Luciadag
St Lucia’s Day, marked by candlelight processions in schools and churches, hymns and saffron buns.
Luciadag, 13 December, is the feast of St Lucia, the martyr from Syracuse whose name means light. The custom came to Denmark from Sweden in 1944, in the dark years of the occupation, and it has stayed a morning of light in the darkest month. In kindergartens, schools, churches and nursing homes a luciaoptog, a Lucia procession, walks slowly into a darkened room: girls, and often boys too, in white dresses with a red sash, each holding a candle, led by the luciabrud, the Lucia bride, who wears a wreath of candles on her head.
As they walk they sing the Danish Lucia song, 'Nu bæres lyset frem', 'now the light is carried forth', to the tune of the Neapolitan 'Santa Lucia'. Parents watch with phones raised, the school choir sings a few Christmas carols, and afterwards there are æbleskiver, the round Danish pancake balls, with jam and icing sugar, pebernødder and, for the adults, gløgg. Unlike in Sweden there are no saffron buns and no crowning of a national Lucia; the Danish version is a quiet school tradition that marks the last stretch before Christmas.
The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.
Same words in both. Beginner gets more help: matching and completing. Advanced listens and spells it out unaided. Pick it in practice; it locks when you take the scored run.
Practise as often as you like, all year. The scored run happens once, while the competition is open, and cannot be retaken.