• Home
  • About Megan
    • Student Gallery
  • Writing
  • Video Training
  • Knitting Fork Projects
  • Categories
    • Baby Crafts
    • Baking
    • Book Review
    • Camping
    • Cooking
    • Crafts
    • Etsy
    • Gardening
    • Guest Blogger
    • Holiday
    • Kid Crafts
    • Knitting Fork
    • Needle Felting
    • News
    • Photography
    • Recipe
    • Sewing
    • Teaching
    • Travel
  • Sponsorship Info
  • Contact
  • June 15, 2025
Gardening Recipes
 
Craft Projects Photography

Crafting a Santa Lucia Candle Wreath

December 13, 2010 By radmegan 8 Comments

Remember when you were eight years old, and your parents encouraged you sing songs in Swedish while wearing a wreath of burning candles on your head?
Despite the photograph above, my most vivid memory was not of the event at all, but of the crippling fear that came moments before my cue in the family Christmas program. I stood in my aunt’s kitchen as my mother lit the candles and reassured me that I would NOT trip over my long white gown and set her house a blaze. I recall being surprised that my mom believed in my still questionable and developing coordination, but I was honored too, that I had been deemed worthy to carry out the tradition of the Santa Lucia in front of our family and friends. 

December 13th marks Santa Lucia’s Feast Day. Adopted by the Scandinavians, Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy to Italians) is said to have appeared in Sweden on the longest and darkest night of December during a time of famine. She sold her dowry to buy food for the farmers and served them coffee and saffron buns. Her wreath of candles, white gown and yellow Lucia Buns (Lussekatt) all represent light and hope. 

Today in many Scandinavian homes, the oldest daughter wears a wreath with burning candles (or, these days electric candles) while singing and serving coffee and Lucia buns to her parents. 

This year I decided to make a Santa Lucia wreath out of felt. I am the oldest daughter in my family and while I didn’t fully understand or appreciate the pageantry at the tender age of eight, I feel like every year I love the traditions from my childhood more and more. 

I started with three basic leaf shapes, and red circles (lingonberries!!).  I measured my head and cut a long strip of felt for the base of my crown. Using a hot glue gun, I attached the leaves and berries to the long felt strip and attached the ends with the same hot glue.


To make the candles I cut out a yellow flame, a red center flame (2 per candle), a thick white candle base and an off-white candle “drip”. I rolled the white felt rectangles around a pencil and secured the tight roll with hot glue. Next, I wrapped the off-white “drip” around the top of the candle, and secured it with glue. Finally, I inserted the yellow flames into the little space of the rolled felt candle, secured with glue and added the red center flames to both side.

 
I attached the candles to the inside of the wreath with hot glue, let the whole thing set for a few minutes. 
And that’s it! A Santa Lucia Wreath of Candles that is festive, quick, and safe! No stress over setting your home on fire, but all the tradition of a good Scandinavian upbringing. Today I may even bake my own Lucia buns with this recipe I found in the LA Times. Happy December 13th everyone!
 



FacebookTwitterGoogle+PinterestShare

Related posts:

Felt Frankenstein Candy Bag for Halloween Kids Craft: Pom-Pom Turkeys 5236217877_2159004c22Crafting: A Coffee Tin Christmas Tree If I Only Had A Brain (Mold) Craft: Foam Board Pumpkin Puzzle katelynYarn Scrap Lion Headdress for Halloween (or a Jungle Cruise Costume Party)

Filed Under: Crafts, Holiday Tagged With: candles, craft, family tradition, felt, Holiday


Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /webroot/r/a/radme001/primary/www/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 399

Comments

  1. Sara Eaker says

    December 13, 2010 at 10:32 am

    You found the ol’ picture. Love it. Too cute. Amazing blog post tying in the old traditions with a new craft!

    Reply
  2. radmegan says

    December 13, 2010 at 10:49 am

    Thanks Sara! My cute mom sent it to me last night! :) Thanks for reading xoxo

    Reply
  3. Catherine says

    December 14, 2010 at 4:36 pm

    I’ve always loved this tradition and am sad it’s not a part of my heritage. :)

    Do you make Norwegian rosettes?

    Reply
  4. radmegan says

    December 17, 2010 at 4:54 pm

    I don’t but my aunts do and they are always awesome!

    You should add the Santa Lucia to your holiday tradition anyway! :)

    Reply
  5. Rachel@oneprettything.com says

    December 18, 2010 at 12:56 am

    HAHA! This is awesome! Scrumdillydo! told me about your blog and I’m so glad she did!

    Reply
  6. radmegan says

    December 18, 2010 at 9:08 am

    Awwwww sweeet lil Scrumdillydo!.. I’ll have to give her a big thanks! Thank you for reading Rachel- Glad you enjoyed:)

    Reply
  7. Shesten Melder says

    December 31, 2013 at 3:29 pm

    I’m also a victim of parading around with candles on my head. Founf this by clicking off of your confetti eggs post, whcih I found in a list post on another site that I found on Pinterest! Such a great idea. I’m totally doing this for my baby girl when she’s old enough to play Lucia, ’cause nobody likes candles on the head, yo.

    Reply
  8. Borgmästaren says

    March 14, 2014 at 1:45 pm

    Nice to hear that good old Swedish traditions are kept alive in the US :)

    Actually it is not specifically the oldest daughter but all children. Lucia is often followed by boys with a cone on their heads, portraying shepherds as well as children dressed up as gingerbread or Santa Claus. Lately, angels and mice have become popular in order to portray the lyrics in different Christmas carols.
    Borgmästaren recently posted…ÖrhängesställMy Profile

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Follow Me

  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 

Find posts on this blog about…

Instagram

Get posts via email

Welcome!

I'm a crafter, cooker, gardener, and photographer.
Read More...
Learn Craft Photography with Radmegan

Friends

back to top
© Megan Andersen Read. All rights reserved.
Interested in using my photographs? Contact me.
Web design by Hearts and Laserbeams