On 13 December – the shortest day of the year – Sweden celebrates the Festival of Light, whose patron saint is Saint Lucia. On this day, picturesque processions of girls dressed in white wearing crowns of burning candles are held throughout the country.
To mark the occasion, H.E. Andreas von Beckeath, Ambassador of Sweden, and Artur Swirtun, Chairman of the Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce, invited guests to the Holy Trinity Evangelical Church in Warsaw’s Malachowski Square on 30 November to celebrate Saint Lucia Day together. After the welcoming ceremony, the Ambassador, stressing the importance of this holiday for Swedes, said:
St. Lucia is first and foremost a symbol of hope and light in the darkness, someone who brings comfort to those in need. Given the many sad and disturbing events in our world today, I think we need Lucia more this year than we have in a long time. I am thinking here, of course, not only of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, which is taking place just a few hundred kilometers away. I sincerely wish that Lucia will bring hope and comfort to all Ukrainians spending their nights in bomb shelters.
Someone asked me why we celebrate St. Lucia’s Day two weeks before 13 December, which is officially St. Lucia’s Day. The practical explanation is that our wonderful choir, Young Cathedral Voices, is one of the best in our country, and they will be busy performing on big stages in Sweden on 13 December. But I think a much better answer is that it’s never too early to celebrate Lucia, given how much we need more hope, light and kindness in our world today. Besides, we had snow and cooler weather in Warsaw today, which contributes to the perfect atmosphere of Lucia, said the Ambassador at the end of his speech.
Next to speak was Artur Swirtun, Chairman of the Scandinavian-Polish Chamber of Commerce. After the speeches, guests were invited to watch a procession to celebrate the festival of light and listen to a short concert of Swedish Christmas music performed by the Young Catedral Voices choir from Uppsala, conducted by Margareta Raab. They performed the following songs: Sankta Lucia, Nu vaknen och gladjens, Lusse lella, Lussepolska, Carol of the bells, Staffansvisa fran Orust, Stilla natt, and Sankta Lucia.
The Young Catedral Voices choir consists of members of the girls’ and boys’ choirs of Uppsala Cathedral in Sweden. The choir’s conductor is Margareta Raab, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. The choir’s concerts are extremely popular. In 2012, Young Cathedral Voices performed in a special morning television broadcast from Uppsala Cathedral on the occasion of Sankta Lucia. The performance was so well liked by the audience that the singers were awarded the title of Uppsala’s Cultural Personality. Young Cathedral Voices has toured extensively, including the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Poland, the Faroe Islands and the USA. The choir was visiting Poland for the seventh time.
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