Christmas stories seen through children's eyes Christmas in the countries of Europe | Page 10

Saint Lucy's Day (Italian: Giorno di Santa Lucia) is celebrated as a Catholic holiday
in Sicily and
regions
of
Italy
Northern
on
the
supposed Shortest day of
the
year
which
is
December
13. Saint Lucy is the patron saint of
the of Syracuse better known
city
as Santa Lucia as she is called in
the traditional Neapolitan
song. Evening
processions called the parade of light
are conducted
followed by the Feast of St. Lucy.
Sicilians pay tribute to a miracle
performed by St Lucy during a
candlelight
and
are
famine in 1582. At that time, she
brought a flotilla of grain-bearing
ships to starving Sicily, whose citizens cooked and ate the wheat without taking time to
grind it into flour. Thus, on St. Lucy's Day, Sicilians do not eat anything made with wheat
flour. Instead they eat cooked wheat called cuccia.
Christmas is celebrated in Italy in a similar fashion to other Western European countries,
with a strong emphasis given to the Christian meaning of the holiday and its celebration
by the Catholic Church, also reinforced by the still widespread tradition of setting up
the presepe, a tradition initiated by Saint Francis of Assisi. It is quite common to attend
midnight mass on Christmas Eve and practice the custom not to eat any meat. The dinner
traditionally consists of seafood, with the Feast of the Seven Fishes, followed by typical
Italian
Christmas
sweets,
such
as pandoro, panettone, torrone, panforte, struffoli, caggionetti, Monte Bianco or others,