Swedish Christmas Carol

The tree is decorated; the Christmas boxes have been sent to Alaska and Oregon; and the pantry and refrigerator are full of special ingredients. Everything is ready, but my husband and I are feeling a little blue. This is our first Christmas without our son, who is in Southeast Alaska with his bride (recall our pleasure last year, when they visited from University of Alaska, and announced their engagement)! We are also grieving the loss of a family member who recently succumbed to a rare blood cancer.

On the bright side, we just met my second cousin’s fiancé and like him very much; and we are grateful for friends and family, health, and Emmanuel (Hebrew for "God with us"), in the form of a baby in a manger.

After spending the year researching four of Carl Linnaeus’s “apostles” (Pehr Löfling, Pehr Kalm, Carl Peter Von Thunberg, and Daniel Solander), I wanted to learn more about how Christmas might have been celebrated in eighteenth century Sweden. What would these guys have been thinking about while on expedition over the Christmas holidays? What would they be missing, while their families missed them?

"Lucia-13.12.06" by Claudia Gründer
(Creative Commons)

Sweden would have been celebrating Santa Lucia and the festival of lights. When monks brought Christianity to Sweden, they brought the story of Saint Lucy who delivered food and supplies to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs during the 300s. She wore a wreath of candles on her head, to light her path and keep her hands free for carrying supplies. Swedes merged the story with their traditional winter solstice celebration.

Today, Swedes celebrate Santa Lucia’s Day during advent. A young girl is chosen to play Saint Lucia. She wears a white dress with a red sash and a Lingonberry wreath of candles on her head; and leads a procession of children, or anyone who wants to join. They sing songs about Santa Lucia, and hand out holiday treats. To get a flavor of what our intrepid eighteenth century botanists might have been missing: http://youtu.be/Mk0FyZqNp5Q

Merry Christmas everyone!