Half-Hearted Traditions are Traditions Nonetheless

Today is December 13, which means it is once again St. Lucia's Day.

St. Lucia's Day is a Swedish holiday that we celebrate in my family. Are we Swedish? Not really. I'm sure if you go far enough back in our genealogy you can find some Swedes. However, we have been celebrating St. Lucia's Day since I was in first grade. The story goes something like this.

I had an American Girl doll named Kirsten.

She was Swedish and since my mom had told me that one of my great great grandfathers was also Swedish, I identified with her. That, and she had blonde hair, like me. I read a book where she celebrates St. Lucia's Day and asked my mom if we could do the same. So we did. This is my first Saint Lucia's Day.

Dressing up was more important when I was younger. Once I got a little older my little sister and I started looking up more information about St. Lucia's Day and the traditional food. We started getting up really early in the morning to make bread with my mom. After the bread was made we would go from room to room with bread and hot cocoa on our trays and candles to wake up the family for breakfast.

After several years, my mom would sleep in (or maybe just let us think she was) and just my sister and I would wake up early to make the bread and dress up in our white dresses and red sashes.

Over the years we've gotten a bit more laid back about our celebration of St. Lucia's Day, but every December 13th, I can't help but remember what day it is.

Last year, we brought our nieces over to the house to teach them about St. Lucia's Day and make bread with them at crazy hours of the morning.

You can see we had to get creative with our white "dresses"

This year, there was no dressing up, but I did manage to make the traditional St. Lucia's day bread by lunchtime. It is important to me to keep this tradition going. It may not be passed down from our great great grandparents from the "old country," but it is part of my holiday memories growing up. It is something my brothers and sisters and parents and I share and something I want to share with my own little Lucia as she gets older.

Whatever your traditions, however small or seemingly insignificant they may be, keep them going! Traditions strengthen families in a very subtle way. And don't be daunted if you don't have family traditions. Start new ones!

[EDIT]

Here is a little more information about St. Lucia's Day (from Wikipedia):

"Saint Lucia's Day is the church feast day dedicated to Lucia of Syracuse (d.304), also known as Saint Lucy, and is observed on 13 December. St. Lucia’s Day is celebrated most commonly in Italy and in Scandinavia, with each emphasizing a different aspect of the story. It is one of the very few saint days observed in Scandinavia. In traditional celebrations, Saint Lucy comes as a young woman with lights and sweets. In some forms, a procession is headed by one girl wearing a crown of candles (or lights), while others in the procession hold only a single candle each."

For more information, go here.