Christmas Countdown: St Lucia's Day! Celebrated With DSH Perfumes Ruby Candlelight, Maccabees, and Lumiere

 

Today, December 13th is St. Lucia's Day, celebrated in Sweden as well as other Nordic countries. I had always thought it was a pagan festival, bringing light to the longest day of the year, but in researching for this post I found out that actually quite the opposite is true. The day was founded to honor St. Lucy, a Christian martyr killed by the Romans in the year 304. Legend has it that St. Lucy took food to the Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs. (Have  you ever been there? It's a fascinating side trip if you ever get to Rome). She wanted to carry as much food and water as possible, so she wore a crown of candles on her head to light the way through the dark tunnels.

Today the celebration falls on the longest night of the year and is meant to bring hope and life, and to celebrate the return of light as the days will again start to become longer. In Swedish homes, the eldest daughter would dress in white and bring lussekatter (saffron bread) and coffee to the family. Each town chooses a girl to represent St. Lucia who marches in a processional with other children robed in white and wearing wreath-like crowns. Traditionally a crown of candles was worn, but in more recent times the flames are usually replaced with bulbs for obvious reasons. They wear white robes to represent purity and a red sash to signify the blood of the martyrs. 

To commemorate this day I turn to one of my favorite perfumers, nestled deep in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado, Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes. Every year for the past twenty one years Dawn has created a perfume for the holiday season. Ruby Candlelight is the 2021 holiday perfume. (Spoiler alert: she sells two discovery sets featuring all these scents). Dawn had a very specific memory from her own Christmas celebrations as a child. Her mother had advent rituals, one of which was a candle holder with ruby-colored glass and a golden angel on top. When lit, the flame would send the metal angels spinning. I have seen these referred to as angel chimes. It all made a deep impression on young Dawn, and she remembers the ritual being "solemn, mysterious, and joyful".

She remembered that the candles had a raspberry scent, so she has recreated the memory with scents of raspberry blending with melted wax, as well as the ambiance of the Christmas tree scent in the background. Ruby Candlelight is a softly solemn recreation of this ritual.

The scent does open with raspberry, the note quivering alone for a moment after application. Then it is joined by the smell of wax melting as it drips down the candlesticks. The raspberry is still very quietly present, not really tart but more just incorporated into the wax smell. As the scent deepens I get the occasional whiff of a Christmas tree in the background. Ruby Candlelight wears very close to my skin, creating an aura as intimate and special as the one Dawn has remembered and recreated from all those years ago!

I was so taken with this story that I did a little searching. I remembered seeing these candelabras years ago when I was at the German Christmas markets. I couldn't find any with the ruby colored glass holders that Dawn remembered, but I've found some at World Market and Vermont Country Store, and I'm thinking I may create my own ritual with my young grandchildren!

https://www.vermontcountrystore.com/angel-candle-chimes/product/85483

Dawn has other Christmas scents that give the smell of candles burning, which to me are so indicative of the St. Lucia crown historically worn on this day. Maccabees was Dawn's 19th holiday scent, inspired by the celebration of Hanukkah. It came out in that golden Christmas of 2019, right before the world descended into Covid chaos!

During the Maccabean revolt in ancient times there is a story of the rededication of the temple and the lighting of the Menorah. The oil to light the lamp was only enough for one day but lasted a miraculous eight days. Maccabee remembers this occasion through a scent seeped in the smell of beeswax candles. Today's candle tapers are usually dripless, and if this is all you've experienced than you've never known the luscious honeyed waxy smell that dripping accumulating candles impart!

https://www.ifcj.org/wp-content/uploads/Model-Hanukkah-Photo-shoot-Yael-s-home-167-_14673854-1.jpg

There is a very light resin and incense aura in the background, but on my skin it is the honeyed beeswax scent that dominates. It is worth mentioning that the honey note is not strong or sweet, but really does take on the beeswax candle smell. 

This last scent I'm including partially because of its name, Lumiere, meaning light, which has been the theme here. At the beginning of the scent a bright flash of bergamot glows like a candle flickering in the dark. Dawn always lists the notes of her perfumes, and reading this one it sounds like a delicious spice cake. There is cardomom, coffee, cinnamon leaf, coriander, boozy notes, nutmeg, hazelnut, rum, and too much more too name. So this scent does not have the candle wax accord of the two previous fragrances, but it does do a good job of juggling light and dark notes. All the warming spices notes are balanced by a glowing brightness, so you get traditional Christmas scents with the touch of luminosity which eventually smells like golden spice.

I became so fascinated with the beautiful ceremony of St. Lucia's Day while writing about it here. I have two youtube videos explaining the celebration more. The first is a two-minute version showing the procession into the church with participants singing the St. Lucia song. These brave girls, with real candles flaming on their heads!

The second is a "St. Lucia day primer for dummies" with lots of interesting facts and history.

I hope you have enjoyed this introduction to St. Lucia's Day and to DSH Perfumes!

Top photo Pinterest images. Perfume samples are my own.