WE USE STAR BOYS, INSTEAD OF A STABLE BOY:

December in Sweden: From candle-head girls to jellied veal: The Year in Sweden - December: Journalist Kim Loughran sketches a month by month account of the country he has called home ever since his accidental migration in 1966. (Kim Loughran, 12/01/09, The Local)

St. Lucia Day on the 13th replaces an ancient celebration of the winter solstice, when barnyard animals were said to be able to talk to each other and the long winter was halved. St. Lucia was believed to have lived in Sicily. Some say that when a saint saved Lucia’s sick mother from death, Lucia abandoned marriage plans and gave her dowry to the poor. Her fiancé took her to court and she was sentenced to a brothel but a thousand men, using oxen, could not drag her in. The modern custom involves angelic girl children dressed in white, although there is a role for Staffan the Stable boy, the comic relief. The white-robed children sing while lights dim and candles flicker. The custom came from nostalgic Swedish colonies in America a century ago and originally mandated a crown of lit candles in a blonde little sweetheart’s hair, predictably risk-filled in a milling crowd of excited kids.

The Judd kids join the local Swedes to perform a St. Lucia skit in school every year--yes, public school in an academic town.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 1, 2009 7:27 AM