Tanja @tanjaostman@dingdash.com

@MaryMamuzich @sinbach yes, she was a martyr. There is a legend about Saint Lucia... I don't know how much of the details are true. This tradition is much more "family friendly" than the story. The Lucia day is on Dec 13th. Sometimes they have contests to choose the Lucia of the city / school etc. Therefore it's been criticized by some people, because they think it's a beauty contest. But they don't show much skin, and they are chosen not only for their looks but even how good they sing and traditional values. For example Finland's Lucia use to visit hospitals, nursery homes etc. where she sings with here "maidens", reads poems and talks to people. Many see her as a symbol for light and joy, and spreading the message of Christmas.

@sinbach you are right... I think they have real candles in Lucia concerts in churches even here. But there are Lucia's in every school and kindergartens and they have electric lights for safety reasons.

@Williams_girl ❤️

@bethany @sinbach Here you see a picture of a Lucia crown with candles. They are covered to protect the head from dripping stearine. But I have heard of many incidents with burning hair and clothes. It's not uncommon to burn the person walking before you with the candles that are held in the hands of "tärnor", the girls walking behind Lucia.

@Williams_girl I love your heart even if I don't know you!

@sinbach They were riding through our village about 1 km. But nowadays most Lucias wear electric lights. I agree it would bee talented to ride with candles. But Finland's official Lucia use to wear a crown with burning candles!

Lucia, a very Swedish Christmas tradition that we have even in this area of Finland. These were riding horses. In this picture they are singing Lucia songs and traditional Christmas hymns.

@Olamide haha, this is good! 😂

Last night we participated in a house church meeting in our city, hosted by a man who is considered "controversial" by others, incl christians (even pastors), because he is vocal about his opinions (against c-vax and c-passports, same sex marriages etc). Nobody was wearing masks, nobody was vaxed, we were hugging, we were eating together. The host was so happy and enthusiastic, and didn't want it to end, so we were going on for 5 hours (!), which is very uncommon in Scandinavia. We are not allowed to Christmas concerts in churches in our city without c-passports. So we enjoyed the fellowship with others that are turned away from churches. Somehow I felt like a rebellion - participating in a "forbidden" underground house church meeting (even if it wasn't forbidden or underground). 😀 It was far from ordinary 1-2 hrs Sunday morning services. We kept going for 5 hours, eating, praying, singing, sharing, discussing... PS. I warmly recommend the book in the picture.

@ZGoldenReport this is so sick! Not even doctors care about health. 🤬

I'm learning a lot about the USA and learning new vocabulary by following Americans here and on other platforms. I just learned a new word: Biden shaministration. 😀

Dr Ugur Sahin CEO of BioNTech and inventor of the BIO N TECH Pfizer jab refuses to take the jab for safety reasons
https://mobile.twitter.com/anoncitizenuk/status/1467525765474443264?s=28

"The problem is the culture of lies."
https://youtu.be/3d3gE62HefA

@sinbach Gamla stan är så mysig! Med din one and only blonde! 😀

@Berrybunchfamily @sinbach it's a very strong tradition here. This article says that there are 3.3 million saunas in this country with a population of 5.5 million! https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/sauna-culture-in-finland-01596