13 December is Lucia Day, the day to honour martyred Saint Lucy or Lucia. It falls twelve days before Christmas. It's widely celebrated in northern Europe, particularly Sweden and Finland, and for the most part survived the Reformations. Lucia's Latin root is lux, or light. Many legends surround the saint - tortured by having her eyes gouged out, she led Christians through the catacombs and lit the way by placing a wreath with candles on her head... Obviously, there are remnants of sun or light worship in it, and certain features of pagan festivals from this time of year, too!
Interestingly, it's possible that Solstice used to fall around 13 December. The Julian calendar was replaced by Pope Gregory XIII in early 1582. The Gregorian calendar dropped between eight and eleven days, depending on when it was adopted (I think!) - so something celebrated on or around 21 December under the current, Gregorian calendar, would have been celebrated around a week earlier under the old Julian calendar (date-wise). This is simply a way of counting dates - I'm not proposing that the Gregorian adjustments also changed the axial tilt of the planet! Solstice would still have been the same "day", we would just call it by another date. Make sense?
I'm not entirely sure on the mechanics, but somehow, the Julian calendar and its basis on the lunar calendar, and ignorance of the leap year concept, "lost" minutes each year, which added up to days lost over the centuries, and was problematic in fixing dates like Easter.
So, anyway, 13 December might have featured in the collective mentality in Sweden and Finland, among other areas, as the shortest day of the year. They would still be marking the date, you see, even though the *event* - the equinox - falls a week or so later. And they honour a Christian saint who seems to have significant ties to the use of light in the pagan sense at this time of year.
Obviously the Romans celebrated light at this time; they focused on Saturnus, and Saturnalia was a time for all to make merry, visit and give gifts. Saturn was the son of Uranus and Gaia (heaven and earth) - a pretty important, fearsome guy who killed his father, took his sister as his wife and was then the father of Ceres, Jupiter, Neptune, Juno and other important fellows... Although Saturn apparently ate most of them, for fear that his own children would supplant him. Long story. Basically, Jupiter escaped; he grew up, poisoned Saturn with the help of Gaia, Saturn vomitted up Jupiter's siblings... A familial war ensued, with Jupiter and his siblings v. Saturn and his siblings. Prometheus helped Jupiter et al., and together they defeated Saturn et al.; all were cast into the underworld and Saturn was either castrated or chopped up into itty, bitty pieces before his banishment (which, by the way, is how he did his own father in). I've heard another ending of the myth, that has Saturn going to Rome to rule - and a fabulous time was had by all. And at some point, he became the god of agriculture - which really does depend on the summer season and the return of the sun. All in all, it seems to be a great myth that fits in with the light v. darkness - you've got to admit, Saturn is a pretty dark figure, what with marrying his sister, eating his babies and the patricide and all - but possibly the correct way to take Saturn and Saturnalia and the light-honouring, is that his Roman rule was said to have been a real Golden Age of peace and harmony. Saturnalia is an honouring or celebration of that, and an ushering in of the growing season (and not so much his incestuous, cannibalistic and patricidal tendancies...).
Oh, and candles! Candles were a key gift given during Saturnalia celebrations. They were quite a treasure. Candlelight and fires were, as with the Yule Log, a way to bring the light. Lucia festivities feature a wreath with small tapers perched in it, worn by the oldest daughter of the house (or is it the youngest...?). The Catholic church has the advent wreath, which is similar - a wreath (eternity, evergreen, etc. - or perhaps the victory of everlasting life over darkness?) with four candles on the outer perimeter lit in the weeks leading to Christmas Day, and if I remember right, one in the middle lit on Christmas. I don't think you can get more pagan than that - no offense intended.
Interestingly, it's possible that Solstice used to fall around 13 December. The Julian calendar was replaced by Pope Gregory XIII in early 1582. The Gregorian calendar dropped between eight and eleven days, depending on when it was adopted (I think!) - so something celebrated on or around 21 December under the current, Gregorian calendar, would have been celebrated around a week earlier under the old Julian calendar (date-wise). This is simply a way of counting dates - I'm not proposing that the Gregorian adjustments also changed the axial tilt of the planet! Solstice would still have been the same "day", we would just call it by another date. Make sense?
I'm not entirely sure on the mechanics, but somehow, the Julian calendar and its basis on the lunar calendar, and ignorance of the leap year concept, "lost" minutes each year, which added up to days lost over the centuries, and was problematic in fixing dates like Easter.
So, anyway, 13 December might have featured in the collective mentality in Sweden and Finland, among other areas, as the shortest day of the year. They would still be marking the date, you see, even though the *event* - the equinox - falls a week or so later. And they honour a Christian saint who seems to have significant ties to the use of light in the pagan sense at this time of year.
Obviously the Romans celebrated light at this time; they focused on Saturnus, and Saturnalia was a time for all to make merry, visit and give gifts. Saturn was the son of Uranus and Gaia (heaven and earth) - a pretty important, fearsome guy who killed his father, took his sister as his wife and was then the father of Ceres, Jupiter, Neptune, Juno and other important fellows... Although Saturn apparently ate most of them, for fear that his own children would supplant him. Long story. Basically, Jupiter escaped; he grew up, poisoned Saturn with the help of Gaia, Saturn vomitted up Jupiter's siblings... A familial war ensued, with Jupiter and his siblings v. Saturn and his siblings. Prometheus helped Jupiter et al., and together they defeated Saturn et al.; all were cast into the underworld and Saturn was either castrated or chopped up into itty, bitty pieces before his banishment (which, by the way, is how he did his own father in). I've heard another ending of the myth, that has Saturn going to Rome to rule - and a fabulous time was had by all. And at some point, he became the god of agriculture - which really does depend on the summer season and the return of the sun. All in all, it seems to be a great myth that fits in with the light v. darkness - you've got to admit, Saturn is a pretty dark figure, what with marrying his sister, eating his babies and the patricide and all - but possibly the correct way to take Saturn and Saturnalia and the light-honouring, is that his Roman rule was said to have been a real Golden Age of peace and harmony. Saturnalia is an honouring or celebration of that, and an ushering in of the growing season (and not so much his incestuous, cannibalistic and patricidal tendancies...).
Oh, and candles! Candles were a key gift given during Saturnalia celebrations. They were quite a treasure. Candlelight and fires were, as with the Yule Log, a way to bring the light. Lucia festivities feature a wreath with small tapers perched in it, worn by the oldest daughter of the house (or is it the youngest...?). The Catholic church has the advent wreath, which is similar - a wreath (eternity, evergreen, etc. - or perhaps the victory of everlasting life over darkness?) with four candles on the outer perimeter lit in the weeks leading to Christmas Day, and if I remember right, one in the middle lit on Christmas. I don't think you can get more pagan than that - no offense intended.
In Victorian times, scented candles were exchanged as gifts; and candles on the tree might have symbolized the guiding star, rather than the return of the sun and the growth that brings in the new year or new cycle. My Catholic family leaves a light burning outside on the night of 24 December - my Grandpa said it was to guide a weary traveller, but others do this to guide the Christ child. Now, we have Christmas lights, too.
Whew. From Saint Lucy, to Saturnus, to Yule Logs and candles and weary travellers... I feel like a weary traveller myself!
Whew. From Saint Lucy, to Saturnus, to Yule Logs and candles and weary travellers... I feel like a weary traveller myself!
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