BY KENNETH MCFARLAND
On Thursday, January 5, Brandon’s St. Thomas & Grace Episcopal Church hosted Director Rustan Swenson’s Sancta Lucia Festival. A native of Sweden, Swenson has long called Middlebury home. The event was postponed from the usual date of December 13 because of Covid restrictions. In previous years, Middlebury and Orwell have welcomed Swenson’s festivals, but this was its premier Brandon setting.
As at previous Swenson programs, George Matthew, Jr. provided accompaniment, moving frequently between the piano and organ as the program required. Rebecca Orten deftly filled the title role, easily recognizable for her crown of candles. She shared the stage with her sisters, Eleanor and Margaret Orten, along with Ainsleigh Linnea and Nellie Pierce, all wearing traditional long white robes. Appropriate for the event, they sang their parts in Swedish, backed by Matthew on piano. The congregation participated fully, singing a variety of carols, with music played on the St. Thomas & Grace pipe organ. An instrument of remarkable qualities, it perfectly complements the church’s early-1860s Gothic Revival sanctuary.
People across Scandinavia have long marked Sancta Lucia Day as the beginning of the Christmas season. They celebrate through festivals commemorating the life of St. Lucia, a native of Syracuse in Italy, who suffered martyrdom for her Christian faith in the early 4th century A.D. In Norwegian, Swedish, and some Finnish towns, a local young person is selected to lead festivities wearing a halo-like wreath set with candles. This recalls the tradition that St. Lucia wore such candles, thus freeing both hands to bring nourishment to Christians secluded in catacombs. Clearly, such festivals also recall older winter solstice, pre-Christian, celebrations marking the return of longer days and anticipating spring’s arrival.
St. Thomas & Grace Church holds services each Sunday at 10 a.m. All are truly welcome.
