Swedes in Nerja celebrate Lucia Night by candlelight

The tradition dates back to the original story of Lucia, who delivered food to persecuted Christians hiding in Roman catacombs under the city and by lighting her way with candles. Her day is most widely celebrated in Scandinavia, also in Lucia’s home country, Italy, and, unsurprisingly, on the island of St Lucia which named after Saint Lucy. However, each nation emphasises a different aspect of her story. The Swedish story refers to the arrival of Christianity in Sweden. Also, according to folklore, the long night from 13 to 14 December was considered dangerous and needed lighting.

Additionally, in Sweden, Lucia is included with Advent and is a time of preparation for Christmas. That's why the Nordic choir created in Nerja incorporated Christmas songs in Swedish and English into the Luciadagen celebration, which took place at Los Huertos del Sevillano in Nerja.

In Scandinavia, where Lucy is called Santa/Sancta Lucia, she is represented as a woman in a white dress symbolising a baptismal robe, with a red sash symbolising the blood of her martyrdom, and with a crown or wreath of candles on her head. Bjoerg Jahren Andersson, a local enthusiast from Norway, portrayed Lucia and was followed by choir members in a traditional Lucia procession (Luciatåg) to the restaurant stage.

"It's not the first time I've been Lucia, but it was a long time ago.... And I'm glad to do it again. I love Luciadagen! Events like this bring people together in a special magical atmosphere that makes everything so much more enjoyable. And this year we found ourselves in such a spectacular environment that the organisators created. So I am one hundred per cent satisfied, not only with my role as Lucia, and with the singing, but also with meeting good old acquaintances and chatting with them... I hope we can make Luciadagen with our choir a tradition at Los Huertos," Bjoerg told SUR in English.

"Our Nordiska kören (choir) consists of people from Sweden, Norway and Finland. We perform often, but this performance was special because of the special scenography and so many people who wanted to celebrate Lucia Day in company and with lots of candles. More than 120 people came to listen to traditional Neapolitan Santa Lucia song, which we have learned especially for the event and Christmas carols and singalong. This was our initial idea and that's why we prepared a booklet with the lyrics of the song. I am happy that we managed to get all the guests to sing along with us. I have to say that we are very happy to have been invited to this event," choir director Anna Nejdling Ekman told SUR in English.

In addition to Swedes, the audience included people from other Scandinavian countries, as well as from the UK, France and Germany. Local Spaniards also came to join in the impressive candlelight tradition.

"Events like this help us to feel extra at home here in Nerja. You know that many people prefer to celebrate such holidays in familiar surroundings. We used to do this in Sweden but this time we decided to stay in Nerja longer and sincerely were a little preoccupied not to celebrate Luciadagen in a proper way. So we were happy to learn that this year Luciadagen is celebrated in Nerja. By the way, the Arctic cyclone added to the Scandinavian atmosphere, making the weather in Nerja cool and rather grey and gloomy, but.... inside the restaurant it was warm in every sense of the word," said one of the guests, Olaf, who spends winters in Nerja.

Although the food was Andalusian (albeit with Scandinavians' favourite pickled fish), the event ended with traditional glögg (mulled wine) and biscuits flavoured with ginger (pepparkakor) presented by local Swedish shop Hemlängtan.

"I was truly mesmerised by this Lucia celebration, held with such enthusiasm and genuine joy. It was the first time I had attended such an event as well as it was the first time I tasted hot wine flavoured with cinnamon and almonds and raisins. I liked it, even though I used to think such a wine cocktail was disgusting, like many Spaniards," commented one of the guests, Pepe García.

The Lucia celebration ended with the choir's final song, Silent Night, which was sung in three languages - Swedish, English and Spanish. It was able to unite in one voice all those for whom this melody is very familiar, albeit with different lyrics. However, the meaning was the same - to appreciate tranquility, to find harmony with oneself, and to try to live in peace on earth.