December 13th is the day of Santa Lucia. I am not sure of the history behind this tradition, but it involves lots of candles and light, and girls in white dressing with red ribbons. My dad and I went to a church to see the celebration, and it was incredible. It was a concert by the local high school and they were all dressed up like Lucia. The actual Lucia girl, who has to try out for this position, stood in front of everyone else and had a wreath around her head with candles in it.
Another tradition having to do with Santa Lucia is baking saffronsbrod, which Susan showed Sarah and me how to make one evening. It is an amazing cake-like bread made with saffron and garnished with raisins. It was a pleasure to experience a real Swedish tradition. We are so many of them that we felt a little sick, but it was a lovely evening.
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