Julefest at Bethlehem Lutheran Church on Saturday, December 14 was brightened by the appearance of St. Lucia (Linnea Gesch) and her täntor who brought in candles and saffron buns, sweetly singing the St. Lucia song.
Julefest was held at Bethlehem Lutheran Church on Saturday, December 14, 2013 and it was a bit of a changing of the guard. Mary McElevey stepped down from her role of introducing the young woman representing St. Lucia and longtime emcee David Peterson announced this was his last year entertaining with his corny jokes. However, the event still served as a bright light on one of winter’s darkest days.
McElevey was on hand though, welcoming Julefest guests and offering a special cup of egg coffee. She smiled as she watched Laurie Spry take over the guidance of St. Lucia.
After welcoming piano music by Bill Beckstrand and a thanks to all the bakers and workers of Julefest along with a gentle blessing by Pastor Mark Ditmanson, Spry introduced the 2013 St. Lucia, a young woman of Swedish descent, Linnea Gesch.
Spry explained that tradition had changed a bit. She said for many years, the Bethlehem Lutheran Julefest referred to St. Lucia’s attendant as a tomten. Spry said actually the tomten is an impish Scandinavian creature. “They are mischievous— and kind of a brat,” said Spry.
For 39 years, Bethlehem Lutheran Church has been hosting a Julefest celebration on the weekend of December 13, St. Lucia Day. Mary McElevey (middle) has been involved with all of them in some manner. Her daughter Lynn Schulte (left) spoke at this year’s event, sharing some of Mary’s Christmas memories. David Peterson too, has been involved with Julefest for many years, serving as emcee for the delightful Scandinavian event.
“So, we no longer have tomtens. We have täntor which means attendants. And, we have many helpful young ladies who wanted to be part of Julefest, so we welcome them all,” said Spry.
She introduced the täntors Reilly Wahlers, Sophie Eliasen, Elsa Lunde, Claire LaVigne, Sela Backstrom and Amelia Roth.
The girls entered sweetly singing the St. Lucia song— first in Swedish, then in English: Look, at our threshold stands, White-clad with light in her hair…
After the visit by St. Lucia, a short program was held, with emcee Peterson thanking Mary McElevey for her many years of coordinating Julefest and honoring her with a silly joke.
There was more wonderful music by Bill Beckstrand and Philis Anderson on oboe with The Holly and the Ivy and Sing We Now of Christmas, as well as a traditional
Scandinavian song that had the older attendees singing along.
Peterson thanked them and joked, “That’s it for music today. I offered to sing but I was voted down 73 to one.”
Another tradition continued this year, the sharing of holiday memories of Christmases past. This year the speaker was Lynn Schulte, who was asked to share some of her mother, Mary McElevey’s favorite Christmas memories. Wearing the traditional Norwegian headpiece that belonged to her mother, Schulte said, “I wanted to share some of her history, about her growing up… so I gave the task to my mother and she wrote them down for me. This is called All hearts come home for Christmas.”
Schulte shared the story of Mary’s growing up in a fishing family near Castle Danger. She talked of real candles on a real tree at Christmas time and of having lutefisk for dinner—without cream sauce, because that was too Swedish! She talked of the family entertaining bachelor fisherman and how after dinner Knute Knutsen would always slip away— and Santa Claus would appear!
After the lovely memories, guests continued to enjoy the wonderful Scandinavian goodies— sandbakkels, krumkake, fattigmand, cardamom toast, lefse, kransekke (Norwegian wedding cake), heart-shaped Norsk waffles with lingonberry sauce and of course, romme grot and rice pudding. A number of very nice door prizes were awarded and everyone lingered, enjoying the glow of the St. Lucia event on the cold winter day.
The legend of St. Lucia
According to a Swedish folktale, Lucia appeared during a famine and distributed food from a ship to the starving people on land. For centuries, St. Lucia Day has been celebrated in Scandinavian countries on December 13.
That date marks the darkest day in the Swedish winter, and is reason for a family celebration. The oldest daughter in the family is St. Lucia and wears a white dress with a crown made of pine boughs. On the crown are seven glowing candles, to represent the coming of brighter days. Around her waist she wears a bright red sash.
The other children in the family carry candles and follow her into their parent’s bedroom, singing the traditional song, Santa Lucia. It is considered bad luck to eat after dawn on this day, so the children treat the parents to a special breakfast in bed.
St. Lucia is the “queen of lights” bringing the promise of longer days after a long, dark winter.
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