Santa Lucia's Day

Santa Lucia is a very significant saint in our family, my heritage being strongly Italian and John's having a notable Swedish influence. To celebrate her feast day we started by making a "Crown of Light." I bought a straw crown (from the Goodwill) and spray-painted it gold. I pushed my finger down between the straw to make a "hole" for the candles and then pressed the candles down into the wreath. I'll probably end up hot gluing them before too long. Then I wrapped it with 4 yards of wide brown satin ribbon, tying the ends into a bow for the back of the crown.



Getting the idea from As Cozy As Spring, Caeli and I cut, from two different shades of green felt, 60 leaves (I cut them four at a time from two sheets of each color) and sewed them around the edges and up the middle to make a vein. I used one of each color felt to give it some effect. Then I arranged five leaves between each of the six candles, pinning them in place, and poked the wire ends of the berries (which came with the wreath from Goodwill) into the straw, snaking the wires over the surface of the leaves.



Julius Caesar wearing Santa Lucia's Crown:



Little Caeli Girl modeling the Crown (I may end up tying bows around each candle):



Maybe I'll be able to persuade my non-singing family to join in singing Sankta Lucia with this Swedish version:



In Swedish:

Natten går tunga fjät runt gård och stuva
Kring jork son sol förlät,skuggorna ruva,
Då I vårt mörka hus, stiger med tända ljus,
Sancta Lucia, Sankta Lucia

In Italian:

Sul mare luccica l'astro d'argento.
Placida e l'onda, prospero il vento.
Venite all'agile barchetta mia!
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

English translation:

The silver star shines on the sea,
the waves are gentle, the wind is favourable.
Come to my swift little boat!
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

Rachel making the icing for Cinnamon Buns for our breakfast:



And serving them up hot arranged so nicely on a white platter:



We used red satin blanket binding for her sash, and a beautiful white embroidered nightgown from Goodwill.



Our Cuccia for lunch:



Robert "crowning" around, as usual:



Justin getting in on the act:



A little creative anachronism, Santa Lucia (or should I say Luciano?) and the Ides of April:



A future Santa Lucia Bride:





Maid Marian modeling the crown:



Finally, we read the book Lucia, Saint of Light, a lovely story of Santa Lucia and how her feast day is celebrated by Swedes all over the world.

All promises of a nice day!