Best Wishes To All Of You!
Many years ago, when I lived in Sweden for a time, the festival known as Lucia (aka Saint Lucia’s Day) was a pretty big deal in the immediate run-up to Christmas.
Lucia falls on December 13 and light is a big part of the celebrations, with young girls being chosen by their church or community to wear the traditional crown of candles.
My calendar tells me that today is Hannukkah this year (although it is not celebrated on a fixed date like Lucia or Christmas.) And Hannukkah, like Lucia, is associated with candles and light, although the reason for the festival is different.
Christmas, too, is strongly associated with candles, possibly because in the Northern Hemisphere it falls in the darkest month of winter, but also because the festivities have their roots in the old celebrations of winter solstice, which marked the seasonal turning-point, back toward the light of spring and summer.
In fact, when you look at Wikipedia’s list of festivals and holidays in December, there are more of ’em than you can shake a stick at.
So whether you’re celebrating Hannukkah today, or recently celebrated Lucia or Bodhi Day, or will be celebrating Christmas on either the eve of the 24th or the day of the 25th, or any of the other December festivals around the world, my very best wishes to all of you.
I’ll be enjoying the long summer evenings here before lighting any candles, but I still hope to light a few—and on the 25th I’ll be celebrating with NZ family.
And do be careful out there, especially if you’re travelling along with what may seem like the rest of the world!