HAPPY
SaTurnAllia Everyone !
To-day
is the 13th !
No matter the month, 13 is always the
best. It has always been my favorite
number.
Many
around the world Celebrate on the 13th of December. They use Lucy as their reason for dancing,
lighting candles and eating yummy spiced bread.
Saint
Lucy (283–304), also known as Santa Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr,
killed in Syracuse, Italy, for refusing to submit to her
heathen husband,. There are many legends
of how she was killed, all come to the same dark end....her eyes were plucked
out.
YOW-ZAH !!
",
. In some versions of the tale God restores her sight. She is shown here on the
right with two of her traditional symbols or attributes - the palm-frond of
Martyrdom and her own eyes upon a salver or cake-stand!
The Lussekatter or Lussebollar are spiced buns flavoured with saffron and other spices and traditionally presented in the form an inverted S with two raisins a-top (perhaps representing St Lucy's plucked out eyes!?).
Her feast day in the West is 13
December (to-day!); with a name derived from lux, lucis meaning "light"
December 13 was the date of the
Winter Solstice in the Old Julian Calendar (replaced by to-day's Gregorian
Calendar in Britain in 1752, where Wednesday,12 September was immediately
followed by Thursday, 14 September - a change that brought considerable
consternation and rioting at the time ----but not here and now cuz our theme
song today comes un-ashamedly from Cool and the Gang..............C E L E B R A T E good times, C'mon !!!! !!
!! !!
The Metaphysical Poet, and Dean of St. Paul's cathedral,
John Donne wrote his poem "A Nocturnal upon St. Lucie's Day, being the
shortest day" in 1627. The poem begins with: "'Tis
the year's midnight, and it is the day's," and expresses, in a mourning
piece, the withdrawal of the world-spirit into sterility and darkness, where
"The world's whole sap is sunk."
A good day for delicious hot Wassail and buns, in other
words!
AND SO, IN HONOR OD THE WONDERFUL,very ALIVE
LUCIA de-BO-TOWN........we celebrate
S(uper)T(errific) . LUCY's
Day the SaTurnAllia way by eating Steve's YUMMIE-LICIOUS buns !
With each bun, we mention a person
that "lights up" our life and then have fun describing evidence to
support our claim!
Instead of Lussekatt'a we named our buns LUYL Buns (Lighten Up You Life)
Lucia, this bun's for you ...lol
And if you are
getting this email- we are eating one in your honor as well!
When Steve and I went to the market to buy saffron, which is the spice used in the tradidional LUYL/Lussekatter buns, we discovered that A gram ( fills less than a tablespoon's worth) of Saffron cost more than $20.00.
The sales clerk followed us through the check out process to ensure that we paid full price for our (quite literally) precious spice.
Steve commented that it is worth more than gold.....
In another legend (that gets as much attention as St. Lucy), three Wise men, of great wealth, came to pay respects to a baby believed to be an ethereal deliverer. They brought the family gold (understandable), Frankincense (spices)& Myrrh (balm agent) .
I have to say, I now have a greater appreciation for the thoughtfulness of the wise guy who brought the spices!
May you all have wonderful
December-the 13th
\|,,/
