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Saint Lucy

This popular image often called “plague nurse” has a very interesting background. She is Saint Lucy, and this particular image is from a Czech tradition.

The last major figure of Advent was St. Lucy, born in 284 A.D. After refusing to wed, Lucy was sentenced to perform prostitution and ended up with her throat cut. The thirteenth of December, the feast day of St. Lucy, used to be the winter solstice at the time of the older Julian calendar. From that time a saying arose: “Lucy sips the night away but the day does not grow longer.” Spinning and plucking feathers were strictly prohibited on the feast day. Lucys, women in white coats with candles in their hands, walked around homes to see if anyone was violating the ban. Their faces were covered with a mask made of wood and paper similar to a stork’s beak and it made an unpleasant clicking sound. Lucys banged on doors and announced: “I’m coming, coming to sip the night away.”

– The traditions of Czech Advent

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