Saint Lucia's Day

The Swedish-speaking population observes Lucia’s Day on December 13. The public Lucia procession came into custom in some parts of Finland after World War II. Since 1950 Finland’s largest Swedish-language newspaper, Hufvudstadsbladet,  has organized a public vote and collection for a young girl to bear the name Lucia. The winner leads the "Lucia-procession" at 6 pm from Helsinki Cathedral to Finlandia Hall where she is crowned. In family celebrations, a daughter appears dressed in white and wearing a crown of candles, serving coffee and pastries in the morning. 

The two most known songs sang on December 13th are "Sankta Lucia" and "Staffan's song".

"Lussekatter" is a bun  flavoured with saffron and cinnamon or nutmeg and contains currants or raisins. It is very yellow in color due to the saffron. In Sweden, no cinnamon or nutmeg is used in the bun, and raisins are used instead of currants. The buns are baked into many traditional shapes, of which the simplest is a reversed S-shape.