictus? Really? Yeah, you get the point... well, you would, were you not you.

And, by the by, just like I posted above: this day isn't primarily about the saint, but about pagan solstice worship. The Saint was just yet another way for Christians to tack something of theirs onto something other people did and then to co-opt it.

And, by the by, just like I posted above: this day isn't primarily about the saint, but about pagan solstice worship. The Saint was just yet another way for Christians to tack something of theirs onto something other people did and then to co-opt it.

I think it just goes to show that it doesn't matter why you celebrate it, the point is the celebration and the fun that goes along with it.

We, being a product of the reformation, don't get saint's days. Or any of the interesting dogma or panoply of Christianity for which I might happily delude myself and believe. Just unremitting tedium and bare stone.

Happy Sankta Lucia Day from an Americanized Swede!

I think it just goes to show that it doesn't matter why you celebrate it, the point is the celebration and the fun that goes along with it.

Precisely. Do I care that Midsummer is a pagan fertility feast and that when we dance around the May Pole we are forming a giant vulva around a phallus? No. I care that it's a fun holiday during which I usually get drunk and promiscuous.

And it's not hypocritical of Christians to celebrate Christmas? Here's news to you: Christmas trees and Santa are not so much Christian, no... and "the birth of Jesus", in December as it so happens when the Romans celebrated Sol Invictus? Really? Yeah, you get the point... well, you would, were you not you.

And, by the by, just like I posted above: this day isn't primarily about the saint, but about pagan solstice worship. The Saint was just yet another way for Christians to tack something of theirs onto something other people did and then to co-opt it.

Birth of Jesus was in May if memory serves, but was altered to meet imperial dogma. However, I wouldn't mount the attack solely on Christianity; every faith, when triumphing over another, approriates elements of the former.

Precisely. Do I care that Midsummer is a pagan fertility feast and that when we dance around the May Pole we are forming a giant vulva around a phallus? No. I care that it's a fun holiday during which I usually get drunk and promiscuous.

Squick.

Birth of Jesus was in May if memory serves, but was altered to meet imperial dogma. However, I wouldn't mount the attack solely on Christianity; every faith, when triumphing over another, approriates elements of the former.

I wasn't attacking Christianity for once. I was demonstrating what a foolish argument Celtlund was trying to engage in. As if that needed showing, but I've been away a while.

Squick.

Yeah, I know. So heterosexual.

I wasn't attacking Christianity for once. I was demonstrating what a foolish argument Celtlund was trying to engage in. As if that needed showing, but I've been away a while.


Join the club. I quite envy Sweden, and the rest of Europe, their saint's days and such; Britain has none whatsoever.

That sounds like a good holiday. But then, the ones that involve drinking are usually more popular than the ones that don't, which is why everybody loves St. Patrick's Day, and forgets Earth Day.

I thought Fass was an atheist who hated religion, especially Christianity, but he celebrates Saint Lucisa's Day? Isn't that a bit hypocritical for an atheist to celebrate a day honoring a Christian Saint? :confused:

I suppose when Fass celebrates it, it's alright. Interesting how he keeps talking about it being pagan in origin too, I believe the pagan faith is also religious. Not that it really matters what Fass celebrates I mean who really cares, what anyone decides to celebrate?

I'll happily celebrate Sol Invictus, Sankta Lucia or the Day of Mono-Testicular Variation, if they involve drinking, singing and saffron buns.

But I won't celebrate snarkiness, so please keep it under control, folks.

Well okay, but St Snarkinessmass Eve won't be the same if it is just the warm beer, nougat, and balloon animal games

Join the club. I quite envy Sweden, and the rest of Europe, their saint's days and such; Britain has none whatsoever.
St. Andrew's Day, St. Patrick's Day, St. Georges Day?

Though I get your meaning. 500-odd years of Protestant/Anglican influence will do that to a country.

I think it just goes to show that it doesn't matter why you celebrate it, the point is the celebration and the fun that goes along with it.
Agreed. Can we stop ragging on people for their cultural institutions now?

Is this the holiday with the candle-hats?
EDIT: I just saw the picture in the OP, which answers my question. That's the only reason I'd like to celebrate it.

Is this the holiday with the candle-hats?
EDIT: I just saw the picture in the OP, which answers my question. That's the only reason I'd like to celebrate it.

It's not a hat. It's a crown of immortality in the shape of an advent wreath.

Agreed. Can we stop ragging on people for their cultural institutions now?

Stop ragging on people? In General? I guess I really have been away a while...

It's not a hat. It's a crown of immortality in the shape of an advent wreath.

I can't hear you; my candle-hat is covering my ears.