Steve Webb  0:02  
This is day 13 of the 2022 encore of the 2009 season of the Lifespring Why Christmas show hosted by James Cooper creator of why christmas.com and me the OG God caster Steve Webb. Have you entered the drawing for an autographed copy of Bryan Duncan's A NehoSoul Christmas CD yet? If not, be sure to go to Lifespring media.com/day9 to see how. That's Lifespringmedia.com/d-a-y-numeral 9, no spaces. Every day from now to Christmas day you'll hear an episode from the 2009 season and if you're not yet subscribed, or following the show, why not? You could do that at LifespringwhyChristmas.show. This is a value for value podcast. it is and always will be free. But if you're enjoying the show, how about deciding what that smile you get when you listen to the show is worth to you? Whatever amount seems reasonable in your mind, then go to lfespringmedia.com/support. And with a modern podcast app, you can send boostagrams. If your podcast app doesn't show a boost button, then find a better one for free at newpodcastapps.com If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Steve at Lifespring media.com Okay, here's the show.

James Cooper  1:18  
Welcome to Day 13 of the Lifespring Why Christmas show and also a very Happy St Lucia's, or St. Lucie's Day to you. This is a very special day that's celebrated in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Bosnia, and parts of Croatia. It remembers St. Lucie, who was a young Christian girl who was martyred or killed for her faith back in 304 AD. The most common story told about her was that she'd secretly bring food to persecuted Christians in Rome, and they had to live in hiding in the catacombs under the city. And because it was very dark down there, and she wanted both hands free, she'd wear candles on her head, and Lucy means light, so it's a very appropriate name for her. And also December the 13th was the winter solstice, or the shortest day of the year in the old Julian calendar. And so a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia's day. St. Lucia's day is now celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash around her waist and a crown of candles on her head, but now normally electric candles are used for her safety. The crown is made of lingonberry branches, which are evergreen and symbolize new life in winter. There are a couple of special foods eaten on St. Lucia's day. For breakfast, you might have some lost cats which are sweet buns flavored with saffron and dotted with raisins, and also some pepper cackle, which are gingersnap biscuits. If you'd like to know a bit more about St. Lucia's day and what they get up to at Christmas in Sweden then head on over to the Christmas culture section of Whychristmas.com Have you entered the competition yet? Where you can win a copy of Bryan Duncan's album A NehoSoul Christmas? To enter the competition, you need to know the answers to our Christmas trivia questions. They're back on day nine of the Lifespring WhyChristmas show. Or you can read them on LifespringWhyChristmas.com Or on the whychristmas.com blog. Well, thank you for listening and make sure you come back tomorrow when Steve will be telling you a bit about Christmas bells

Transcribed by https://otter.ai