Children in Scandinavia mark the saint’s feast day with the popular custom of inscribing the name “Lussi” on doors, fences and walls on the eve of December 13, and usually also create a drawing of St, Lucy. The purpose of this practice in ancient times was to announce to the demons of winter that their reign was broken on St. Lucy’s Day, and that the sun would return again and days would become longer.
Because her name means “light,” St. Lucy became the patron saint of the “light of the body” — the eyes. All throughout Christianity, her help has been invoked against diseases of the eyes, especially the danger of blindness.
