Quote:
Originally Posted by Chopin99
We did this when I was in 4th grade. We walked down the aisles of the darkened church in white robes, crowns of leaves, holding a candle, singing "Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella". As a 9-year-old, it was incredibly cool.
One of my teachers said, "Either this is going to be the best Christmas program ever or we're gonna burn the church down."  |
Nice!
Pretty much all Swedish kids do this: procession with candles, wearing white gowns, the boys usually wearing pointy hats with stars, and the procession is led by the Lucia, who wears a wreath of candles. In nursery/kindergarten, everybody who wants (girls and boys) get to be Lucia, and there are also gingerbreadmen and Santas. And all the candles are electrical, of course. Later in life, it's something of a beauty contest to be chosen Lucia for the school or the village or whatever... but if you are Lucia, you have to pick candlewax from your hair for a week after so it's a doubtful honour!
(I was never a candidate, and I can't remember ever wanting to be Lucia either.)
I tried on my Lucia gown yesterday. Sheesh, I'm middle-aged. But my choir does a yearly Lucia concert with the girls' choir, and so we have to dress up for it.