ljus och sång

[hej_sverige]

sankta lucia is this amazing swedish holiday about a girl who brings light in winter. actually, the catholics apparently hate lucia and killed her by cutting up her stomach--and that's why she wears a red ribbon around her waist--but sweden loves her because she wears a crown of candles and sings, making everyone happier in wintertime. so lucia is december 13 ever year and today we had a lucia celebration at school... complete with lucia (and other girls and other girls all wearing white). the girls carry candles and have glitter crown things. like tinsel. there was also one pepparkaka gumman (gingerbread cookie girl)and a few star boys (they also wear long white gowns and have pointy white hats and carry star wands) and of course, a bunch of tomtar (santas). so none of this made sense to me even in rehearsal, but when we did it it was really cool and cozy. all the while we were singing lucia and christmas songs... lovely songs that i can't explain. 7 out of 8 were in swedish; i still don't really know the words to "bjällerklang" (jingle bells).

basically lucia is pretty much my favorite holiday--next to christmas and halloween--and i'm going to celebrate it back in the U.S. absolutely.

and then today after school i did praktik (uh, work experience, i guess) at the bakery in my town, which is like a hundred and forty years old and adorable. i learned a bit about vörtbröd. the vörtbröd from this bakery is actually really famous and sold in L.A. and the king is going to buy 2 loaves of it on tuesday.

basically life is good, time is going to fast, i'm in a sort of state of shock.