Martyr Festival Lights Up CLU

Students and community residents attended a special service Wednesday at Cal Lutheran University’s Samuelson Chapel to commemorate the Festival of Santa Lucia, a celebration of the school’s Swedish roots.

Five female and five male students, selected by their peers by write-in ballot, performed a special candle ceremony in honor of the Christian martyr burned at the stake in AD 304 for her faith.

Senior Kristen Sawtelle, 22, was elected to portray Lucia, wearing a crown of candles that each of the other women took turns lighting. As each candle was lit, the women explained the virtue it represented: service, sympathy, thanksgiving, kindness, humility, purity or mercy.

“It’s a fascinating story,” said Sawtelle, a sociology major whose mother told her stories about the festival as a child but never saw it for herself until she came to CLU.

Sawtelle had a few jitters about wearing the crown of candles, but said it was great to be a part of the university’s tradition. The crown of candles has long been part of the festival, celebrated at the school for 26 years.

“It’s one of the oldest of the festivals, since the very beginning of the school,” said Ernst F. Tonsing, a professor of religion and Greek who has directed the pageant for 15 years. But, he added, “the student body and faculty represent all kinds of traditions. Last Saturday, we had Kwanzaa. And Tuesday night, I attended a Hanukkah ceremony on campus.”

The Festival of Santa Lucia is celebrated differently in various parts of the world. In Sicily, people run through the streets with bundles of burning straw. The Swiss celebrate the festival, which kicks off the Christmas season, with a woman representing the saint handing out gifts to children.

And in Denmark, young women pray to Lucia to reveal the identity of their future husbands.