By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-807697.mp3
Dallas, TX – Saint Lucia Day occurs every December 13. It is named for a fourth century Italian Saint adopted by Scandinavians more than 1,000 years later. As part of our Holiday Traditions project, KERA's Bill Zeeble joined one family's celebration in Dallas.
It is cold outside on this Saturday morning before 6 a.m. The sun is not up yet, so candles light the way to the front door of Laurel and Kerry Johnson. Dozens of guests are sipping hot cocoa or coffee. The place smells like sweet, baked bread. Kerry Johnson grabs everyone's attention.
Kerry Johnson: You want to hear the story about St. Lucia?
Johnson explains that in about 300 A.D. in Italy, Lucia was martyred for her Christian faith. Sentenced to die by fire, she would not burn. So guards stabbed her, and gouged her eyes out. That is one version, anyway. St. Lucia became the patron saint of sight and light.
Kerry Johnson: 1,100 years later, there was a horrible famine in Sweden. People were dying. It's the middle of winter. The 13th of December, in the old Julian calendar, was the shortest day of the year. Someone looked out over the vast expanses of ice and way out in the distance was a sleigh pulled by reindeer. And on it was a lovely young lady with a crown of lights in her hair. As she came across, the ice melted behind her and then all the crops started to grow again and people came out of the famine. That's the legend.
Part of it also borrows from pagan stories of the coming spring. Since the late 1700s, a young woman, called the Lucia bride, literally dresses in a white, complete with red sash, wearing a crown of lighted candles. She serves guests fresh hot rolls. A young boy, the Starboy, leads the way. For decades, the Johnson's have recruited new Lucia brides and Starboys from friends and neighbors.
Kerry: OK, here comes the Starboy, Ray Tubbs, and our Lucia bride, Sara Townsend. Let's give them a hand.
Sara Townsend: My sister was a Lucia bride and my brother was a Starboy. I've been coming here since I was little. Every year it's a different Lucia bride and different Starboy. It's kind of fun, getting to walk around with the buns. I never thought I would be asked.
Ray Tubbs, a 3rd grader, is dressed in white, but doesn't mind.
Ray Tubbs: I know Goth kids wouldn't like it. White is somewhere in the radius of my favorite colors.
The Johnsons fell in love with this tradition decades ago as newlyweds in San Francisco, where they were served free, hot buns from a Swedish bakery. Given Kerry's Swedish heritage, Laurel says they adopted the ritual.
Laurel Johnson: This is our family tradition. Our kids have grown up being Starboys. We've gone through a lot of young girls over the years, a lot of girls we've had as Lucia brides.
Their three boys all played their part. Alex, grown up now and in the family's printing business, plans to keep it going.
Alex Johnson: It's such a family tradition and recipes get better and better over the years. Every year we tinker with the Lucia bun recipe. More citron or less flour. Mix of whole wheat flour and white flour. The recipe's been refined. It starts the day after Thanksgiving. Start with baking. Mom makes an awful lot of Lucia buns, leading up to this late night and we sleep an hour or two and get up and get it all ready and go.
Kerry Johnson says they have only missed two Lucia days. Once when Laurel was pregnant with Alex, another when they moved in December. He says it is the perfect way to kick off the holidays.
Kerry: When people try to think of excuses why they cannot come, very few people have another party they have obligated themselves to at 6 in the morning. It's just become something we want to do to have a good time at an usual time of day. And it's a fun party. We just enjoy doing it, and probably will do it till we can't walk anymore, I dunno.
An hour and a half after it started, the Johnson's Lucia day celebration winds down as the morning sun rises. The family is already planning for next year.