Lucia / St Lucy's Day, 13 December

Saint Lucy's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, is a Christian feast day observed on 13 December. The observance commemorates Lucia of Syracuse, an early-fourth-century virgin martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution. According to legend, she brought food and aid to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, wearing a candle-lit wreath on her head to light her way, leaving both hands free to carry as much food as possible. 

Because her name means "light" and her feast day had at one time coincided with the shortest day of the year prior to calendar reforms, it is now widely celebrated as a festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy's Day is viewed as a precursor of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar on 25 December, Christmas Day. 

In Scandinavia, where Lucy is called Santa/Sankta Lucia, she is represented as a woman in a white dress symbolizing a baptismal robe and a red sash symbolizing the blood of her martyrdom, with a crown or wreath of candles on her head.

In Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, as songs are sung, girls dressed as Saint Lucy carry cookies and saffron buns in procession, which symbolizes bringing the Light of Christ into the world's darkness. (Wikipedia)

 

Not sure if the video below will work for everyone world-wide, but I thought I'd give that a test. (Let me know if it works!) It's this year's (2025) Lucia Morning by Swedish Television (SVT); from Visby on the island Gotland, off the east coast of Sweden. 

It's a 1 hour show, and in Swedish. But of course you can choose for yourself how much of it to watch/listen to. It will give you an idea of the typical atmosphere, anyway.

"Inside the city walls of wintry Visby, this year’s Lucia brings atmosphere and warmth with choirs from Sankta Maria Youth Choir, Voices of Hope, and Gotland Boys’ Choir. In the ruins of St. Karin and Helge And, the Christmas songs ring out, and we also get to enjoy several soloists, the Gotland Wind Quintet, and a children’s choir in the historic surroundings."

    

https://youtu.be/QVc5rAzMQCs?si=toSBG8tjXE-Urfmg

A Church Concert

Yesterday evening I went with my friend E to a concert in a countryside church in the village outside town where my parents lived in their retirement years - and my paternal grandparents all their life. They + more relatives are also buried in the churchyard there. 

When we arrived, I first went for a stroll around the churchyard to check on 'my' graves, while E went into the church to make sure we got good seats. She also knew a few more people who were coming - including one of her own daughters singing in the choir.

No flowers had been planted yet on the graves tended by the church (a service we pay an annual fee for, and pansies will probably appear there any day now); but to my surprise I found this little angel keeping watch on my parents' grave. As it was not me or my brother who put it there, I'm intrigued who did... As I've never seen any of our other family graves adorned with such ornaments either, I suspect it's most likely that it really belongs to a neighbouring grave, adorned by several similar items. (Could have fallen over, and got picked up by churchyard staff not knowing where it belonged.) But as I don't know, I did nothing about it. (If it really does belong on the other grave I suppose they will recognise it and take it back.)

Fristad Church

It had been raining earlier in the day, but the rain stopped in the afternoon - I did not need the umbrella I had brought "just in case". After a very summery Saturday, I was back in my winter coat, though!

Photo of the interior taken while we were waiting for the concert to begin. We were there early as quite a large audience could be expected (and so it also turned out). A nice surprise for me was to also meet another old friend there (84 years old now) whom I hadn't seen in years. One of his sons was also in the choir. He sat down with us and he and I had a nice catching up chat before the concert started - while E was chatting with some other friends.

The concert was a musical Mass entitled Gloria, by Tore Aas. (Originally in Norwegian, and performed by the Oslo Gospel Choir. If you want to get an idea of what the music sounds like, you can find it on YouTube.)

Standing ovations at the end of the performance...
 

... and the choir repeating the last part... 

During the concert, the evening sun had come out of hiding and the sky was blue again.

Making Progress...

Getting acquainted with my new phone is still taking up a lot of my time - and I keep oscillating between frustration and revelations... ;-)

Out on a short chilly walk on Sunday (just my usual turn around the cemetery for exercise) I had my first attempt at shooting some outdoor photos. Or so I thought. Turned out when I got home that what I had actually done was shoot some very short, shaky and blurry videos (of things not supposed to move!). 

Being used to actually pressing a physical button to take photos (even on my old phone), I guess I probably pressed the "screen button" on the new phone too hard...

Yesterday was sunny (even if still rather chilly), and a better day for outdoor photography. I managed a few shots in and near the park downtown; and then at home also experimented with creating collages. Some crocuses had shown their face again after the snow-shock that must have buried them the other day; and I spotted a couple of more unusual ducks among the usual mallards in the river.

I think they must be goosanders (Lat. Mergus merganser, Swedish: storskrake)

The white ones, bottom right, are snowdrops with snow dropped on top of them... (The crocuses were in a sunny spot, the snowdrops in a shady spot.)

- - -

Some of my other experiments have been related to sound rather than images. The new phone turned out to have no headphone jack; so the day after I bought the phone, I decided to also invest in a couple of new wireless (Bluetooth) earbuds. They don't even have a cord between them to keep the pair together... So far I haven't dared use them outside the flat! ;) They're surprisingly comfortable, though.

The photo on the left is a shot from my TV screen today (watching an episode of Foyle's War). Just as a reminder how far technology has come in the past 80 years or so...!

You turn them on/off and change volume etc by tapping on the earbuds themselves. I've still not quite mastered that art... Sometimes if I want to increase or decrease the volume, I manage to turn them off instead. Or suddenly an automatic voice cries "GAMING MODE" in my ear...  It seems I'm also supposed to be able to answer a phone call by a tap, if I happen to be wearing them when the phone rings. (That still remains to be tested.)

Getting the earbuds also inspired me to look into how to transfer music to the phone from my laptop (where I have pretty much all my old vinyls and CDs saved as mp3-files). Grasping how to do that turned out another headache. I'll just sum it up by saying I tried things more than one way without success... Finally, yesterday, I somehow managed to transfer two (2) albums, though - still hadn't got a clue why only those two (out of several more attempts) were successful!

Somewhere in between, it also occurred to me to explore Spotify (music streaming app). Wow... Somehow I've been under the impression that the free version of this app would also involve lots of unwanted ads and interruptions. (Perhaps in the beginning it did?) But I find now that it does not! And so easy to find old favourites... And once I started marking those, the app started making automatic playlists for me, and bringing up even more suggestions that I hadn't thought of... But you can also listen to full albums. (I bet some of you are laughing at me now. You probably knew all this since like forever.) Anyway, I got spellbound for hours yesterday afternoon, just exploring this whole world of old/new  music... Conclusion at the end of the day: No need to have tons of music files downloaded now - only perhaps a few, if I also want to be able to listen offline sometimes.

Still... Always unsatisfied with unsolved mysteries, today I returned to the problem of how to transfer music from the computer - and think I managed to figure it out. Somehow, after the two successful downloads yesterday, I must have broken off the procedure and failed to start over correctly. Like it seems essential that I turn on the phone first, before connecting it (by cord) to the computer... Never mind the rest of the steps, as it probably varies between devices anyway (which apps are involved etc). Suffice it to say that I have now also downloaded a limited number of my own albums for "offline" listening. 

However, in the process, I've probably also developed an addiction to continue exploring Spotify...

Sepia Saturday 566: Piano

The prompt picture for Sepia Saturday 566 is of a "living room with grand piano". This made me go looking for pianos in my own childhood photo albums. I can't recall any "grand" pianos from back then, but I know there was a piano in my maternal grandparents' living room. It was an upright black one, and I remember it well, but I don't seem to have any photo of it. In my other grandparents' living room (which was smaller), there was a small pump organ (harmonium). I have no photo evidence of that either - the images of it are only stored in my brain. And who used to play it (besides me, at a very young age) I don't know. I don't think I ever saw my grandmother or grandfather use it, and I can't recall ever seeing my father play either.

The only piano photo I find in my album from my early years is from my father's uncle's living room, Christmas 1957. This is me, 16 months old, playing a duet together with my mum, and then a solo performance. (Be thankful that there is no sound!)

When I was around ten, we moved to a bigger house, and then my parents also bought their own piano. Mum did play a bit (as can be seen above). I took (was forced to take) piano lessons for a while (grade 4-6), but I never had any natural talent for it. My brother did inherit the musical gene, though. Below is a blurry photo of him at the family piano, about six years old at the time. Unlike me, he kept on playing; switching to electronic keyboards up in his teens, and combining that with various intricate computer programs to produce all kinds of sounds. (Put me at a piano now, and I'm no better than at age 1½ ...)

 Sepia Saturday 566

Christmas Market & A Church Concert

Today I took the bus into the city centre shortly in the afternoon. There was a sort of scattered Christmas market going on, but I only had a quick look  (and a sniff!) while passing…

My destination was a church concert: Handel’s Messiah, in Mozart’s arrangement, performed by a local choir and orchestra. A friend of mine was in the choir. I’m no musical expert, but to my ears it was a wonderful performance, and both the atmosphere and the acoustics in this beautiful old church are absolutely perfect for this kind of music. (As for the Mozart arrangement, the conductor explained before the concert started that -among other things- this involves more instruments being used than in Handel’s original version. That’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t have been able to tell myself… I enjoy listening, but I’m not good at “analysing” music.)

I resisted from taking any photos during the actual concert – but snapped this shot just afterwards (with my mobile), while the audience was clapping.

Bookish Thursday – The Nobel Prize

 
Press Release
13 October 2016

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016

Bob Dylan

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan

"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

…

The choice came as a surprise to many – also to me, in one way (not having dared to guess that they’d actually choose him), but not in another (as I’ve actually been thinking before that his lyrics would be worthy of it).

Yesterday evening I was listening to some experts on TV making guesses about likely candidates. In the background they were showing a film clip with the camera sweeping across piles of books in some book shop; among which I also spotted Dylan’s memoirs – which made me wonder a little… However, his name was not mentioned in that TV discussion. But it made the thought cross my mind again: Yes, why not?

Today I forgot to watch the official press conference (at 12:50, European time) – but I found out soon enough (within an hour or so, via FB). And thought: Yes!!!

While my personal favourite *star* in the heaven of music back in my mid teens was (and still is) Paul Simon, Bob Dylan was/is up there as well – and at least as much for his lyrics as for the music. Dylan’s album New Morning (1970) was among the first LP records I owned. I did not have a lot of records back then, but those that I did have were played all the more often – on the small travel gramophone I had in my room.

 

I also remember going to the library in town with a friend to listen to music there. They had these big comfy armchairs, side by side, where two people could sit and listen to the same record, each with your own set of headphones. You had to ask the librarian to put the record on (the player was behind their desk). But we got to borrow the cover or booklet with the lyrics on, so that we could study those while listening. And I remember us pouring over the lyrics of Dylan (and Simon & Garfunkel, and Leonard Cohen); and looking up words we did not know; and discussing meaning and context... Ever since back then, the lyrics have been as important to me as the music, and I always get severely disappointed if the lyrics aren’t included when I buy a music album.

I was never such a ‘fanatic’ fan that I have collected all of Dylan’s albums. (Far from!) But those I have are from different periods in his career. Besides the New Morning one from my teens, and a couple of retrospective “Best Of” and Bootleg ones, I have three from his most obviously religious period in the late 70s/early 80s (Slow Train Coming, Saved, Shot of Love); and also some of his 21st century ones:  Modern Times, Together Through Life, Tempest. Among my books I also have his collected lyrics from 1962-2001 in book form; and his memoirs (Chronicles, Volume One; but in Swedish translation). 

All in all, Bob Dylan has been a “presence” in my life through 45+ years… And for me, it’s the first time I’ve been able to say that about someone who has been given the Nobel prize during my lifetime!

FMTSO: Favourite Corner

Yesterday offered perfect weather for a Folk Music/ Dance/ Arts & Crafts festival in our Museum Park – with something going on in every nook and cranny, so that it was really hard to choose a favourite corner…

 

A nyckelharpa ("keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp") is a traditional Swedish musical string instrument with keys.

Friday My Town

Booking Through Thursday: Soundtrack

from Deb:

♫ Do you ever try to pair music with the book you’re reading? Play the movie soundtrack while reading the original book? Find mood music that fits with your story? ♫

I’m not sure if I ever tried listening to a movie soundtrack while reading the original book. Actually I quite like reading in silence. But if there are other irrelevant noises going on, I do prefer to try and drown them with music of my own choice. Generally, for reading, I prefer instrumental music. Either something neutral, not too intrusive, or something that I find suits the mood of the book. Or at least does not totally clash with it. For example, in the last book I just read, The Chessmen by Peter May, set on the Isle of Lewis off the west coast of Scotland, Celtic music was partly involved in the story. So with that book, Celtic music would not only be my preferred choice, but anything else would probably feel out of place.  

Convertible

Last Sunday I came upon this beauty parked among all the typical family cars outside the supermarket. I’m embarrassingly hopeless at identifying cars – but surely this must be a Cadillac, right?? Coward that I am, I didn’t dare go too close (like lean in to take photos of the interior) – fearing I might set off an alarm or something! … ;)

http://youtu.be/Qe6UpGFlRGM

Cadillac – Hep Stars*

I’m dedicating this post especially to two of my blogging friends: Eva of Eva Ason’s Art who paints charming water colours of old cars (among other things) – and GB who might be missing his “handbag” (recently having returned from New Zealand to his other home in the Hebrides).

* The Hep Stars was a successful Swedish rock groups in the 1960s; outside the Nordic countries probably  best known as a launching point for keyboard player and composer Benny Andersson, who went on to enjoy worldwide success with ABBA. 

They were the first pop stars I “worshipped” back in my pre-teens … ;)

Q for Qualified

http://youtu.be/SrMioT5MUqY

Paul Simon: Question for the Angels
(from the album So Beautiful Or So What)

NEWS (8 May, 2012)

Paul Simon has just been awarded as one of two laureates for The Polar Music Prize 2012; together with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Paul Simon citation:

Nobody else is more deserving of the epithet of “world-class songwriter.” For five decades, Paul Simon has built bridges not only over troubled waters but over entire oceans by (re)joining the world’s continents with his music. With consummate skill, innovative arrangements and provocative lyrics that never fail to capture the currents of his age, Paul Simon has compiled a library of songs which will remain open to future generations.

The Laureates will receive the prize from His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at a gala ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall to be followed by a celebratory banquet at Grand Hôtel on Tuesday 28^th of August. Each recipient receives a total amount of one million SEK.

The Polar Music Prize was founded in 1989 by the late Stig ”Stikkan” Anderson, a true legend in the history of Swedish popular music. Stig Anderson was the publisher, lyricist and manager of ABBA, and he played a key role in their enormous success. The name of the prize stems from Anderson’s legendary record label, Polar Music.

The Polar Music Prize awards two laureates in order to celebrate music in all its various forms and to emphasize the original intention of the Polar Music Prize: To break down musical boundaries by bringing together people from all the different worlds of music.

This is one award that I am not going to question!
Paul Simon has been my No 1 favourite singer-songwriter ever since my teens, and I can think of no one more qualified for this prize! ;)

ABC Wednesday – Q

Gifted

   

Thank you all who commented on my Sunday post by sending me good wishes for my birthday. Sandra wanted to know what was in the parcel I mentioned in the Sunday post. It was from from my friend Gunilla, and it turned out to contain a collection of postcards of water colours painted by a gifted artist friend of ours, Lena. Lena gets most of her inspiration from the province of Bohuslän on the Swedish west coast, which is also where she usually exhibits her art in the summer. Below are three of the pictures included in the card collection I got. (The card in the photo above, with the parcel, is not hers though.) You can also see these and more of Lena’s work at her own website and the Swedish Artists website:

  

I received more birthday greetings in the post yesterday; among them a gift certificate from my brother, allowing me to choose a number of albums from the website www.legalsounds.com, and he’ll download them onto discs for me. So I’ll take the opportunity to renew a few old favourites I used to have on LPs and cassette tapes. I also got a copy of my brother’s own album Trek.

Otherwise my celebrations yesterday were mostly “on line” by email, Facebook and telephone! Outside, it kept on raining…

Booking Through Thursday: Music

http://btt2.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/soundtrack/

What, if any, kind of music do you listen to when you’re reading?
(Given a choice, of course!)

Often I prefer silence - but only if it really is silent. If there are other noises in the background that I have not chosen myself, I prefer (if possible) to drown that with my own choice of music. Which in that kind of situation would be the type of music that best creates a "solid wall", i.e. not too many pauses or variations between soft and strong, and either instrumental or the kind of singing where focus is on the 'sound' rather than the lyrics. Typically I might choose for example baroque music (Bach, Handel, Vivaldi) or modern Celtic (Enya, Clannad).

ABC Wednesday – S

Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan turned seventy this week, can you believe it? Still going strong, and his songs still spreading all over the world like seeds with the wind…

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.