Today, December 13, is St. Lucy’s Day. In Sweden and areas of Finland, it’s also called the Festival of Lights. St. Lucy was an early Christian martyr who was killed in 304 AD by Roman soldiers.

There are many stories about St. Lucy, but the most prevalent one goes like this. Lucy was a young girl who lived in Syracuse, Sicily and decided to live her life in service to God. Her mother, who was quite sick with a blood disease and worried about her daughter’s future, had different ideas and tried to marry Lucy to a pagan. (apparently her father had already died). Lucy needed a plan to sway her mother and prayed to St. Agatha, another early Christian saint. St. Agatha appeared to Lucy in a dream and told her that God would cure her mother’s illness. After her mother was cured, Lucy convinced her mother to ditch the marriage plans and donate the dowry to the poor. Then Lucy devoted her life to serving God by serving others.
Except the reject bridegroom was angry. He betrayed Lucy to the governor Paschasius. Paschasius tried to force Lucy into a brothel so she would be defiled. But the guards who tried to take her away were unable to move her. They even hitched her to a team of oxen, but still she wouldn’t move. Now Paschasius and the bridegroom both enraged. Paschasius had his guards heap bundles of wood around her and set it on fire. But they wouldn’t burn. So they used their swords, and she perished. But Lucy’s fame continued after death. A few hours after her death, Lucy warned Paschasius in a dream that he would be punished. He was scared and angry and ordered the guards to go dig out her eyes from her corpse before burial. But then, when they went to bury her, her eyes had been restored.
Lucy’s name means “light” or “lucid” and she is the patron saint of the blind and of virgins. She is often depicted in Christian art holding her eyes on a golden plate in one hand, and holding a palm branch in her other. Palm branches are a symbol of victory over evil.
By 400 AD, St. Lucy was being venerated all over Europe. But it was around 1100 AD, when the first monks reached Sweden, that the Swedish devotion to St. Lucy began. One story that is told is that during the Middle Ages, a terrible famine hit Sweden. During the Winter Solstice (the darkest and longest night of year), a ship sailed into Lake Vannern with a woman at the helm. She was surround by an unearthly light. When the boat came into port, this ethereal woman handed out bags of wheat that lasted all winter and saved thousands.
Another story says that that night, to free her hands to carry more bags of wheat, she placed a wreath of candles on her head to light her way.
Today in Sweden, during St. Lucy’s Festival of Lights, the oldest daughter in every family dresses as St. Lucy. She wears a white robe with a red sash and a crown of holly and ivy on her head, sometimes with lit candles. (Now they are battery operated). She serves coffee and saffron buns (with raisins representing St. Lucy’s eyes) to her family. Many churches in Sweden and Finland (and many Swedish communities in the U.S.) still have St. Lucy processions where a chosen girl is dressed as the saint and leads a candlelight procession of young boys and girls. Once at the church, these children lead the congregation in singing Christmas carols. This festival of light, which falls near the Winter Solstice, begins the Christmas season and is a symbol of light during the darkest nights of the year. Because early pagans used bonfires during to ward of evil during the Winter Solstice, the earliest St. Lucy festivals were celebrated by both christians and pagans. Now St. Lucy is venerated by Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Lutherans and Anglicans.
Because I love holidays that have their own treats, I’ve included my favorite St. Lucy Rolls recipe below. I hope you all have a wonderful St. Lucy Day!

St. Lucy Buns
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter
- 2 cups whole milk
- 4 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon saffron
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 egg
- 6 cups flour
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 egg for egg wash
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 435℉ and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
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In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the milk until combined and remove from heat.
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In a large bowl, combine the hot milk and yeast. Stir until yeast is dissolved. Stir in the sugar, saffron cardamom, and the egg until well blended.
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Slowly, with an electric mixer, beat in the flour. The dough will be sticky but just keep mixing. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 30 minutes.
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Lightly flour the counter and knead the dough well, adding flour if it is too sticky. Make a dough ball and cut it into four quarters. Roll each quarter into a roll. Cut strips, crosswise, out of the roll between 1" – 1 1/2" thick.
Roll the strips into Lussekatter shapes. (I think the S shape with swirls at each end is the easiest). Add raisins for decoration. Place the rolls on the baking sheets, cover, and rise until they double in size, about 30 minutes.
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In a small bowl, beat the egg and brush the egg onto each bun for an egg wash.
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Bake for 7-10 minutes, until golden brown.