Saint Lucia’s, according to a popular saying, is the “shortest day there is”. That’s not really the case: of course, there are not only many hours of light in mid-December, but the shortest day of the year is the winter solstice, which falls around December 21st.
The saying, however, has a kernel of truth: December 13th was in the past the date of the “shortest day there is”. However, things changed about 450 years ago.
Because it’s not the shortest day
The saying refers to when the Julian calendar was in force, replaced by the Gregorian one in 1582. Before then the winter solstice, or the day with the fewest hours of light and the most darkness, fell around December 13th, date on which Saint Lucia is celebrated. Today arrives about ten days later, on December 21st. Even though the “new” calendar has been in force for more than four centuries, this association remains alive in popular culture.
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The history of Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia was born in Syracuse in the 3rd century AD. He dedicated his life to faith, even refusing marriage. The betrothed, a pagan by faith, did not take the annulment of the marriage well and denounced Lucia – Christians were the subject of persecution at the time. He died as a martyr under the emperor Diocletian on 13 December 304 AD. C.
She is venerated as the protector of sight: her name derives from the Latin “lux”, which means light. According to another version of the story, it was Lucia herself who tore out her eyes to demonstrate her faith, miraculously returning to see immediately afterwards. In iconography she is in fact represented holding a saucer with her eyes.
The traditions
The saint is venerated throughout Italy and in several other Catholic countries. In some regions, traditionally, she was the one who brought gifts to children – just like Santa Claus – traveling from city to city on board her donkey. Even today, children (especially in some areas of the north, but also in Sicily) write little letters to the saint asking for gifts and leave some milk and food for the animal that accompanies her.
Feast of Saint Lucia, December 13th is not the shortest day of the year
https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2024/12/13/news/santa_lucia_festa_13_dicembre_giorno_piu_corto-423883913/?rss
