This month's full moon altar honours Sankta Lucia, Scandinavian Goddess of the Winter Solstice. Wearing her Crown of Light and bringing gifts of coffee and saffron buns, Sankta Lucia welcomes the returning sun after the longest night of the year.
My Sankta Lucia statue was a gift from my sister a couple of Christmases ago. Here I've placed her on a silver beaded altar cloth, surrounded by mini-lights and holly leaves with bright red berries. Around the altar's perimeter is a selection of large old and new Christmas tree ornaments.
The two old ornaments on the left belonged to my maternal grandmother. Every Christmas at the family hotel, a huge 12-foot high, real Christmas tree was put up in the restaurant dining room, covered in large glass ornaments specially brought from Switzerland in the 1950s. These are the two which my Mom and I were given after her passing. My sister also has one. They are cherished family heirlooms!
The two new ornaments on the right were both purchased by me over the years. The sacred spiral of life one I got in Winnipeg about 30 years ago. The one of snowy winter branches with red berries I bought here in Edmonton about 5 years ago. I love them both!
[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, December 2021]
40 comments:
Lovely family snapshot, as well as the altar.
Cool looking ornaments. I still have some from my parents. I thought glass ornaments would be hard to find anymore. Nope. Everybody still sells them. Even Home Depot.
I remember ornate glass ornaments similar to those when I was a kid. I have no idea what happened to them. Maybe my sister has them. I like your goddess this month. Anyone who brings food and drink! -Jenn
Everything is so beautiful, and I love those family ornaments! The Winter Solstice and Christmas will be here soon, let the merriment begin!
Saffron from spring, in the turning of the celestial season - red and green in the starkness of winter, symbols of reassurance that the sun and warmth will return.
Beautiful ornaments (so much history!); lovely goddess!
What a lovely and sparkly altar! Does this also celebrate the Winter Solstice? Watch out that HRH doesn't sneak back and steal those sparkly lights for herself....
Coffee AND saffron buns? Really?
Everything is so beautiful! I love your saint and goddess statues and wish I had a collection of them myself. Maybe I'll start one! Your altars are inspirational.
@ Tundra Bunny -- Yes, it celebrates it ALL!
My idea of Santa Lucia is more like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVJJd0NNkYE&t=61s
or this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Lucia_(song)
but that's just an Italian-American old man here.
Very lovely ornaments...back before they started making them in China/plastic.
@ Frank -- Yes, the Southern Italian Santa Lucia is an entirely different mythological figure, albeit with the same name. "Lucia" means "light" so for Sankta Lucia, her name refers to the returning Winter Solstice sunlight, and for Santa Lucia, it references her martyrdom by blinding and removing the light of her eyes.
Thank you for celebrating Lucia with us Scandis (on the 13th). Bringers of light are much needed!
Lovely!
I have a similar ball/stand !
I too look toward to the solstice
Love this altar. The ornaments are special and real treasures!
I always love your altars. Thank you for sharing them.
Personally, i don't keep this festival. There is no blame! I just don't do it, because if i survive i will save all the goodies for Candlemas!
This time is hard enough. Santa Luz is not to be messed with. Wasn't that Saint Lucy the one who had her eyes put on a platter for all the world to see?
No, i observe this holiday by being absent.
@ Richard -- Yes, you're right, the Christian martyred saint Lucy/Lucia of Southern Italy is noted for her eyeballs on a plate. That's why it's so important to emphasis that THIS Lucia of Northern Scandinavia is REALLY the ancient pagan Goddess of the Winter Solstice, an altogether different entity, albeit "lightly Christianized" to sneak her past the Christian authorities that subsequently took over from her pagan forbears.
A beautiful altar.
Coffee is on and stay safe
Scandinavia is the perfect place for a Winter Solstice goddess, and she looks the part.
Let us all put aside our differences and join our pagan forbears and celebrate our good ways.
The new ornaments beautifully complement those special ones from your grandmother. And your sister gives you wonderful gifts.
Yay the Light! What a lovely tableau you have created. I bet that 12 foot Christmas tree with all those lovely ornaments was spectacular.
Beautiful altar with so much history and so many memories..Love the altar cloth..so special..
Very beautiful.
It's beautiful. The ornaments are gorgeous.
Beautiful and nostalgic ornaments. We should invest in some ornament holders. Hey I see a reflection of you in one of the ornaments.
Everything looks beauty!
Another lovely altar, Debra. Glory to the Goddess of the Light!
I really like this alter Debs!!! And the tear shaped ball with the stripes, and the other one, they are beautiful. And I love that you held on to family heirlooms. I don't think many care anymore. What ever happened to the rest of them on the tree?
I almost missed this post.
@ Mistress Maddie -- Yes, I thought you'd like my heirloom ornaments because you're such a fan of vintage Christmas decorations! All my grandmother's ornaments got distributed among our large extended family. My mother, sister and I each got one. I assume everyone else still has theirs, but who knows?
I missed the Saint Lucy this year. Again. Oh and I always wondered if she is not the ancestor of our "Fée des Étoiles".
@ Guillaume -- She could very well be!
Aw, those are beautiful ornaments. And how lovely to have memories associated with them too.
I love all the hanging baubles. I've never seen stands like that before.
Every ornament we have has special meaning - brings back a memory of place and time. The most special are the ones that my wife made for our first Christmas. We were living in an old farmhouse with no electricity, water or sewerage. We heated by fire wood, carried our water from the stream behind our house and studied by lamp light. I had cut a tree from the tamarack swamp in front of our house and my wife made the decorations. We still hang them every year.
the Ol'Buzzard
well, this is something I never thought I'd say to you....'love your balls.'..merry merry..
Truly beautiful Deb! The older glass ornaments, I have two very special ones from my mom, that look like yours!! Actually, this year, I opened the box, where I have them kept and put them up! I haven't seen them in ages! Big Hugs!
The statute of Saint Lucia is beautiful and so are the bulbs. I love the idea of surrounding the alter with the bulbs.
Hahahaha. I wore shorts Christmas Day. Did you?
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