December is a dark and cold month in the Nordic countries, but last December took the prize.

Stockholm received less than an hour of sunlight when this was being written (compared to 33 hours last year). Up North, there are never many sunlight hours during winter. This is why so many end up in places like the Costa Tropical.

No wonder we always light candles to defeat the darkness. 

The most emblematic date in Sweden is Lucia Day, on December 13th. This builds on old traditions, blending with Christianity – for some reason the story of martyr St Lucia of Syracuse (died in 304) made it up to the North.  A common thread runs through the many traditional songs during the Lucia celebrations (that every Swede would know by heart): the triumph of light over darkness as Lucia appears.

In Nordic folklore, December the 13th was a frightening night as it was believed that supernatural powers were closest to our visible world around the winter solstice. To prevent anything bad from happening on the farm, people stayed awake all night, something called “lussevaka” (Lussi vigil). By morning, both livestock and people needed extra feed and several breakfasts.

The winter solstice (on 13th in the old almanac) was also the beginning of Christmas. People feasted on December 13th with lots of food and alcohol. Young people would run from farm to farm, knock on doors, sing, and receive brandy and food as thanks.

When we were young, we indeed followed this tradition of “lussevaka” in the cities as well… Dressed in white, with Lucia bearing candles in her hair and everyone else with a candle in their hands. And a basket with “Lusse-buns” and ginger cookies on offer.

The first recorded appearance of a white-clad Lucia in Sweden was in 1764. The custom became universally popular in the 1900s, when schools and local associations began promoting it. 

Here on the Costa Tropical, there are not a lot of Lucia celebrations among the Nordics, no need to conquer the darkness. We did instead participate in the Christmas market at Plaza Marruecos in Almuñécar on December 12th-14th, offering ginger cookies with Swedish mulled Christmas wine (glögg) and waffles.

Together with the Francophone Association (AFA), the Flamencos, Costa Tropical Women and the Asociación Española Contra El Cancer, we tried to share our traditions to a rather scarce amount of local visitors; it was a cold and wet weekend.

Los Nórdicos raised money and Christmas presents to our partner organisation Madres Solas “Marisa Sendón”. Next year, we will ask the Ayuntamiento for a more accessible place for the market.

The cold and dark are worse for people in war zones, as in Ukraine and in Palestine. In Gaza almost 2 million people live in tents, with scarce supplies, suffering icy storms and flooding at this moment (and continued violence despite ceasefire). 

The good news is that Christmas celebrations returned to Bethlehem, Jesus’s birthplace, for the first time in two years, bringing fragile hope to a Palestinian city devastated by war and economic collapse. 

Despite returning tourists and holiday decorations, Israeli military tensions and settler violence continue to shadow celebrations in the occupied West Bank territory. And peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia do not seem to prosper yet.

We are so lucky to live here in paradise Costa Tropical. 

And to follow yet another tradition, all Nordics in Almuñecar and surroundings were invited to take a dip in the ocean together at noon on the 24th of December. 

Los Nordicos’ first weekly meeting in 2026 is January 14th at 18.00, in Mesón Gala in Almuñécar; our new joint. Welcome!

Los Nordicos-Almuñecar (Costa Tropical) is an Association of more than 500 Scandinavians, independent from politics and religion, with the purpose to supporting each other and to build bridges with the Spanish society. Check our website if you want to join: www.losnordicos.com.

(Club News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: St Lucia of Syracuse, Nordic folklore, lussevaka, Winter Solstice

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