Author's note: I remember in elementary school, you were sitting on the floor of the school's gymnasium, it was all dark and the middle wall slowly went up and you heard beautiful singing and saw white figures with candles come closer. It was the 13thof December, the time we celebrate Lucia in Sweden. I absolutely love it, it's so beautiful!
I have tried to explain it shortly inside my one-shot, but if you want a more detailed version I suggest you read this:
http:/ www. sweden. se/ eng/Home/ Lifestyle/Traditions/Celebrating-the-Swedish-way/ Lucia/
And here are some YouTube links too. Watch them and be amazed. =)
http:/ /www. youtube. com/ watch?v=Mk0FyZqNp5Q
http:/ www. youtube. com/ watch?v=Et_ZXk3zzpg&feature=related
Lucia – the bringer of light
"Hello my darlings!" A very cheerful Garcia walked into the meeting room wearing a very challenging Santa outfit. For once the BAU-team wasn't assembled to get away on another case, not yet anyway. The office was totally empty besides the six agents and their technical analyst, it was after all Saturday morning.
"It's not Christmas yet Baby girl." Morgan chuckled even though he looked very pleased by the woman's' effort.
"It's only a week until December and I thought we should get in the mood for the task in hand!" Garcia said now very serious as she sat down a small wooden box in the middle of the round table.
Every year a department of the FBI in Quantico was responsible of a Christmas celebration in the bureau and the turn had came to the BAU. To spice it up they had to pick a piece of paper with a country's name on and do one of their local Christmas traditions or at least something that reminded of the country. Garcia was of course overly enthusiastic, almost jumping on the spot. The other two girls were not far behind but Hotch looked like he always did, not showing many emotions at all. Rossi and Morgan merely smiled amusingly over the girls' excitement and Reid showed quite a fascination over the international perspective of it all.
"So who's is the lucky one?" Garcia pointed at the box, looking around at each of her colleagues.
"I think it should be our Chief in charge." JJ nudged Hotch with her elbow, trying to get him on board.
"I guess we should get it over with." Hotch said. "If no one minds?" None of the others said anything in protest as he reached for the box and opened the lid. Last year it had been Australia and the floor beneath them had arranged a Christmas party with the topic "Surfers paradise!" since it's full blown out summer down there at Christmas. It was quite a sight when everyone turned up in their beach outfits as the blistering snow raged outside the windows.
"Sweden." Hotch said simply showing everybody the small note.
"I'm right on it!" Garcia started to type franticly on her laptop in search for information about the small Scandinavian country approximately 4000 miles away.
"Polar bears and penguins right?" Morgan said with a smirk.
"Penguins can actually only be found in the South Pole and Polo bears on the North Pole. A common mistake people do is to mix that up." Reid stated, happy to make an input.
"Oh, oh! I have this friend, Linda, she's from Sweden!" Prentiss exclaimed.
"What are you waiting for?" JJ asked. "Call her!"
"While you're doing that, I'll go down to the lunch room and get some refill." Reid waived his now empty coffee cup around.
"Wait for us kid, I think we all need to wake up a little more." Morgan tugged a very reluctant Garcia from her computer and they all made their way to get some refreshments.
"She can come right away and she said that she had the best idea ever of what we should do." Prentiss smiled. "Bring some extra coffee back will you and I meet up with her downstairs, making sure she gets a visiting badge."
"Oh it's beautiful!" JJ sighed as she walked back into the conference room. Right behind her Garcia let out a squeak of delight. Prentiss had already brought Linda up to the conference room when the others got back and on the big screen was now shown a YouTube-clip with what looked like a white-dressed choir holding candles and singing songs in a foreign language.
"Hi everybody!" Linda greeted with a big smile and Prentiss introduced them all as they took their seats.
"So what is this?" Morgan wondered.
"This – " Linda pointed at the screen "Is Lucia-celebration in Sweden. Before we changed from the old Julian Calendar to the Gregorian…"
"From Julius Ceasar right?" Reid interrupted and got an irritated look from the women of the team.
"That's right!" Linda smiled. "Anyway, at that time it was the longest night of the year in the north, also called the winter solstice. People were very superstitious and believed that under that night, animals could talk and bad things could happen. So the traditions were to sit up all night, and to eat and keep each other company. In some places the women brought food to the night watchers with candles in their hands or hair to bring light into the dark night. "
"But they sing Santa Lucia? She's a saint from Sicily not Sweden." Rossi frowned with a questionable look on his face.
"Yes she is, and it was first in 1927, when the Lucia tradition got national and more modern that the saint got mixed in. The crown could represent the fire that wouldn't touch her and the red string around her waist stands for the death of martyr she suffered. But the overall purpose of this day is to spread light and joy in the darkness." Linda explained.
"Make sense since Lucia means light." Reid added.
"We're so going to do this!" Garcia squealed.
"I don't think we could sing that good though and especially not in Swedish." Hotch remarked.
"Kill-joy!" Garcia pouted with a sour gaze at her boss.
"Don't worry I can fix the music on a CD and get the props. All you need to do is a little bit of acting." Linda said and got attacked with hugs from the Santa-dressed techie.
Linda suggested they should vote who would portray Lucia, and when she counted them, the result clearly pointed to one person.
"Reid!" Linda giggled.
"What? No!" Reid's face was written with horror as he heard the name. "That's a girl's part!" Everyone started to laugh out loud.
"But you would look so adorable with your long hair and all Pretty boy!" Morgan said between laughs.
"Majority rules…" Prentiss snickered and Reid sulkily turned his head down making several strands of hair fall in front of his face. "Not fair…"
"Don't worry Reid, I think you'll perk up when you'll see what the other boys are wearing." Linda smiled mischievously as she showed a picture on the big screen.
"Hell no!" Morgan folded his arms over his chest. "I'm not wearing that!" He continued pointing at the boy with a white dress and a pointy paper hat with golden stars on.
"They are actually based on the three wise men. It was quite common in former days that young men went out around Christmas time and sang for food and money. Today we have integrated them into our Lucia celebration to give boys a part too."
"Give one for the team Morgan!" JJ giggled and Reid was surely looking more amused by now.
December 13th
It was 7 AM and the assembly hall was all dark and filled with people from the bureau who talked quiet with each other. Everyone was curious of what the BAU-team had planned. What they didn't know was that shortly after that Saturday meeting the team got all caught up in a case over in Los Angeles and didn't make it home before 9th of December. Garcia had with help from Linda planned the whole thing and drilled the team for two hours each night after they got back to get everything ready.
The murmur silenced rather quickly as the audience suddenly heard singing from behind them. As they turned around a vision they'd never seen before appeared through the doors. In came a procession of people, the first one with a crown filled with candles, a white gown and a red waistband hanging down to the feet. The others were holding candles in their hand and last came some rather funny looking dudes with pointy hats. A few started to giggle as they realized that the first person was Reid and even more as they saw Morgan, Hotch and Rossi. Men in dressed, what's up with that? Stern looks from Garcia were enough to make it quiet again. The procession made their way down to the podium where they stopped and a new song came along. By now the audience acknowledged that it wasn't in English but it sounded very enchanting. In the middle of the performance Reid was the first to start explaining the meaning of the celebration and everyone got their turn just like when they told the profile on a case.
A half hour later they all left to eat gingerbreads, saffron buns and drink glogg, a mulled wine with spices as to finish of the celebration. They all agreed that this was something they would like to see again.
Authors Note: I'm well aware that the boys dresses and hats reminds of something totally different, especially in the USA, this should however NOT in any way be confused with that terrible triple letter-association. *shudder*Lucia in Sweden is a celebration to spread light, joy and love! =) If you have the chance, go and see it on the 13th. It's magical! I hope you liked this even if it was a bit much to explain, hard to make it entertaining while spewing information. ;)