Lussinaat: Night of St. Lucia

The night before, on into the morning of, December 13th is Lussinatt in Scandinavia.

Saint Lucia of Syracuse was a young Sicilian woman martyred, with her eyes gouged out, on December 13th in 304 AD. Young women wear crowns of candles in honor of St Lussi, patroness of the blind, heralding the Yule season on this date.

She has a fearsome side making this a dangerous Lussi to be under open sky. According to tradition this night belongs to Lussi, a feminine spirit of light, as her name reflects. She is also said to be a Queen among the ghostly spirits and of fairy like entities featured in Northern European folklore including gnomes, elves, and trolls. Some say animals can talk on this night. Many of these folkloric traditions predate Catholicism.

I actually retconned this drawing to name her, identify her, as St. Lucia years after I drew her when I looked into her from a Reinassance painting. The painting itself did not resemble this drawing at all but as my reading led me to Lussinatt with distantly familiar imagery of garland candle crowns, a la Ghost of Christmas Present, I realized woah that one spooky lady I drew is totally this type of St. Lucy

St. Lucia drawing by PJ Superior circa 2012