Salem’s 76th Annual Santa Lucia Festival is this Saturday

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A holiday tradition at Salem Lutheran Church in St. Cloud will be happening this Saturday. It's their 76th annual Santa Lucia celebration at 7:00 a.m.

Pastor Kirsten Nelson Roenfeldt says the festival of light dates back centuries.

This is a tradition that is traced back to like the fourth century when Saint Lucy, or Santa Lucia, who was an Italian saint was going into the catacombs to feed people with a crown of light on her head. That's the legend anyway.

Nelson Roenfeldt says the Santa Lucia at Salem on Saturday will include the crowning of the new Santa Lucia who is a junior or senior in high school, there's a 45-minute festival of lights, singing together, and the sharing of food.

The oil lamp that the preceding Lucia carries is a special oil lamp given to Salem in 1991 by their sister church in Sweden.

She says it's a celebration of coming into the light and that's why it's held at 7:00 a.m.

It is similar to the very common traditions held all over Sweden.

It's done in households, but it's also done in churches, and in town squares, and it's pretty secularized at this point so it's done in a lot of different places is my understanding.

The traditional Santa Lucia day in Sweden is December 13th, Salem does their celebration on the Saturday closest to that date.

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If you want to go, it is open to anyone in the community.

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