Every year, on December 13, golden-hued saffron buns bake in ovens across Scandinavia. Eating this sweet bread—known as lussebullar or lussekatter in Sweden, luciabrød in Denmark and Norway, and lucia-pullat in Finland—heralds the celebration of St. Lucia’s Day. In Sweden, eldest daughters often serve their parents buns and coffee in the morning while wearing a white gown, red sash, and a candle-lined wreath crown. The costume pays tribute to St. Lucia, a Christian martyr who died in the fourth century, executed by the authorities for her faith. The red sash represents her murder, while the candle-filled crown honors how, in legend, she illuminated her journeys through dark Roman catacombs to deliver food to Christians in hiding.
There’s another reason why celebrating Lucia, a figure whose name comes from the Latin word for light, is so important on this date. In the old Julian calendar, December 13 marked the winter solstice. In parts of Scandinavia, a folk belief held that demons and goblins could roam free for their “Wild Hunt” that night, the longest and darkest of the year. Because of these legends, lussekatter buns, or “Lucy’s cats,” have earned a supernatural reputation: one that, as it turns out, is entirely unearned.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
