St. Lucia Day, White gown, stars and candles

[five4]

Hej...Wishing all who recognize this day, a wonderful day indeed. Under the old almanac this was the longest night of the year. Winter Solstice in the Julian calendar, a pagan festival of lights. One of the earliest Christian martyrs, Lucia of Syracuse Sicily, wore a crown of candles as to free both hands for carrying food to the starving and persecuted Christians hiding in the catacombs under Rome. My dad told of how his oldest sister would serve cakes and coffee to their parents in bed as was traditional in the early morning, so many years ago. I remember my sister doing the same to our parents a couple of times when we were young and then she and my brother and I would go across the street and do the same to our grand parents...Skol ya'll...Don't forget to watch the Geminid meteor shower tonight, it's one of the best one of the year and it comes every year on this date...

[iolanda]

Thank you so much, five4, for sharing with us this very beautyful story about this day and the lovely tradition associated to it. It's a real pity that these traditions are going to split in these times. They contribute a different and wonderful relevance in every celebration and messangers of positive and warm feelings
Anyway, do you know if the tonight's Geminid meteor shower is in my area visible? ( Italy- Rieti, Lazio)

So... Have a nice St.Lucia Day

iolanda

Attached Image. (Click thumbnail to expand)

[five4]

Ciao, iolanda and grazie...I do believe you should have a very good display tonight as it will be most prominent in all of the northern hemisphere. The waxing crescent moon sets early and as long as your skies are clear you can expect to see any number of falling stars tonight...
First, find the constellation Orion, then look for the star Mintaka which is on his left hip. The star Betelgeuse is on his right shoulder, draw a line from the hip to the shoulder and it will lead you through the constellation Gemini ( hence the name Geminid ) and it will point to the star Castor from which the meteor shower will emanate. This shower which is caused by the asteroid 3200 Phaethon is so prolific you should see it from most anywhere in the sky but I find that if I look eastward I get the most hits...I am somewhat familiar with this shower as it falls on my birthday and every year as long as I remember I would look up at night and try to count a meteor for each birthday...

This post has been edited by five4 on 14-Dec-2015, 06:38 AM

[munchkin5450]

How wonderful it is to others share in their holiday traditions! I've heard the story of Santa Lucia as well as St. Nicholas (not to be confused with Santa Clause). This is a beautiful time of the year and leaves all our lives so much richer. I love the many musical stories performed at this time whether their roots are in Paganism, Christianity, Islam, Ba'hai, Jewish, Buddhism, Kwanza ....whatever.

[five4]

Wonderful indeed, munchkin, wonderful indeed...Most all of our holiday traditions have roots in paganism and we need to recognize and understand that there is more to the holiday than lights or decorations or whatever means used to display the day, so to speak. What is happening today with the hi-jacking of our holidays, especially Christmas is that they are denying us the roots to understanding the ancient rituals that survive into the present day.

[five4]

iolanda, did you get to see any falling stars the other night? It was overcast and siri miri most of the night here and did not clear till well after midnight. I got myself up at about 03:45 and got to see less than a dozen as the sky was still partly cloudy...