St Lucia ornament with traditional Scandinavian Christmas wreath and candles

• 2009
• Measures 5 1/4 inches (13 cm)
• Life Touch ornament - master artists apply ultra fine feather strokes revealing delicate life touches to enhance their uniquely beautiful Christmas ornaments
• Saint Lucia's Day falls on December 13 and is the first day of the Christmas season in Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, and Norway.  
• The name Lucia means "light" and through the ages, the Christmas lights tradition came to be through the Saint Lucia Day celebrations.
• The tradition in Scandinavia is to dress a young girl in a white gown and a red sash around her waist, which symbolizes purity and faith. On her head is placed a crown made of lingenberry and lighted candles, symbolizing eternal life with Jesus Christ.  Girls and boys carry lighted candles and follow Saint Lucia from house to house, singing songs.

The 5-point star crown is recognizable worldwide as the symbol of authentic Inge-glas craftsmanship. The ornaments are mouthblown and handpainted in the Inge-Glas workshop in Neustadt, Germany, a business owned and operated by the Mueller-Blech family for 14 generations, since 1596.