Nicholas and Lucy - Saints for the Season

Today, the process for canonization is a long and careful one.  Not so for the first thousand years of Christianity, when an individual's saintliness was popularly acclaimed after their life, and the legends and stories that arose make it difficult to discern the truth from the Truth! (what literally happened vs. what point they're trying to get across)

Two popular early saints around whom legends abound are celebrated in some cultures with special customs that are particularly fitting at this time of the year:

December 6: St. Nicholas (died c. 350)
St. Nicholas was a bishop in Asia Minor in the city of Myra in the 4th Century. We know he was present at the Council of Nicaea and vehemently opposed the heresy of Arius. And that prior to Constantine's ascendancy, he was imprisoned under the Diocletian persecutions. As Bishop, he was a well-loved and generous.

One story demonstrates his generosity and concern for the well-being of his people. A man with three daughters could not afford their dowries and was planning to sell them into prostitution (or slavery). Three times, Nicholas would throw a bag of coins through the family's window at night, anonymously providing the means for the daughters to marry. Another story is of sailors caught in a deadly storm who prayed for Nicholas' help. The Bishop was at the time attending the Council, but they saw a figure who looked like him who immediately calmed the tempest. Symbols from both of these tales are demonstrated in this painting by Tintoretto.

The Dutch, German and people in other northern countries celebrate St. Nicholas day by giving presents to children. Leaving a shoe out on the night of Dec 5 along with a note for St. Nicholas to deliver to the baby Jesus, boys and girls might wake up to find gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins, fruit or small toys - and hopefully not coal left by the Saint! (Sounds like "Santa Claus", doesn't it? Credit the arrival of the Dutch in NY, and the adaptation of old traditions in a new world)
St. Nicholas is the patron saint of  Bakers, Brewers, Brides, Children, Greece, Grooms, Merchants, Pawnbrokers, Russia, and Travelers

December 13: St. Lucy (died 304)
St. Lucy (Santa Lucia... know the song?) was born in Sicily, a pagan area, and was martyred in the Diocletian persecution. The legend is that her Christian faith led her to make a vow of virginity, but the pagan man to whom she was engaged was very displeased and reported her faith to the authorities. Tales report an abundant variety of tortures followed, from having her eye gouged out (but then her sight was miraculously restored), to burning her with fire (which kept going out), and finally stabbing her in the throat.

"Lucy", or "Lucia" means light, and her feast appropriately comes at the darkest time of the year. Before the current calendar was fixed, her feast day fell on the Winter Solstice, and the promise of light anticipates the birth of Jesus, the Light of the World. She is especially honored in northern countries which are especially dark and cold in December. In paintings she is usually represented carrying a pair of eyes on a plate or, as in this painting, sprouting like flowers on a stem!
Painting of St. Lucy by Francesco del Cossa

Here are some customs, courtesy of www.fisheaters.com (standard disclaimer: linking to a site does not imply endorsement of everything on that site)

 In Italy, torchlight processions and bonfires mark her day, and bowls of a cooked wheat porridge known as cuccia is eaten because, during a famine, the people of Syracuse invoked St. Lucy, who interceded by sending a ship laden with grain (much as St. Joseph also did for the people of Sicily).

Some of the loveliest St. Lucy's Day customs are Swedish: in Sweden, the oldest daughter of a family will wake up before dawn on St. Lucy's Day and dress in a white gown for purity, often with a red sash as a sign of martyrdom. On her head she will wear a wreath of greenery and lit candles, and she is often accompanied by "starboys," her small brothers who are dressed in white gowns and cone-shaped hats that are decorated with gold stars, and carrying star-tipped wands. "St. Lucy" will go around her house and wake up her family to serve them special St. Lucy Day foods, such as saffron buns and Lussekatter (St. Lucy's Cats), shaped into X's, figure-8s, S-shapes, or crowns.

And finally for you star-gazers, right around St. Lucy's feast are the Geminid meteor showers, which are sometimes called "St. Lucy's Light". She is the patron saint of the blind and those with eye disorders.