Luciadagen

Tonight my attention turns from Korea to Sweden and Swedish culture.  My wife’s coworker invited us to join them today for a St. Lucia’s Day celebration at the Seoul Club sponsored by the Swedish Women’s Education Association (SWEA).  We had a great time, met some nice Swedes, and came away with a few prizes.  You can’t beat that.

What is Luciadagen (Swedish), or St. Lucia’s Day?  Here is a synopsis of Luciadagen by Bill Petro, another blogger:

In Sweden, December 13 is Luciadagen, or St. Lucia’s Day.  It is the beginning of their holiday season.  St. Lucia was a young woman who lived in first century Rome.  She was a Christian who would not give up her faith to marry an unbeliever.  She was tortured and killed by order of the Roman Emperor, Diocletian.Stories of her courage were brought to Sweden by missionaries where she became known as the Lucia Bride [Lussi or Lussibruden].  Old people said the Lucia Bride would go out early in the morning to bring food and drink to the poor.  She wore white robes and a crown of light.The story is acted out in Swedish homes with the oldest daughter playing the Lucia Bride.  Early in the morning on December 13, she brings her parents a tray of sweet saffron buns [

Lussekattor] and some coffee.  She wears a white gown and a crown of greens, often made of holly.  Her sisters and brothers dress in white and follow her.  The girls carry lit candles and the boys wear tall, pointed caps and are called “star boys.”St. Lucia is also honored in Sicily, where she was born.  Christians there gather to celebrate her day with bonfires and torchlight parades…a fitting celebration since Lucia means “light.”

I should also add a few other interesting tidbits about the holiday, which is celebrated by both Swedes and Norwegians.  To many Scandinavians, St. Lucia’s Day serves as the advent of the winter holiday season.  In Swedish lore, St. Lucia symbolizes winter and rivals Santa Claus (Jultomte) in stature.  I find it intriguing that although St. Lucia was actually from Sicily, she is honored in Scandinavia as well as in Sicily.  Reputedly executed by Emperor Diocletian on December 13, A.D. 303, her final resting place is in the Church of Santa Lucia in Venice, Italy.  Although some claim that St. Lucia visited Sweden, this is highly unlikely unless her potential suitor was of Viking origin.  I believe that Scandinavia, with its emphasis on egalitarianism, embraced the celebration in order to honor the role of women in Swedish society.  The fact that it became a Swedish national holiday in the 1920’s underscores this assumption.

It is also interesting to note that girls no longer wear lit candles during the holiday because of a few Michael Jackson-esque accidents in which head and hair frequently burned.  Apparently, nowadays crowns of candles are battery powered.

We had a great time tonight at the St. Lucia’s Day celebration.  The event started with a narrative about the holiday.  I’m glad that the language spoken was English, not Swedish.  Then, a procession led by a girl adorned with acrown of battery-powered candles representing St. Lucia marched to the front of the room.  They sang a medley of beautiful holiday songs in Swedish.  When the performance ended, we enjoyed glögg, lussekatten and other pastries, and European coffee. The children joined Santa Claus for a photo op, and I took my son up to stand next to Santa. Unfortunately, he was too scared to sit on Santa’s lap. The evening ended with a raffle. It went on for over an hour. We walked away with a pearl necklace and a gift pack of crispy bread and three kinds of herring. My wife will thoroughly enjoy both gifts. The evening put us all in a festive spirit. I posted some photos of the event as well as a photo of Seoul Tower lit up for the holidays. Enjoy!

From the “Things the Make You Go…Hmm” Department: Surely I’m not the only person who finds it ironic that someone named Bush won the Heisman Trophy (Reggie Bush, USC), beating out a player from Texas (Vince Young, University of Texas). Then again, sports and politics make strange bedfellows.

Music brings back memories

I recently dusted off some old cassette tapes from singers and music groups who were popular in the 1980’s.  Why oh why would he do that?  Dear Reader, you may be asking yourself that question.  Very simply, I am now driving to work in our newly purchased Korean automobile manufactured in the mid-1990’s, and it does not have a CD player, just a lowly tape player and a radio dial.  The radio spectrum in Seoul is middling at best.  It features one Armed Forces Network (AFN) channel that rotates formats every few hours.  In the morning the music is R&B, pop, and hip hop.  In the afternoon, the format changes to country music, and in the evening, hard rock and metal take over the airwave.  The Korean radio channels are decent, although I am not a fan of Korean pop music.  Too many Korean radio stations are inundated with talk radio and long commercial sets–not too different from what you find in the United States. 
 
With the radio selection a bit meager, I decided to locate my old cassette tapes so I can have something else to listen to on my way to work.  My CD collection dates back to 1990, when CDs first appeared, and my tape collection ends around 1989.  I played a few of the tapes, and they brought back many (mostly good) memories.  Some are still timeless classics, such as Dire Straits’ "Brothers In Arms," and some should be relegated to the trash heap of history, such as Winger.  (Who could forget the scandalous song, "She’s Only Seventeen"?  I hear that Kip Winger has improved a bit as a solo artist.)  My musical tastes have definitely changed since the 1980’s!  I had to laugh at some of the crap I used to listen to when I was younger.  Of course, I didn’t think it wasn’t crap at the time (OK, maybe it’s always been crap).  I blame it on the recording companies, radio stations, and music stores, who all conned naive consumers such as myself into buying terrible albums based on the attraction of one decent song receiving radio airplay.  Maybe I’ve become an old fuddy duddy when it comes to music.  I still haven’t migrated to listening to classical music and opera, although I’m not a big fan of today’s popular music.  I guess I’m stuck in a folksy, music limbo, like a glam rocker who went into retirement, waiting for the day when big hair, spandex, heavy makeup, and drum pads are again fashionable (that would be…never).
 
When I played some of the songs, I recalled memories that reminded me of times passed.  I played Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s "The Way It Is" album, a classic.  (Bruce Hornsby went on to become keyboardist for The Grateful Dead before Jerry Garcia died, so even if you’re not a Bruce Hornsby fan, you have to admire him for that.  He is now an accomplished jazz musician.)  I played the song "Every Little Kiss," a song that hearkened back to western U.S. expansion in the late 1800’s, and it reminded me of when I would sit in my room with the headphones on, trying to match Bruce Hornsby’s baritone voice, reading a 400-page novel in one sitting, wondering when I would get a kiss of my own (oh, about five years later).  Music by an obscure Canadian band called Frozen Ghost reminded me of my first trip abroad, when I went on a summer relief mission to San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico.  Their song, "Should I See," briefly received airplay on MTV, and I liked it so much I bought the tape.  I wore the tape out listening to it during virtually the entire ride to Mexico.  After that, I put it away and didn’t listen to it again until a few days ago.  (You have to be careful not to overplay albums, or they’ll make you sick.)
 
I’m sure you have songs that jog your memory when you hear them.  Maybe you hear them piped into an elevator or at a department store, or by happenstance when you move the radio dial.  That’s the joy of music.  It’s not only entertainment.  It’s a part of your life.
 
Blog Notes:  I was premature when I wrote in my last entry that our community association is close to signing a contract with a new coffee shop vendor.  The potential vendor, a franchiser, found out that the corporate parent is mandating that they remodel the space in the corporate image, which will take a lot of effort and investment.  The vendor is obviously hesitant, and the deal may collapse.  I asked our general manager to encourage them to negotiate with the corporate parent to scale down the remodel and that we would be willing to sign a multi-year deal to help them recoup their investment.  As is far too common with the community association, nothing ever comes easy.  I wrote too soon.
 
…but, the cafeteria will be opening in January!