This episode is brought to you by the Mazda CX-50. Move and be moved.

Hey there, it's me again, Kelly McEvers, co-host of the Atlas Obscura podcast. We are on day seven of our 12 days of wonder countdown to the holidays.

Tomorrow, Saturday, December 13th, Sweden will celebrate a tradition that is more than 100 years old.

Lucia Day.

Producer Sarah Wyman grew up with Lucia Day, and she has today's story.

It's December 12, 1999, and it's dark in my family's living room in Southern California.

The only real light is coming from a string of Christmas decorations on the deck outside.

Inside, it's warm. It smells like saffron and cinnamon.

And there's a soft glow emanating from the middle of the room.

That's where I'm standing. with a tinsel crown and five electric

candles strapped to my head. Behind the video camera, my mom gives a little nod. We're rolling.

I'm five years old I'm five years old, and as I start walking

deliberately across the room, you can see my intense focus

in the way my little hands are tightly gripping a tray of saffron rolls.

I'm wearing a loose-fitting white gown with long sleeves and a Peter Pan

collar. The hem grazes the floor as I walk into the hallway. Little white socks poke out from the

bottom with every step. And the song I'm singing is in Swedish. I know all the words by heart. Translated, then in our dark house.

She walks with lit candles.

St. Lucia.

St. Lucia. St. Lucia.

San, La, Lucia.

I'm Sarah Lyman, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

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