{"id":10888,"date":"2016-12-14T05:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/?p=10888"},"modified":"2016-12-07T17:27:34","modified_gmt":"2016-12-07T22:27:34","slug":"an-atheist-enters-gothenburg-cathedral-and-finds-an-antidote-to-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/?p=10888","title":{"rendered":"An Atheist Enters Gothenburg Cathedral\u2014and Finds an Antidote to Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lucia<\/a>

Lucia concert at Gothenburg Cathedral \u00a9 Per-Anders E Hurtigh for G\u00f6teborg & Co<\/p><\/div>\n

On a snow-cold winter\u2019s night in Sweden, a gay atheist and his husband entered Gothenburg Cathedral for the annual candlelit Lucia concert<\/a>\u2014and, two hours later, emerged elated and joyful.<\/p>\n

That atheist was me and in the months since, the memory of that Saint Lucia celebration has reminded me anew of the power of music and beauty in the face of (post-election) darkness.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9MRNY\"<\/a>

\u00a9MRNY<\/p><\/div>\n

Few holidays in Sweden are as beloved as Saint Lucia Day<\/a>, which is celebrated annually on the 13th<\/sup> of December. In the ancient Julian calendar, the Lucia tradition was associated with the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, a dangerous night marked by supernatural beings. As a bearer of light in the midst of a dark Swedish winter, Lucia appeared in white wearing \u201clight in her hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since I was a kid, I have always loved Lucia Day,\u201d says Anders \u00d6hrman, Editor in Chief of QX<\/a>, Sweden\u2019s largest LGBT magazine. \u201cAs a little boy, I was a bit jealous of the girl who got to be Lucia\u2014she was always so beautiful and sparkled with light\u2014but since I was a boy I could only choose between being a star boy or a gingerbread boy in the parade. Not so glamorous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9MRNY\"<\/a>

\u00a9MRNY<\/p><\/div>\n

In the early 20th<\/sup> century, Saint Lucia processions began appearing in Swedish cities and today, nearly every city designates a \u201cQueen of the Light.\u201d As Joachim Olausson, Managing Director of Hotel Skeppsholmen<\/a> states, \u201cOne of my favorite days, Saint Lucia is the start of the Christmas season; it\u2019s so special to see the procession, which always reminds me of when I was as a star boy as a kid\u2014though, of course, as a gay boy, I actually wanted to be the Lucia with blond hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Gothenburg<\/a>, the Saint Lucia concert takes place at Domkyrkan<\/a>, a yellow brick cathedral built in the classical style in honor of the city\u2019s founder King Gustav II Adolf. Surrounded by a cobblestone churchyard square, Domkyrkan provides a quiet, block-long oasis amidst Sweden\u2019s second largest city.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9MRNY\"<\/a>

\u00a9MRNY<\/p><\/div>\n

As my husband and I sat inside the cathedral, where every pew was packed from the portal to the pulpit, the lights dimmed and a hush fell over the crowd. And then, from the organ loft rang a chorus of ethereal voices, which was followed by the procession of children: scores of girls and boys filing into the cathedral from adjacent rooms, all dressed in white full-length gowns bearing candles, their angelic voices joined in harmony as they sang \u201cSankta Lucia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though my husband and I attended church services throughout our childhoods, religion has been difficult for us as LGBT American adults. Our atheism is a natural progression of our own enlightenment. Which doesn\u2019t mean that we can no longer see the benefit of religion for those who choose to believe. Truth be told, both of us recognize that religion taught us a great deal about compassion and decency.<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9MRNY\"<\/a>

\u00a9MRNY<\/p><\/div>\n

On that evening in Gothenburg, midway through the Saint Lucia concert, a soloist sang \u201cMaria Wiegenlied<\/a>,\u201d German composer Max Reger\u2019s celestial Christmas lullaby, which, for us, has always lifted our hearts with hope\u2014and when combined with the beauty of the children\u2019s choirs and the multitude of musicians and soloists within Gothenburg Cathedral, we felt our spirits soar.<\/p>\n

As Magnus Lindbergh of Visit Sweden<\/a> attests, \u201cThe Lucia concerts are sublime and never fail to leave you feeling hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u00a9MRNY\"<\/a>

\u00a9MRNY<\/p><\/div>\n

At concert\u2019s end, we walked out into the starry night to see Lucia\u2019s handmaidens and her star boys, still in their flowing white gowns, scampering across the churchyard and dashing behind doors before their return to everyday mufti.<\/p>\n

In Sanskrit, the word sattva<\/em> conveys goodness, purity, and serenity\u2014and upon leaving Gothenburg Cathedral that night, my husband and I felt touched by the sattva<\/em> of Saint Lucia.<\/p>\n

While there are many beautiful holiday traditions throughout Sweden (including the traditional \u201cJulbord\u201d Swedish Christmas buffet tables), the Saint Lucia processions and concerts are the most beautiful reminder that, invariably, light will vanquish the darkness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a snow-cold winter\u2019s night in Sweden, a gay atheist and his husband entered Gothenburg Cathedral for the annual candlelit Lucia concert\u2014and, two hours later, emerged elated and joyful. That atheist was me and in the months since, the memory … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[2800,2450,2449,297,2802,2799,2796,2801,2797,2798],"class_list":["post-10888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-destinations","tag-anders-ohrman","tag-domkyrkan","tag-gothenburg","tag-hotel-skeppsholmen","tag-lucia-concert","tag-maria-wiegenlied","tag-saint-lucia","tag-saint-lucia-day","tag-saint-lucys-day","tag-sankta-lucia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/IMG_4415.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31sdB-2PC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10896,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10888\/revisions\/10896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrnystyleandtravel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}