Sankta Lucia - the imported way
Dec. 18th, 2006 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shazrashaSo on Saturday I was invited by my work collegue to join her and others in watching the Sankta Lucia celebration at Liverpool Cathedral. This one not that one.
The celebration used to be held at the Scandinavian Seamen's Church down on the docks but was moved to the Cathedral due to its popularity.
Having finished my impromptu shopping trip and making it to my collegues flat without getting lost (a feat made less spectacular because she lives very close to the station), I was greeted by a room with just Swedes in it. Admittedly only 3 but it's not often I really gather with other Swedes not my own family. The invitation had said guests invited from 16 onwards to leave for the Cathedral at roughly 17.30. In a rather interesting cultural divide, all the Swedes arrived at 16 and all the Brits around 45mins-1h later. Traditional Saffron buns and ginger bread(with butter and cheese optional) was served with Glögg(a type of mulled wine); though I had tea.
The walk to the Cathedral was pleasent and short, though I did end up having to sniff Olbas oil like mad due to having the tail end of a cold. We were greeted just inside the entrance of the Cathedral by some lovely ladies in traditional swedish dress who gave us the order of the service. Once seated we then fidgeted as we waited for the start which was for some reason not quite on time. The first indication that the service would start was a line of black clad girls with red neck scarves walking to stand right at the front of the Cathedral. This was the Gothenburg Girls' Choir(who randomly are mentioned on the net but do not have their own website *sigh*).
Now the Catherdral is huge. My collegue says that if Liverpool was made of Lego the Cathedral would be Duplo and I can kind of agree that it looks a little like it was built with an entirely different scale in mind. You feel very small in amongst the tall walls, with your mind complaining that something this big should not have only one room. The choir was made up of roughly 30 people. I didn't actually count but there were definately not more of them. None of them had microphones and it was a huge space to fill and yet I did not have to strain to hear them. You really have to admire a set of lungs that good. The first two songs were haunting and I loved them, wishing I could have taken away the sound to play in the background of one of my Kult games. It was a shame that the Liverpool girls' Choir wasn't as good. Not only did their songs not carry as far but they were occasionally completely drowned out by the organ.
We knew it was time for the Lucia procession when the lights went out one by one until there was us in the dark with a Christmas tree to see by. There is something wonderous but also comforting about being in a pitch black church with just candles for lighting. And boy did those candles give off a lot of light. Two things of note about the procession, other than it being a very nice line of white dressed choir girls: 1. I felt sorry for the Gothenburg girls who were walking across the Cathedral's Stone floor in thin white socks. 2. Two of the youngest members of the Liverpool church carried their candles at arms length like they were bombs.
Thus becan the section of singing in candle light, that lasted two songs until they had to put on one light to allow the British kids the ability to read the lines to the song they had undoubtably only had a few days to learn. There were a few lessons for the day and one of those was translated into Swedish, causing a fit of giggles from us Swedes at the way he emphasised the words.
The procession out was also done in the dark but with less candles (as the liverpool choir had extinguished theirs by this point in order to hold their music) and with the addition of the glowing exit light that I had failed to really notice when they walked in. The choir sang until they were well out of ear shot so we got a lovely fade affect behind us.
The evening concluded with a lovely dinner in a Mexican restaurant before I headed for the train and my bed. Definately worth it.
The celebration used to be held at the Scandinavian Seamen's Church down on the docks but was moved to the Cathedral due to its popularity.
Having finished my impromptu shopping trip and making it to my collegues flat without getting lost (a feat made less spectacular because she lives very close to the station), I was greeted by a room with just Swedes in it. Admittedly only 3 but it's not often I really gather with other Swedes not my own family. The invitation had said guests invited from 16 onwards to leave for the Cathedral at roughly 17.30. In a rather interesting cultural divide, all the Swedes arrived at 16 and all the Brits around 45mins-1h later. Traditional Saffron buns and ginger bread(with butter and cheese optional) was served with Glögg(a type of mulled wine); though I had tea.
The walk to the Cathedral was pleasent and short, though I did end up having to sniff Olbas oil like mad due to having the tail end of a cold. We were greeted just inside the entrance of the Cathedral by some lovely ladies in traditional swedish dress who gave us the order of the service. Once seated we then fidgeted as we waited for the start which was for some reason not quite on time. The first indication that the service would start was a line of black clad girls with red neck scarves walking to stand right at the front of the Cathedral. This was the Gothenburg Girls' Choir(who randomly are mentioned on the net but do not have their own website *sigh*).
Now the Catherdral is huge. My collegue says that if Liverpool was made of Lego the Cathedral would be Duplo and I can kind of agree that it looks a little like it was built with an entirely different scale in mind. You feel very small in amongst the tall walls, with your mind complaining that something this big should not have only one room. The choir was made up of roughly 30 people. I didn't actually count but there were definately not more of them. None of them had microphones and it was a huge space to fill and yet I did not have to strain to hear them. You really have to admire a set of lungs that good. The first two songs were haunting and I loved them, wishing I could have taken away the sound to play in the background of one of my Kult games. It was a shame that the Liverpool girls' Choir wasn't as good. Not only did their songs not carry as far but they were occasionally completely drowned out by the organ.
We knew it was time for the Lucia procession when the lights went out one by one until there was us in the dark with a Christmas tree to see by. There is something wonderous but also comforting about being in a pitch black church with just candles for lighting. And boy did those candles give off a lot of light. Two things of note about the procession, other than it being a very nice line of white dressed choir girls: 1. I felt sorry for the Gothenburg girls who were walking across the Cathedral's Stone floor in thin white socks. 2. Two of the youngest members of the Liverpool church carried their candles at arms length like they were bombs.
Thus becan the section of singing in candle light, that lasted two songs until they had to put on one light to allow the British kids the ability to read the lines to the song they had undoubtably only had a few days to learn. There were a few lessons for the day and one of those was translated into Swedish, causing a fit of giggles from us Swedes at the way he emphasised the words.
The procession out was also done in the dark but with less candles (as the liverpool choir had extinguished theirs by this point in order to hold their music) and with the addition of the glowing exit light that I had failed to really notice when they walked in. The choir sang until they were well out of ear shot so we got a lovely fade affect behind us.
The evening concluded with a lovely dinner in a Mexican restaurant before I headed for the train and my bed. Definately worth it.
