Lucia Day - 13 December

Lucia Day is celebrated in the Nordic countries, in Finland since 70 years back, as the herald of light on the shortest  day (according to the Julian Calendar in the 1300s).  Lucia was an Italian martyr who died in about year 300.

Lucia Day is a particularly Swedish tradition and an important celebration for the Swedish speaking population in Finland.  The major Swedish national newspaper in Finland has an annual vote for the official Lucia, who is crowned by a garland with burning candles.  The official Lucia  has duties, like visiting eg hospitals and old people's homes for about one month.

Our school's Swedish Department , together with the Pohjola-Norden association, arranges the annual Lucia morning where the students choose one to act as Lucia and she has a number of followers who sing first at school and then visit the local hospital and old people's home during the day.  This has been a long tradition in our school and it's usually the students who, on their own, start to arrange the occasion.