Swedish schools each have their own St. Lucia celebration. S's school did theirs early in the morning to try to catch the winter darkness outside. The parents were asked to dress their children in long white dresses or in Santa outfits. The Swedish parents, of course, had all their kids dressed in perfect St. Lucia outfits. However, those of us international parents were less prepared. Having never seen a St. Lucia celebration, S was pretty reluctant to dress in unusual clothes so she opted to wear her favorite party dress which, as luck would have it, is red velvet. She fit in just fine with the other Santa kids.
Traditionally the St. Lucia costume includes a crown of lit candles. I was a little alarmed about this because all the St. Lucia's I'd seen were in real candles, with real fire, inches from their hair. But it turns out you can buy a plastic crown with light bulb candles for kids to wear (phew!)
Check out the paparazzi, I mean, proud parents.
All around the school yard the trees were adorned with lit candles.
Don't bother looking for S in the group photos here. She would have NOTHING to do with parading in with the other kids and singing the songs she'd sung over and over again at home. When it comes to performing, S has a shy streak about a mile wide. Nevermind the fact that she has been singing and performing St. Lucia over and over at home ever since. She's still doing it. In March. That's four months of St. Lucia in our house ... but who's counting? I still think it is cute when she does it, even after all this time. See, I must *really* like St. Lucia.
Our little St. Lucia at the after-party.
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