The first Sunday in December, the Embassy together with the church of Sweden opened up the Residence for a traditional Christmas survey and Lucia procession. 170 guests participated and listened to when Ambassador Helena Sångeland welcomed this festival of lights in December. Priest Gustav Jacobsson led the service, and a candlelit Lucia procession with 13 Lucias spread light and Christmas feeling in the December evening.
The first recorded appearance of a white-clad Lucia in Sweden was in a country house in 1764. The custom did not become universally popular in Swedish society until the 1900s, when schools and local associations in particular began promoting it. The old lussegubbar custom virtually disappeared with urban migration, and white-clad Lucias with their singing processions were considered a more acceptable, controlled form of celebration than the youthful carousals of the past. Stockholm proclaimed its first Lucia in 1927. The custom whereby Lucia serves coffee and buns (lussekatter) dates back to the 1880s.
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Priest Gustav Jacobsson is based in Hong Kong, but he also covers Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei. Get in touch via e-mail.
