Saint Lucia

St. Lucia was a Christian martyr who died in prison in 304 A.D., and whose feast day, December 13, made her a convenient saint to preside over Christmas festivities in Sweden, Denmark and Italy where Lucia is typically represented by a young woman in a long white dress and a wreath of candles. Before her martyrdom, she reputedly gouged out her own eyes to forestall the advances of a pagan suitor after she converted to Christianity. She is frequently depicted with her eye balls on a platter even though her real eyes are intact.

Saint Lucia

Perfection

Santa Claus Worldwide distills the cheerful essence of Christmas from many sources and studies, old and new. In addition to his wide reading, author Tom A. Jerman has brought a wealth of personal experience

Great Read!

Santa Claus Worldwide describes gift givers throughout the world in history from the pagan god Odin to the present day Father Christmas, Weihnachten, Père Noël, Ded Moroz, and Santa Claus. Mr. Jerman’s thorough research of this subject, takes the reader on a journey...

Amazing!

Until now I’ve been especially interested in Clement C. Moore and his transcendent poem The Night Before Christmas. Tom Jerman puts Moore’s classic in perspective with a broad and highly informative look at the international history of Santa Claus. For my own...

This book is REALLY impressive

I’m not a historian (I work with a lot of historians, but I’m not one!) but this book REALLY impressive piece of work! Extensively referenced and Tom Jerman does a great, scholarly job of telling the “stories” that should be told with the support of a lot of...
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St. Lucia was a Christian martyr who died in prison in 304 A.D., and whose feast day, December 13, made her a convenient saint to preside over Christmas festivities in Sweden, Denmark and Italy where Lucia is typically represented by a young woman in a long white dress and a wreath of candles. Before her martyrdom, she reputedly gouged out her own eyes to forestall the advances of a pagan suitor after she converted to Christianity. She is frequently depicted with her eyeballs on a platter even though her real eyes are intact.