Happy Saint Lucia Day!
What? (you might ask, if you're not Swedish.) Today is Saint Lucia Day in Sweden, and at many homes here that have Swedish ancestors.
Today is the first day of the twelve days before Christmas. On this morning the oldest daughter in a Swedish family will get up before everyone else, prepare Lucia buns and a hot drink, (we always have cocoa) and take it to each member of her family to give them breakfast in bed. (A cool tradition if you're not the oldest daughter and you get to sleep in.) She will wear a white dress with a red sash, and a crown of lighted candles in her hair. (Today they make battery opperated candles, which helps not get wax in your hair.)
The tradition started hundreds of years ago in Sweden. The story goes that there was a village in Sweden that was having a terrible famine. The people in the village were almost starving, when one night they saw a light coming towards them across their lake. As it drew nearer they saw it was a boat, with a woman standing in the front. She wore a white dress with a red sash, and the crown of lighted candles in her hair provided the light. This woman was Saint Lucia, and she brought food to the starving village.
In memory of this miraculous event, every year on Dec. 13th Swedes all around the world celebrate Saint Lucia Day. And so do we. From my youngest childhood I have looked forward to this day, it begins Christmas for me. We always went to Grandma Johnson's house to have our Lucia buns and cocoa. She would serve it in ruby red glass tea cups, and float little marshmellows on top. When grandma died I inherited three of her cups. They hang below a shelf in my kitchen that holds my Swedish knick-knacks, including a little Saint Lucia Doll dressed in white, with a red sash and candles in her hair.
As I type my lucia buns are in the oven, raising. In a while I'll bake them, make some cocoa, and call my family to breakfast. (there is school today, so no one can sleep in and wait for breakfast in bed.) Hopefully, somewhere up in heaven, Grandma Johnson and mom and all of my swedish ancestors are having Saint Lucia Day celebrations, too.
In case you'd like to continue our tradition, here's the recipe I use to make my lucia buns. You can actually use any cinamon or sweet roll recipe.
This is the recipe I use, (I got it from Sis. Guthrie, who got it from Matt’s mom, and it makes yummy cinnamon rolls, so I am giving you the whole recipe. When I use it to make Saint Lucia buns I mix up the dough, add some cinnamon (probably about 1 TBSP), let it rise for 2 hours, then pinch off pieces and roll into S’s (not too big because they will raise), put a raisin in each curl, and then let then let them raise again and bake, ect. (You can leave out the cinnamon and put in 1 tsp of cardamom if you want to be authentic, but no one really likes that flavor so I use cinnamon.)
SUE’S SUPER CINNAMON ROLLS
3 c hot water 4TBSP yeast (sprinkle on top)
1 c sugar (sprinkle on yeast and water)
1 c margarine (room temp. Plop on top)
6 eggs (break in) 4 tsp salt (sprinkle on top)
(TBSP = tablespoon tsp=teaspoon)
Smoosh in eggs and butter with wire wisk.
Add 5 c flour. Mix all together, makes a soft dough. Add 5 more cups of flour. This time mix with hands. Cover with Saran Wrap. Put in fridge for 2 to 24 hours. Divide dough in ½. Flatten first ½ by hand on floured surface. Roll to make 8” wide rectangle. (this is where I stop and make the s’s)
Spread melted margarine on top (about ¼ c). Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or brown sugar and nuts and raisins. Roll up like jelly roll. Use a length of thread to cut apart.
Place on greased pan, ½ to ¾” apart. Let raise 1 -1/2 to 2 hours. Bake 400 degrees, 12 min. Makes 2 ½ pans.
Let cool about 15 min. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
Frosting: 1 cube of margarine, 1 big package of pd sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 pinch of salt, and however much milk it takes to make it smooth.
Mix margarine and vanilla and salt and about ½ the package of pd sugar together, then gradually add the rest of the sugar and a little milk at a time until it is spreadable, but not too runny. Be careful adding the milk, a little bit goes a long way.
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