Saint Lucia, because on the day in her honor bread and pasta are not eaten
The feast of is celebrated on December 13th Saint Lucia, a peasant tradition that has been handed down in the provinces of Cremona, Bergamo, Lodi, Mantua and Brescia, anticipating Christmas. The origin of this tradition dates back to the time when the winter solstice fell on December 13th and peasant families practiced a sort of sharing, donating part of their harvests to the less fortunate. This tradition of hospitality then evolved with the custom of welcoming pilgrims into homes, who in exchange, before leaving, left a gift on the door. This consolidated the giving of gifts 13 December.
The wait for Saint Lucia is always experienced with a magical atmosphere, especially by children. The rituals begin in early December, when children they write letters with their gaming desires. Adults ring bells in the streets to warn that Saint Lucia is passing by to check on children's behavior. On the evening of December 12th, a meal is prepared in every house plate with biscuits and a glass of vin santo for Saint Lucia. Upon awakening, children find their games, rigorously assembled to create incredible surprises.
The veneration and love that binds people to this saint are linked to legends and miracles. A legend has it that during a severe famine in Bresciano, some ladies from Cremona organized an anonymous distribution of bags of grain to needy families. A caravan of loaded donkeys reached Brescia during the night of 12th December. For the citizens it was a miracle of Saint Lucia.
The saint is also celebrated in Palermo in memory of a historical event in which, during the famine, while the population was dying of hunger and hardship, the saint had a ship arrive in the port loaded with grain who there saved him from certain death. Since then, the people of Palermo have remembered the event every year by abstaining for the whole day from eating starchy foods, both bread than pasta.
The history of Santa Lucia
Saint Lucia was a young woman from Syracuse who lived around the XNUMXrd-XNUMXth century. According to tradition, at a young age she was promised in marriage to a young patrician from her city. One day, her mother, Eutychie, was struck by a serious hemorrhage. Desperate, Lucia left for Catania to ask for grace at the tomb of the martyr Agatha. There, the saint appeared to her and assured him that she would heal her mother but in exchange she would have to dedicate her life to the poor, the little marginalized and the suffering.
Returning to Syracuse, Lucia immediately began to carry out this mission by first interrupting the engagement. The rejected boyfriend did not accept her and her decision denounced to the terrible prefect Pascasio, accusing her of being Christian. Lucia was imprisoned but she did not agree to deny her faith, proclaiming herself a follower of Christ. She marked hers like this death sentence.
Before the execution on December 13, Lucia managed to receive l'Eucharist and predicted the death of Diocletian, which occurred a few years later and the end of the persecutions, which ended with the edict of Constantine. The legend told to children tells that Lucia made a boy fall in love with her and, dazzled by the beauty of her eyes, asked for them as a gift. Lucia accepted the gift and miraculously her eyes grew back even more beautiful than before. The boy also asks to have those eyes of hers, but Lucia refuses and she is killed by him with a knife to her heart.