December 13, 2011



Lucia with real candles in her crown!

What a lovely introduction to Sweden! I was invited to join the staff of Qulturum in their Lucia celebrations. Lucia is held on St Lucy Day - Dec 13 and represents the beginning of the Christmas celebrations. While no one was entirely sure, most people said that it represented the bringing of light into darkness. This makes particular sense at this time of year when the sun doesn't rise till about 8.30am and sets around 3.30pm. I arrived at 7.30am to rooms full of staff dressed up in costumes. Traditionally, the oldest daughter in the family dresses in a long white gown and wears a crown of candles. Nowadays, most of the candles are battery operated, fortunately. There was food and (non-alcoholic) mulled wine, and a number of the staff (including the head of Public Health) were entertaining the crowd with Swedish folk music. There followed a number of performances, including a comedy sketch by the Chief Executive of Qulturum and the head of Research! The finale was a staff member dressed as Lucia with real candles in her crown, leading a long procession of carol singing staff.




The Folk Music Group (sounded suspiciously like Irish folk music). The guitarist is the Director of Public Health.