On December 13th every year we celebrate the feast of Saint Lucia, or Saint Lucy. She was martyred in Syracuse during the persecution of Diocletian. Her name, which is derived from the Latin word lux,meaning light, is mentioned in the Roman Canon of the Mass and invoked in the Litany of the Saints. Dante mentions Lucia in Canto II of Inferno and in Canto XXXII of Paradiso.
Since her name means "light" and her feast comes among the darkest and shortest days of the year in the northern hemisphere, there is great popular devotion to her in Scandinavian countries; young girls dress as the saint and their heads are wreathed in crowns of white candles. In Sicily the day is celebrated with an abundance of homemade pasta and there is a special dessert of wheat in hot chocolate milk.
Francisco de Zurbarán (1598 - 1664) painted Saint Lucia wearing a spectacularly voluminous dress.
No comments:
Post a Comment