STRATFORD — A special Swedish tradition — the Lucia Festivity of Light — will be celebrated at 2 p.m. on Dec. 7 at the Stratford Lutheran Church, 812 Teneyck Ave. in Stratford. This year will be the 20th year that the Swedish Foundation of Iowa’s Swede Bend Settlement Inc. has hosted this annual event.

Since December 2004, the Swedish American community from the greater Swede Bend area has been gathering yearly to celebrate St. Lucia Day and their Swedish heritage for an afternoon filled with Swedish and American Christmas songs, folklore and stories of Swedish traditions as well as the crowning of Lucia. The program is always followed by coffee and tasty refreshments. All are welcome to join the festivities. Not Swedish? You’re welcome to join the fun and pageantry of this special afternoon anyway.

The Foundation is seeking to contact all the ladies who have participated as Lucia candidates over the past 20 years and invite them back for this anniversary celebration.

There’s still time to join in: Organizers are still welcoming more participants for this day. Girls and ladies from age 14 and up are invited to join the Lucia procession and younger girls and boys — ages 5 to 13 — can participate as Lucia maidens, star boys and tomten (elfin gnomes). Please contact Joni Stark-Miller at 515-351-7220 by Nov. 24 for more information if you are interested.

St. Lucia Day, Dec. 13, is celebrated all over Scandinavia where the legend of a young Christian girl who was martyred for serving those in need is embraced. Traditionally in Sweden, to honor St. Lucia’s charitable spirit, the eldest daughter in a family rises early and dresses in a long white gown with a red sash and a crown of candles. She wakes her family and serves them coffee and saffron buns. The name Lucia is derived from the word lux, meaning light. The Lucia festivities, which take place in the darker days of winter, are a welcome start to the holiday season. The tradition of Lucia brings light, warmth and hope – and this annual festivity is a special way to usher in what is to come…Christmas, the birth of Christ, the Light of the world.