Date: Saturday Dec 12
Place: Churchill Junior High
3450 E Oakview Drive, SLC
(4342 South, by skywalk over freeway)

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Time: 5:45 PM Långdans (Auditorium)
6 PM Program (Auditorium)

Admission:
MEMBERS: (You need your membership card to get the member price).
Adult: $3
Child: $2 (4-16)

NON-MEMBERS: (If you join SHS, you get the member price).
Adult: $5
Child: $4 (4-16)

Come hungry and enjoy dinner catered by “A Viking’s Feast”.
Adult: $9 – Children: $7 (10 and under)

You can get $1/meal for member families only, by sending your payment to:
Swedish Heritage Society, 1152 W 4370 S, 43C, SLC, UT 84123.
We need to receive your payment before the event.

See Lucia and her Starboys and get in the spirit of Christmas! Enjoy the wonderful entertainment. (Arrive early; the doors will be closed during the Lucia procession.) Dance your socks off. Visit with Santa and shop till you drop. There will also be face painting and other fun activities for the children in the gym.
Come Prepared to buy your Christmas gifts! The “Swedish Store” will be filled with many NEW items. The “Swedish Store” is a fundraiser for the Swedish Heritage Society. We appreciate your support of the in helping us further Swedish culture and traditions in Utah, like our annual Lucia event. The Swedish store will be open after the Program.
We are stocked with Swedish Cheeses (Farmer’s cheese, Prästost, Herrgårdsost, Västerbotten, Havarti, etc.), Kalles Kaviar ($3), Knäckebröd- several varieties, Saffran (Saffron), saft (drink concentrate), Marabou choklad (several different varieties), Swedish candy (skumbananer, Zoo), limpa bread and other baked items and MUCH more!
The “Swedish Store” is a fundraiser for the Swedish Heritage Society. We appreciate your support of the in helping us further Swedish culture and traditions in Utah, like our annual Lucia event.

The Store will open at 4.30 PM.

Date: Saturdays in November and December

Time: 10.30 am

Place: LDS church building (same place as last year)
3751 S 2200 W
by the E Center

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Remember practices are mandatory!

If you know of a child that is 10 and older, please contact Vivianne DeYoung at vivifors@aol.com or call 801-266-2693 or 801-915-2874.

If the child is in the age group of 3-9 years of age, please contact Ingrid Hansen at 801-706-3711 or email her at scottenhansen@yahoo.com.

Map to church

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From Wikipedia:

Some trace the “re-birth” of the Lucia celebrations in Sweden to the tradition in German Protestant families of having girls dressed as angelic Christ children, handing out Christmas presents. The Swedish variant of this white-dressed Kindchen Jesus, or Christkind, was called Kinken Jes, and started to appear in upper-class families in the 1700s on Christmas Eve with a candle-wreath in her hair, handing out candy and cakes to the children. Another theory claims that the Lucia celebration evolved from old Swedish traditions of “star boys” and white-dressed angels singing Christmas carols at different events during Advent and Christmas. In either case, the current tradition of having a white-dressed woman with candles in her hair appearing on the morning of the Lucia day started in the area around Lake Vänern in the late 1700s and spread slowly to other parts of the country during the 1800s.

In the Lucia procession in the home depicted by Carl Larsson in 1908 (illustration, above), the oldest daughter brings coffee and St. Lucia buns to her parents while wearing a candle-wreath and singing a Lucia song. Other daughters may help, dressed in the same kind of white robe and carrying a candle in one hand, but only the oldest daughter wears the candle-wreath.

The modern tradition of having public processions in the Swedish cities started in 1927 when a newspaper in Stockholm elected an official Lucia for Stockholm that year. The initiative was then followed around the country through the local press. Today most cities in Sweden appoint a Lucia every year. Schools elect a Lucia and her maids among the students and a national Lucia is elected on national television from regional winners. The regional Lucias will visit shopping malls, old people’s homes and churches, singing and handing out ginger snaps.

There are now also boys in the procession, playing different roles associated with Christmas. Some may be dressed in the same kind of white robe, but with a coneshaped hat decorated with golden stars, called stjärngossar (star boys); some may be dressed up as “tomtenissar” (Santa’s little helpers), carrying lanterns; and some may be dressed up as gingerbread men. They participate in the singing and also have a song or two of their own, usually Staffan Stalledräng, which tells the story about Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, caring for his five horses.

Lucia bun, made with saffron.A traditional kind of bun, Lussekatt (“St. Lucia Bun”), made with saffron, is normally eaten on this day.

Although St. Lucia’s Day is not an official holiday in Sweden, it is a popular occasion in Sweden. The Lucia evening and night is a notoriously noisy time. High school students often celebrate by partying all through the night. At many universities, students hold big formal dinner parties since this is the last chance to celebrate together before most students go home to their families for Christmas.

The Swedish lyrics to the Neapolitan song Santa Lucia have traditionally been either Natten går tunga fjät (The Night walks with heavy steps) or Sankta Lucia, ljusklara hägring (Saint Lucy, Bright Illusion). There is also a modern version with easier text for children: Ute är mörkt och kallt (Outside it’s dark and cold).