CLU to Hold Annual Santa Lucia Procession

The Santa Lucia Christmas Festival will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 10 a.m. in Samuelson Chapel. This Swedish tradition of the Santa Lucia Festival has been a part of CLU's Christmas celebration since the University's early years.

Santa Lucia, a Christian martyr who died at the stake on Dec. 13 in 304 A.D., is remembered in the Festival of Lights. Each year the CLU community selects five women to represent Santa Lucia and her attendants and five men students to be their escorts. The representatives are selected by CLU's student body as those who represent the Christian attributes demonstrated by Santa Lucia – faith, hope, charity and compassion to humankind. The dramatic ceremony includes the lighting of Santa Lucia's crown of candles and is performed each year as a reminder of the true spirit of the holiday season, amid the growing commercialization.