I’m excited to be back for another Folk Song Friday, and today’s is extra special because the folk songs I’m sharing today come from our Swedish family heritage AND one of the most special holidays in December–Santa Lucia Day! And no, you didn’t misread–for the first time ever, we have a DOUBLE FEATURE folk song Friday! I’m sharing two Swedish folk songs set to the same music, both of which are often sung in Sweden on Luciadaggen (Santa Lucia Day!). Both are presented with their original Swedish lyrics and include a singable translation on the card. The links to the free song cards are at the end of this post.
As I was doing my research and began transcribing the folk song, I was confused as I listened to different recordings of this song–I kept hearing two distinctly different sets of words, but the music was the exact same! As I am not a native Swedish speaker it took me a bit to wrestle through my confusion, but it all came together when my research lead me to understand that there are two traditional texts, written only 4 years apart by two different people, set to the same music. And wouldn’t you know it, the music itself comes from…Italy! This folk song has taken a long and winding journey through its life, I can tell you that much! And honestly, it’s much more common for this kind of thing to happen than we realize. There are often loads of variants for the folk songs we know and love, sometimes musical variants and sometimes text variants. This is an example of a folk song with a text variant AND a musical transplant from one country to another. Very folk-y!
So how did an Italian song become a Swedish folk tradition? Hundreds of years ago the people of Sweden, who live where it is very, very dark in the winter, would celebrate a festival of light on the darkest night of the year–the winter solstice. In the old calendar used at the time, that fell on December 13th. According to Swedish folklore the night of the winter solstice was dark and dangerous, and so they held a feast and would light candles to banish the darkness. As the years passed and Christianity became more main-stream, this festival of light in the darkness was combined to honor the Catholic saint St. Lucia (Sankta Lucia to the Swedes.) She has a few different background stories, but I’ll share my favorite (and least gorey–honestly, look some of the others up, they’re intense!) here.
A long time ago, around the year 304 CE, a kind young woman named Lucia lived in Sicily, Italy. She was a Christian, and it was very dangerous to be a Christian at that time. Many other Christians had to hide in dark underground tunnels called catacombs. Lucia wanted to help them, so she brought food and supplies. To carry as much as possible, she made a wreath of candles to wear on her head, lighting her way through the darkness and keeping her hands free. Her bravery and kindness made her a hero, and even though she faced danger for her faith, her story has inspired people for centuries. Today, she is remembered as a saint, and her crown of candles is a symbol of hope and light.
In the 1800s, as the sharing and spreading of music and art became quite common in Europe, Italy became known as a pillar of culture, art, and music. An Italian composer named Teodoro Cottrau wrote a song titled “Santa Lucia” about the Santa Lucia Provence in Italy. The song honors the beauty of the area and how peaceful the Santa Lucia region feels compared to the hustle and bustle of nearby bigger cities.
When the song reached Sweden, the Swedes eagerly adopted this composition into their Santa Lucia Day celebrations. Although the song wasn’t about Saint Lucia herself, they adapted it to fit their needs. I found three different Swedish versions of the song, with words written by three different people. The first adaptation was by a woman named Sigrid Elmblad, in 1924. Her version centers the folk song on Sankta Lucia herself, and the song is a tribute to her beauty and light she brings in the darkness. The second version was written only a few years later in 1928 by Arvid Rosén. His version begins “The night goes heavy…” and the song centers around the juxtaposition of light and darkness, and how Sankta Lucia brings forth the light on the darkest day. The third version was written by a preschool teacher named Halldis Ljungquist in 1958, adapting the text even further to be simplified and singable by preschool children (I love that!!). This third version is usually only sung in preschool programs, and it was a bit harder to track down, but I did it!
As the Swedish tradition of lighting the night of the winter solstice combined with the celebration of Santa Lucia Day, the pagan and Christian traditions have kind of evened themselves out through the years and now the holiday is celebrated widely in Sweden and is now not considered a super religious holiday in and of itself. Santa Lucia has remained as an icon for the holiday, but it is less about her specifically and more about the light she brings and that we can all bring on the darkest day of the year. The celebration is just delightful: On the morning of December 13th, one girl is selected (usually the eldest daughter in the family) to be Santa Lucia, and she dresses in a long white dress with a red sash. She wears a wreath of candles in her hair to represent the story of Santa Lucia, although most candles are now electric–we have electric candles for our daughter! She walks in front of the procession, often carrying the tray of lussekatter (saffron buns) and pepparkakor (gingerbread). She is followed by attendants (any other girls in the family), which are also dressed in white dresses and who hold a single candle as they walk. Then come the star boys! They wear white clothes and a white pointed hat sparkling with stars, and usually carry a star wand as well. Any little kids following behind may dress up as little gingerbread kids. This procession is also often preformed in schools, with one girl from the school chosen as Lucia. They sing a program of a few Lucia songs and Christmas songs for the parents and teachers.
Traditionally this procession will walk around on Luciamorgon (Lucia morning) to deliver light and joy to family and neighbors–lighting up the darkest day of the year with service and love. It is such a special tradition! We do this as a family in our own neighborhood. This will be our third year of actually processing around the neighborhood and handing out the sweets, and we all look forward to it so eagerly each year. My kids LOVE Santa Lucia day–I think they can sense how special and full of love and light the day is. After we walk around our neighborhood we load up in the car and drive to my mom’s house to share the sweets and some special Lucia Day cuddles with my parents and my sister’s family.
I’m trying something new today and I’ve put the three versions of the Sankta Luca song (or “luciasången”) in a spotify playlist which you can listen to here! Feel free to save these songs to a playlist of your own to share with your class or family.
I think it’s really fun to compare the three. But wait, you don’t speak Swedish?? I have some translations for you! I personally translated the first version, which was written by Sigrid Elmblad. I’ve been learning Swedish this year and it was fun to work on translating the lyrics while maintaining syllable structure, singability, the rhyme scheme, and the meaning of the song. It was a wonderful challenge and it deepened my affection and understanding of this special song, and was a fun way to honor my Swedish heritage.
I received permission to share a translation of the second version of the song, written by Arvid Rosén. This version was translated by Tamsyn Spackman of Teaching Children Music a few years ago. She gives a beautiful, singable translation that retains the meaning of the second version of the song.
I didn’t translate the third version for two reasons–firstly, it’s not in the public domain, and secondly, I couldn’t find written lyrics of the song which makes translation a bit harder as a non-native speaker! One day I’ll figure it out, but today was not that day. I still think it’s fun to listen to this version, which is why I included it on the spotify playlist.
Now that we have some background understanding of the history of the Sankta Lucia song, as well as its three variants, I thought it would be fun to end with a video of a traditional Lucia procession, as they are singing Sankta Lucia. The song itself ends at 3:25, but the entire video is quite long as it shows the entire Luciamorgon (“Lucia Morning”) celebration. My family watches the entire celebration each year on Santa Lucia Day as we sip on our cocoa and eat our lussekatter (saffron buns) and pepparkakor (gingerbread)! I cannot describe how magical the day feels. It is such a special tradition for our family, and I am so pleased to share it with you. I think it will be so wonderful to share the video of the procession with your family or students as you tell the story of Santa Lucia and sing through the folk song. The link to the song card downloads are after the video!
Click here to download the Sankta Lucia Song Card, version 1
Click here to download the Sankta Lucia Song Card, version 2: Natten går tunga fjät
I’m excited to share what I have up my sleeves for exploring this folk some more next week. Make sure to check back then because it’s going to be so fun!
Happy Singing!
-Lauren
Ps– Bonus video because it’s adorable: Here is a children’s choir singing the Natten går tunga fjät version: