Santa Lucia is celebrated on December 13. It is the feast that anticipates Christmas, a tradition of peasant origins that has been handed down in the provinces of Cremona, Bergamo, Lodi, Mantua, and Brescia. Once upon a time the winter solstice fell on the very day of December 13, and on that occasion in the countryside it was customary to donate part of the harvest from those who had had them most to those who had been less fortunate.
There is also talk of an alleged miracle dating back to the 16th century. In fact, it is said that the Brescian area had been hit by a severe famine and that some ladies of Cremona had organized a distribution of sacks of grain to be left anonymously on the doors of all households. So a caravan of loaded donkeys reached Brescia caught in the grip of hunger: but since the distribution took place secretly, on the night of December 12-13, it was thought to have been a grace of the martyr. The 'ancient hospitality, then, wanted pilgrims seeking shelter from the cold to be welcomed into their homes, and the latter, in turn, before departing, had to leave a gift on the door of the house that had welcomed them. Thus, with the passage of time, the custom of giving gifts on the occasion of December 13 was consolidated.

Attachments