St. Lucia

Joan asked the following question:

"I was in an optometrists office and he had a painting of a woman holding a plate with eyes on it. It looked like a saint. Who is this a picture of?"

You are describing St. Lucy.

here is a link with factual; info about her: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09414a.htm

One legend says she was martyred by having her eyes torn out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy

She is the patron saint of eye doctors and blind people. . People pray to her to protect their eyesight.

http://saints.sqpn.com/saintl01.htm

Her feast day is December 13, and people in the northern countries celebrate Santa Lucia day.

http://www.scandinavica.com/culture/tradition/lucia.htm

One of the customs is for a Star Boy and a Lucia Girl to wake the family at sunrise with fresh coffee and Lucia Kattor. The Lucia Kattor are saffron buns in the shape of an S with tightly coiled spirals. The single kattor have one pair of spirals and are S-shaped; the double kattor are formed of 2 singles laid across each other to form an X-shaped bun.

http://www.gretchencooks.com/recipes/628_Lussebullar_Santa_Lucia_Buns

There is an s-shaped rune called "sowilo" that looks something like the single kattor;

http://www.rune-magick.com/pages/aettir2/08_sowilo.htm

and the swastika is a solar symbol that resembles the double kattor.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Swastika.html
http://www.indiaprofile.com/religion-culture/swastika.htm

Kattor is a Scandinavian word for "cat." Why a cat? one reason might be the way their eyes glow in the dark.

Each spiral of the Lucia Kattor has a currant stuck into its center. The single Lucia Kattor bun resembles a pair of spectacles or eyeballs. Voila...Lucia's eyes are restored! what a perfect way to celebrate the Return of the Light at Winter Solstice. The fragrant saffron gives the buns a lovely solar color.

Santa Lucia's legend originated in Sicily, which happened to be one of the centers of Persephone worship. In some accounts, her abduction was said to have occurred there.

http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/HaidesPersephone1.html

The fateful Sicilian volcano was the entrance to the underworld. Persephone and Lucia seem to have a connection. The honoring of Lucia traveled to Scandinavia where the Return of the Light at Solstice may have more tangible significane than it does in more southern countries. When I began to research St. Brigid, I discovered that she seems to have much in common with St. Lucia.

scroll down to see the reading list for St. Brigid and the Goddess Brigid. I will later add material about St. Lucy and the Uraeus and the Utchat...stay tuned!