Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia Day is a beloved tra­di­tion in Swe­den. The orig­i­nal Lucia was a 3rd cen­tury Ital­ian girl who wore a crown of can­dles and brought food to those who were per­se­cuted. Another leg­end says that in Varm­land, Swe­den, where my fam­ily lives, Lucia brought food to the starv­ing vil­lagers at Lake Van­ern. St. Lucia Day is Decem­ber 13, which was pre­vi­ously Win­ter Sol­stice on the old Julian cal­en­dar. On this day, the eldest daugh­ter dresses up and brings Lucia buns to her house­hold, with younger sib­lings also in pro­ces­sion. The straw goat in these images is called a jul­bock, and many peo­ple in Swe­den have these fes­tive guys at Christ­mas time.

I chose to cre­ate a mod­ern, updated ver­sion of the clas­sic Saint Lucia dress, a white gown with a red sash, this one suit­able for my own fash­ion aesthetic.

You can see more photos here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/saint-lucia/