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This is a text-only version of an article first published on Tuesday, 11 April 2017. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
by Hugh WhiteA HUSH of expectancy filled Deddington Parish Church in the middle of what had, until then, been a bustling Christingle service.
A mysterious presence had been announced and the lights were out.
Haunting music began and St Lucia with her white robe, red sash of martyrdom and her headdress of candles (Lucia, you could say, is a kind of living christingle) led in a procession of her maids and starboys' to bring light and song into the darkness. This wonderful enhancement of our Christingle service came courtesy of the Youth Choir of the Sofia Church in Jonkoping, Deddington's link church in the Diocese of Vaxjo, Sweden.
St Lucia's day, 13 December is hugely significant in Sweden, marked by ceremonies in families, schools, churches, clubs and work places and the Sofia Choir had flown in to us on the feast day, having begun very early with a Lucia ceremony in Jonkoping. St Lucia was a Sicilian virgin martyr (283-304) whose cult spread north and in Sweden, in an extreme cold and a deeper darkness than we experience in an English winter, the ceremony of light into which Lucia observations developed (Lucia comes from the Latin word for light) is particularly welcome.
In the old Julian calendar 13 December was the shortest day of the year. The Sofia Choir also sang at our Sunday Eucharist and in the evening they took part in a lively England v Sweden skittles match held at our Royal British Legion Club.
The day before they sang in Oxford's Christ Church Cathedral.
On the Monday before flying back to Sweden, they gave a Lucia performance for our Deddington CE Primary School. The Revd Canon Hugh White is Vicar of Deddington.
See page five for more stories from around the Deddington Deanery.