Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar celebrate the St Lucia Day

The St Lucia Day, also known as the Festival of Lights, is one of the most important pre-Christmas customs in Sweden. A series of photos on the Instagram page of the Swedish Royal Court shows the siblings, with a riding helmet and a traditional crown of lights on their heads. Both ride a pony in the photos. "With candles in their crowns, Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar come to greet Christmas. Happy Lucia Day!"
Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar come to greet Christmas. Happy Lucia Day
Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar come to greet Christmas. Happy Lucia Day
Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar come to greet Christmas. Happy Lucia Day
Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar come to greet Christmas. Happy Lucia Day

23 Comments

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  1. Gender equality now for St. Lucia? I've never seen a little boy with a Lucia crown.

    *Rose*

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    1. In the old times, when there were very few female students at the Swedish universities, even male Lucias were common, the best-looking young man was chosen to play Lucia.

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    2. Gender equality - I can not see it in this pic, but I would like to see it, that would be great. Happy St. Lucia for everybody. ❤️

      Mars

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    3. Oscar probably saw his big sister wearing the St. Lucia crown and wanted to wear it too.

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    4. Rose, I completely understand your reaction -- but it's possible that Oscar simply felt that it was unfair that he didn't get to wear a candle crown too, and was being indulged (parents of siblings will relate to this :-D). Unfortunately there is a huge push underway to insist that equality must mean sameness. We can hope that this was not the intention here.

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    5. I’ve seen many little boys wearing Lucia’s crown, so I find it natural Oscar got to wear it, too.

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    6. Jane - I applaud your distinction between equality and sameness. I wish more people would understand what equality really means. We can be equal and still continue being men and women.

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  2. They're so cute!! St. Lucia Day is also celebrated in Norway, Denmark and Swedish-speaking parts of Finland as well. And Italy. And maybe some other places, I dunno :)

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    1. St. Lucia's Day is a lovely occasion, with such charming traditions, long may it endure! (I have never tasted the baked goods that are customarily served with coffee on this day, but just imagining them makes me smile 🙂)

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    2. Lussekatter is my favorite kind of baked goods :) Highlight of the year!

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    3. In Hungary too, but not thevsame way like the scandinavians.

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  3. Adorable kids! Ridiculous custom.

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    1. For us in the north, the promise of light Lucia brings is very important in this dark season. It’s also an important charity, e,g. in Finland it’s a nationwide fundraiser and the girl elected to be national Lucia visits hospitals etc, singing the traditional Lucia song, originally an Italian folk song. So for us it’s not ridiculous at all. Schools, kindergartens and even workplaces have their own celebrations, children may sing to relatives and neighbors and give them traditional saffron buns etc.

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    2. The custom can be a "new" reminder of Enlightenment. Since everyday increases the number of people who want to tell us that 1+1 means 3.

      Mars

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    3. Right you are!

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  4. Precious photos, they are so alive, little darlins!

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  5. Charmantes photos des petits princes... Ils sont vraiment craquants !!!

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  6. This is too cute!

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  7. coutume ridicule ! Je ne trouve pas... charmante coutume au contraire qui fête le retour des jours longs, plus longtemps ensoleillés ; ma maman s'appelait Lucie, une si beau prénom qui lui allait bien vu son amour de la lumière ; je luis offrait toujours un pot de jacinthes à cette occasion, elle aimait aussi tant les fleurs ; Estelle et Oscar sont adorables ; la famille de Victoria est ma préférée au sein du Gotha

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    1. Il est vraiment de mauvais gout de critiquer ou ridiculiser les coutumes d'un pays. Malheureusement, elles se perdent de plus en plus.

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  8. Nice celebration of St Lucia's day. Both looks very sweet wearing the Crown of light's I don't know if the Pony is happy or not, but gets the attention. Very cute kids.

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  9. I read that Estelle was having a cold and could not attend the Lucia celebrations in school later that day. You can see on one photo that she looks a bit tired.

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