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| The participants in a Lucy procession |
This coming Wednesday is the
feast day of St. Lucy, or St. Lucia. In Scandinavia and parts of Italy and
Croatia, this is the day on which children receive Christmas presents. If they’re
really lucky they’ll have had presents on St. Nicholas’s Day (Dec. 6th) and
will get more on Christmas Day itself.
St. Lucy’s Day is celebrated
with church processions, family meals, and lots of tradition. In 2021 I looked briefly at the history of the Lucy processions from their origins in boys’ schools. In
Scandinavia the original processions were led by a boy, originally portraying
the Christkind (Christ Child), but this character evolved into St. Lucy, still
played by a boy.
With this in mind it seems
strange to historians to hear of several places in Scandinavia where
controversy erupts over the portrayal of St. Lucy by boys in modern
processions. This is invariably the result of the critics’ collective cultural
amnesia and ignorance of its origins. Critics claim to be upholding tradition,
when they probably mean that they don’t want their Lucy processions to be
corrupted by being led by a boy in drag.
Who knows, perhaps before
the internet and social media made it capable of discovering who remote or
little villages chose to play their St. Lucy, there were lots of male St. Lucys
(who I will refer to as Lucy Boys, as opposed to the Star Boys, which I’ll come
to later). There was certainly an increase in the reporting of Lucy Boys after
2008.
There were three cases of
protests against teenage Lucy Boys in Swedish schools that year which became
prominent headlines. The boys who were the targets of those protests were (with
the schools they attended): Freddy Karlberg of Södra School in Mötala, Johan Gustafsson
of Erik Dahlberggsgymnasiet in Jönköping, and Nils Wiking Furberg of Lillerud
high school.
All three teenagers were
elected by their respective schoolmates to play St. Lucy in their school’s
annual Lucy procession. However, in two cases the school principals objected to
the election. They stated that it is traditional for a girl to be St. Lucy,
since the saint herself was female. This was echoed by many parents of other
pupils at those schools (no doubt angry that their daughter lost out on being St.
Lucy to a boy).
I’m all in favour of
tradition, but I also believe that there can be some room for change. We live
in an era of greater diversity of representation. Diversity should not always
have to create division. As I wrote above, St. Lucy was originally played by
boys, so there’s no real alteration in tradition in this case. Again,
collective cultural amnesia is the reason, and that can be harmful.
Early Lucy processions
comprised of only St. Lucy and a group of girls dressed as “Lucy Brides”. Then
Star Boys were introduced. In the last part of the 20th century the processions
expanded to include such characters as gingerbread men and tomte (Scandinavian house
spirits or elves, which I’ll talk about next Sunday).
In the cases of Freddy and
Nils Wiking the school principals said that their decision was taken to protect
the boys from abuse. This is quite valid, since they did receive abuse, and it
is the responsibility of all teachers to protect their pupils. However, the
principals stated that that had no personal objection to a male Lucy, if the procession
was just confined to school staff and pupils. The processions were open to the
public, with parents and local people present. The Lucy Boys might “upset the
pensioners”, the principals also claimed.
There were three different
outcomes to the three cases.
Freddy Karlberg was
prevented from being a Lucy Boy because of his principal’s decision to not
recognise his election. Several students boycotted the Lucy procession in
protest.
Nils Wiking Furberg pulled
out of the Lucy procession before it took place. His principal had actually
backed down and was willing to let him be St. Lucy. What changed the boy’s mind
was the amount of online abuse he received on social media.
Johan Gustafsson fared the
best out of the three. He was allowed to be St. Lucy – with a twist. The
school’s Lucy procession began very “traditionally” with a female Lucy,
Veronica Ahlund. Halfway through the traditional St. Lucy’s carol, Veronica
invited Johan to take her place. Johan had been playing a Star Boy. He removed
his conical Star Boy hat and placed the candle-crown of St. Lucy on his head.
Media reports say that the congregation cheered. Credit should also go to the
school principal, Stefan Claason, for supporting Johan’s election from the
start against much criticism.
Incidents of Lucy Boys
being elected and denied their place in processions continue as does the debate
over what is or is not considered traditional.
But what about those Star
Boys I mentioned? In the Lucy processions they follow the Lucy Brides who walk
behind St. Lucy. These boys wear white robes and tall conical hats. They
usually also carry a star on a stick (hence Star Boys, obviously).
You’d think that there’s
be nothing controversial about Star Boys, but you’d be wrong. In 2012 a
9-year-old girl in a Stockholm school wanted to be a Star Boy. Her school
principal refused to let this happen, again citing tradition. Instead he girl
was offered the role of a tomte, which the girl accepted.
In 2014, an 11-year-old
girl from Skellafteå, high up on Sweden’s Baltic coastline, was told she
couldn’t be a tomte in her Lucy procession because only boys can be a tomte.
This was strange, because for the previous two or three years she had been one,
and now she was told she couldn’t because she was a girl. The school
principal’s reason? Again, the girl might scare pensioners who were coming to
watch the procession. Happily, the principal changed her mind.
Who would have thought
that something as seemingly innocent as a St. Lucy’s Day procession could
generate so much gender controversy? Changing gender roles in traditional
customs should not automatically be taken as an attack on that tradition.
History teaches us that Christmastime has always had a large element of
switching gender roles, even within Christian tradition (early portrayals of
the Virgin Mary in church processions were usually played by young male
clerics). True, most of it stems from the historic practice of not allowing
women to take part (except that we must not forget girls played the male
Christkind since the 17th century). What is important is that all participants
and spectators in any traditional custom should be aware that it differs from
previous observances, where cultural attitudes and even technology create
change. That’s how the modern Christmas has evolved, and Christmas traditions
have evolved too.
There are many other
modern cases of switched gender roles at Christmas customs that have been
accepted. In Spain, where the Three Kings are the dominant gift-bringers and
have their own parades, some of the kings have been played by women – some with
false beards. There have even been some female Santa Claus’s in the USA since
the 1950s, also with beards, and three of them have been inducted into the
International Santa Claus Hall of Fame. There are even drag Santas.
Whether you enjoy
traditional Christmas parades and processions or not, let’s celebrate them all
in their fabulous variety. After all, when you see a Santa or St. Lucy, you
shouldn’t see the person playing that character. As some Christmas films often
say about Santa – once you put on a Santa suit, you become Santa. This can be
said of all benevolent Christmas characters, whether it’s Santa, St. Lucy, the
Three Kings, the Christkind, or any of the hundreds of other Christmas
characters there are around the world. It’s not cosplay. It’s not playing a
historical character, even if it’s based on one. You become a manifestation of
a concept that enhances both the secular and religious elements of an
ever-evolving Christmas.
