Swedish Lucia for Dummies 

i lived in sweeden for one year and this was one of the best days there but i will admit when ikea gave out free meatballs omg i was hooked

Tomorrow, on December 13, Sweden celebrates Lucia Day. The event pays tribute to light in the midst of dark winters accompanied, of course, with buns and Glögg!

My great great grandma came from Sweden back in 1911 we celebrate Christmas in the Swedish way. My mom makes Pepparkakors from scratch

Lucia has been and will always be an important tradition for me in Sweden. 🎵🇸🇪♥️

Don't burn the glögg, serious business!

OMG you guys celeberate this too in Hungary we have celebretion just we cald it "Luca napja " this is so cool i didn't know it but every day i learn something

I loved the humor you punt into it! Thanks for such a good explanation :).

2:06 :D It happend this year as well. RIP Julbock.

Hey guys who are curious about this holiday. I can’t say all the information I’m about to write is correct since the only source is my old music teacher. He was greatly loved In my small school in Sweden and he would help the school oldest kids to do a Luciatåg (Lucia train) idk how to translate. This tradition kinda stopped when he retired but my class tried to bring it up again (failing but at least trying) I’m going to share some knowledge based on the songs he wrote.( not sure where he got information about Lucia) Lucia is a saint in Italy. I have no idea how it got here. She was a rich girl in a poor place. She would see how the generals would punch and be rude to the people begging for food. She was loved by her dad and in the village she was quite unique. She would go out with her dog and never be unproductive ( badly worded lol) She helped old ladies. But one day she had enough of being rich and being able to buy everything she needed when poor people were suffering. So she decided to take off all her stuff and put it in a box or something (I think that’s why she’s wearing a night gown or whatever the white dress is called) she went to the poor people and gave them food and clothes. Then she sneaked into the prison and put candles in her hair so she could see where she was walking. She gave the prisoners food and they thanked their gods. Everything was quit then some sound was heard. A general rushed in and told her to stay still. Lucia turned her head and when the general saw her eyes he went down on one knee he said, I love your eyes and i need them close to me I want you to be my wife. Come to my palace and get whatever you want. She said No never I swore to my friend in the sky and I will never fail. ( not greatly worded either) The general said. Aha so you are Christian we don’t like those ( avsvär dig ) don’t know how to translate but kinda: stop believing in Jesus and i will save you. She said never and if all you want is my eyes I will give them to you. She put her eye in his hand and the general rushed away. Then some dudes came and violently took her to burn at a pole. (Like a witch) she didn’t burn and she stood there with a new blue eye. The general got frustrated and though politic she was useless and decided to kill her with a sword. (I can’t say any of this is real and if I find a link to a recording of Lucia I will link it in the end) what I just wrote about was a part of the Lucia train. He made a “drama club” and they would do the acting. Of these scenes and the song is quite catchy I must say.

Just saw the Sankta Lucia performance at the Swedish Christmas Fair here in Los Angeles. Det var jättesnygg! It made me fall in love with Swedish culture all over again!

In rural Italy too there's a St.Lucia night when animals are believed to talk. So farmers give them extra food just in case.

I will be in Sweden this 13th december, i hope to participate ;-)

"The Swedish tradition has its origins in both pre-Christian and Christian customs. According to folklore was 13 december a dangerous night because many supernatural forces were in motion then. Also that the animals could speak during lucia night." "The tradition of a candle-making female figure may have its origins in a pagan goddess of light." The tradition has a ursvenskt pagan origin that has been dressed in a Christian garb to better accepted by the Church. 'Lussinatt' = Light Night

This is all the information I know and could gather about Lucia, the name comes from the latin word lux, which means light. She lived in Syracuse, Italy during the roman ages. She was born 283 and died as a martyr (burned at the stake) 304 because alot of christians were being followed at the time, she was followed because her husband told people about her faith after she gave away their dowry to the poor. Some say that she survived the flames unharmed and was killed by a sword afterwards. Here in sweden however we mostly celebrate lucia because it's a cozy tradition brought to us by the germans although the 13th of december has always been known to be the longest night of the year here in sweden. If we take a trip back in time to the middle ages (1300, sweden has just been introduced to christianity) we will still find that the "lussenatten" 13th of december was the longest night of the year. That was the night when all of the dark forces (supernatural beings) were going to rise. According to some people animals could talk that night xD. People tried to stay awake in order to avoid evil and in order to prevent falling asleep they ate and drank more than usually, and to celebrate they were all set for christmas if we're talking about the later days of christianity in sweden xD. And if you guys are wondering why the night was called "lussenatten" already in the 1300's when Lucia wasn't a tradition in sweden until the 1900's. the word "lusse" has nothing to do with Lucia, it's an old word for lucifer, the devil. I hope this was helpful^^. Also, the red ribbon is suppose to illustrate blood and the candels are suppose to bring light in dark times and they're suppose to look like some sort of halo. After all she was a saint according to alot of people :)

My cousin is partially Danish (her grandfather was full Danish and her half Danish mother could’ve passed for a full Dane, she was nearly six feet tall, blue eyes, pale skin and curly light auburn hair) her baptismal gown was a Sankta Lucia outfit, complete with a candle wreath crown and a little toy Lussekater on a plate

Det at dere Svensker har deres egen kanal er bare jævlig morsomt, og ganske episk. God jul og godt nyttår til alle!

Haha, the nail on the head: "The 'why' is less important than the 'how' " So true. @ 0:40

Happy Santa Lucía day's🙏🧿👁️👁️🧿

Here in Norway we also celebrate it and I remember as a first grader we walked into every classroom in the school singing ❤

Wow, Sweden has an official RU-vid channel

plonk and glögg Plonk is an unspecific and derogatory term in British and Australian English for wine and glögg is swedish for mulled wine.

im doing reserch on lucia day for a school project and this was SUPER helpful, i hope everyone had a great lucia day, until next year sweds!

Hej Sweden. Some of my family from Sweden, I never been to Sweden before, I got to see in person Lucia Day at Swedish Lutheran Church in Toronto, it was my first time I saw Lucia Day in person, I enjoy myself. Lucia Day was yesterday Sunday, Dec,15,2019 at 5pm - 7pm at Swedish Lutheran Church in Toronto. My Great Great Grandmother last name was Johansson. My both side of my family from Sweden. I will look for Lucia Day on DVD, Blu - Ray, on CD & on Vinyl I am wondering where to find on CD, on Vinyl, on DVD & Blu - Ray? I like this a lot.

Here in Canada we don't do anything on Dec. 13. I always thought the winter solstice (Dec. 21) was the shortest day of the year. Oh well, what's 8 days when it's pitch black dark out, everything is cold and frozen...until you turn on the light switch and turn the thermostat up lol.

A : it's cold, B: it's dark ... Ahahaha ! I've been living in Sweden for some months now on an Erasmus and this is the perfect summary of the weather !

those who ridicule the Lucia celebration are going to hell bye bye have a hot Lucia!

Also someone always passes out 😂

Hallå hallå hallå

This clip helped me out when explaining the Swedish tratition!@asaole

I loved this video, it was a wonderful combination of information and humor. I discovered this video today and immediately watched the Midsummer one too. For some reason I couldn't relate to the Midsummer video as much.

2:42 Seamus Heaney??

There are Swedish-American towns in middle America who still do this every December 13, as well. In my mom's hometown, they crown a Lucia instead of a homecoming queen at the high school. She was Lucia 50 years ago this year and still recalls it fondly.

1:56 Wow, that's very scenic. The rural Swedish children in their St. Lucy's day procession.

Kan ni inte göra en "swedish christmas for dummies" video? 😂👍🏼

En perfekt presentation... Något varje svensk borde ha i sin video-hylla.. ;-)

Lucia it's my grandmother.

i remember watching this video with my mormor one night before the lucia festival. it was interesting because now, later in life, i’ve been informed i am 95% swedish and swedish-american 3rd generation!!!

Am glad to have attended one last year @Vaggeryd Kommun Sweden . Lovely people #Lovely Country. Love from Kenya 🇰🇪

That day is not for dummies. That day is for people.

Do the candle processions happen on St. Lucia Day evening or the evening of the day before? A lot of European holidays, like St. Nicholas Day, seem to work this way. Loved this video and the one about Midsummer.

lol the narration was kinda funny

I read "Swedish Lucia Dummies" 😂😂😂😂😂😂

The holy video omg...scary

Gör en om fettisdagen!

Ah yes, my swedes and their dry humor. I wish you all a very heartfelt ”men vad fan”

Co za piękne szwedki i jak pięknie 🎶 śpiewają. 🇸🇪 ❤ ❤ 🇸🇪

Thank-you for this, well done. Excellent explanation. Sounds like a beautiful tradition, a mixture of the ancient and the new.

This is BRILLIANT! And hilarious. I love Sweden, they have the best sense of humour and best Christmas traditions. THANK YOU!

Saint Lucy's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. But yes, the Norwegian, Danish and Finnish ways of celebrating Lucia have their roots in primarily Swedish traditions. But even though the holiday was introduced in Norway and Denmark fairly recently there are still some differences so I think it's fair enough to refer to this as "Swedish Lucia" rather than "Scandinavian Lucia." It's also a tourism channel, after all. :P

Awesome! not from Sweden but support it 😅

The symbol of death is so on point haha!

Nice video. I only recently heard there was a St. Lucia Day. I didn't know anything about her.🤔😉

How a Saint born in Sicily in the hot Mediterranean weather, became a popular Swedish figure, really, really, i don't know. Have they anything in their own to celebrate? Maybe same vikings' people? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

I"m very, very excited - I've arranged a trip to Europe this December around being in Malmö for Lucia. I can't wait to try lussebullar and glogg in Sweden 🙂

Well, actually, the gingerbread cookie is the only Christmas cookie in Sweden (I think) but It'll be forbidden to be a gingerbread cookie soon... Since some people thought that it was racism o.o

Eine sehr schöne und auch sehr lustige Zusammenfassung des Lucia-Festes in Schweden. Leider habe ich nichts vergleichbares auf Deutsch gefunden. Wer nicht so gut Englisch kann findet hier schweden-tipp.de/weihnachten-schweden-santa-lucia/ eine Ausführliche Erläuterung.

great video,will be better if you can add some subtitles in others languages . i can help with the spanish ;)

How pathetic to make fun of one of the most beautiful traditions of any country

Tomorrow we will go to watch it! I loved glögg :3

Happy Saint Lucia Day! - 13 December 2014

whats the name of the song on 2:20? :( cant remember

This is such a fun explanation! Love it!

I always thought the song Santa Lucia was an Italian song

Wonderful video!!!

Who else came here after young royals?

soon its 24th here in sweden :3

Ha! We're fucking adorable!

It’s cool how me and my dads birthday is December 13th, and we have Swedish lol

@Alex Forslund Do what? Not all swedes participate in these celebrations. I remember the swedish (and very naturally light-blonde) Jehovah's Witnesses in a school in sweden I went to got permission to abstain from Saint Lucia-celebration, like the ascetic Saint Lucia of the catholic legend would have done! Cause those girls where religious!

Love this holiday :3

ArrowofArtemis Ok! I didn´t go to my one and only school-prom myself and it was supposed to be expensive so that some students coulden´t afford it and my friends didn´t want to go (I suspected they coulden´t afford it) so I thought it would not have been that fun for me! Plus I dislike/d those beauty-competitions! School-prom was all about being shallow and show off if you where rich. Not that fun for me!

JAAA

@justagirlinthew0rld I don´t think most swedish nationalists would mind that fun kind of marketing for their country, as long as it "looked like a swedish girl"! LOL!

Saint Lucia pray for us and every Catholic should celebrate Saint Lucia’s feast day

could somebody please help me i'm not sure how to spell it correctly, from 1:10 Make sure you have some ______ handy for mulled wine or _______, as the Swedes call it. thank you. :)

@Alex Forslund I had a cold the day I got to be the Lucia standing out in the cold Swedish winter! :( Therefore they dressed me up a bit more than the maidens in the swedish winter, who all had to freeze.

20 year old Swede here. I've been to one Lucia event, two or three years ago. Swedes are really strange with theirstrange traditions. :/

Das ist ein sehr schönesFest in Schweden

I live in Brazil, we consider that etnic mixture is powerful to elevate our country, even I been caucasian

great video

Love it! ❤

st.lucia . pray for us. pray for Sweden.

is that swedish actress alexandra dahlstrom as the blond lucia at the 121 min. mark

@ 07A09 But then swedes DID hold on to traditions if it was forbidden to break stereotypes! .

Its not Christmas until we go to Lucia. This is a very beautiful tradition.

Reddit lurade hit mig.

Glad Lucia allihopa! Have a good Lucia day everyone!

One of the biggest traditional celebrations in Sweden is St. Lucia's Day on December 13th (the shortest day of the Year). The Lucia procession by children is so fantastic!!

MY NAME IS LUCIA! except i'm italian, so it's lu-CHEE-a.

Happy 10 Years for this video. I don't remember when I started watching this video and the Midsummer one, but they've become little yearly holiday rituals of mine. I'm still waiting for a Walpurgis/May Day video.

Haha så typiskt att man ska driva med svenska traditioner! :D

1:38 That little Lucia looks like a bride!

👍🏻🇸🇪

so funny

I like it

Martin! :D

Fuck i got Sick the day before Lucia D:

@anonymousSWE Yes, we do that. Intresant

1:50 where the fuck are they going? Lol

Hahahah! This is brilliant!!! :D