Pretty excited as I was interviewed by the UBC newspaper this week! Short little blurb discussing our Lucia.
http://ubyssey.ca/features/our-campus-fiona-thompson-brings-swedish-carol-festival-to-ubc/
By: Andrew Bates
November 28, 2012, 2:11pm PST
It takes a lot of work to bring light to the wintertime.
“Last night we were baking all of our saffron buns for the performance,” said Fiona Thompson, organizer of the eighth annual Lucia Celebration, a Swedish Christmas carol organized by the UBC Scandinavian and Nordic Cultural Association. “It’s been challenging. I have a paper due on Friday that hasn’t been started yet because I’ve been putting a lot of time into Lucia.”
The Lucia Celebration, set for Friday in the Meekison Arts Student Space, emulates the Swedish tradition of Santa Lucia, where men and women dress up in robes to sing Swedish Christmas carols. One singer plays St. Lucia every year, wearing a red sash and iron crown covered in candles. Swedish buttered treats are served.
“Lucia is the bringer of light in the darkness, and a time to bring in baked goods,” Thompson said, “getting together and singing all about the Christmas traditions. It’s a celebration of the beginning of the Advent season as well.
Thompson, 22, is in her fifth year of natural resources conservation in the Faculty of Forestry. She spent last year on exchange in Uppsala, Sweden, and plans to move back after she finishes her degree.
“I really, really fell in love with the place, the landscape, the culture and the tradition,” she said. “I really felt a connection with that, and I really love the schooling and the way the society works.”
Though a roommate had brought her to the Lucia Celebration at UBC before she went on exchange, seeing the performance in Sweden was a lot different. “They have a much larger group of people who are more interested in singing, and of course most people in Sweden actually speak Swedish, so it’s a lot easier to learn Swedish songs,” she said. “They had a lot of participants … and buttered snacks for everybody, and a lot of people went to watch.”
Though the Scandinavian and Nordic Cultural Celebration has connections in the Scandinavian community, it was a challenge for the group to find time to practice; the UBC Lucia will involve 11 singers. “Finding a time that everyone can get together is also very challenging, because we don’t have people that we can switch out if somebody can’t come,” he said. “We had to find willing participants, of course: people who are both interested in Swedish traditions and Scandinavia in general, and people who are willing to actually put in time to actually come and sing with us.”
The singer who will play Lucia this year is Thompson’s housemate, who has some choral experience. Thompson herself was involved in orchestra since the age of 10, playing the clarinet, but wasn’t able to pick music back up in university until now. “I just couldn’t find the time and it wasn’t so much of a passion that I stuck with it,” she said. “So I miss it.”
Christmas is Thompson’s favourite holiday; she looks forward to starting the festive season with Lucia. “[Lucia] is sort of the beginning of the connection to Christmas celebrations, I would say,” she said. “The way that it’s organized, everybody’s got candles, the lights are all turned down, it’s really cozy.”
For Thompson, the only thing missing at UBC is snow on the ground.
“But I am moving to Sweden, after all, and there’s plenty of it there.”
http://ubyssey.ca/features/our-campus-fiona-thompson-brings-swedish-carol-festival-to-ubc/
Our Campus: Fiona Thompson brings festival of light to UBC winter
By: Andrew Bates
November 28, 2012, 2:11pm PST
It takes a lot of work to bring light to the wintertime.
“Last night we were baking all of our saffron buns for the performance,” said Fiona Thompson, organizer of the eighth annual Lucia Celebration, a Swedish Christmas carol organized by the UBC Scandinavian and Nordic Cultural Association. “It’s been challenging. I have a paper due on Friday that hasn’t been started yet because I’ve been putting a lot of time into Lucia.”
The Lucia Celebration, set for Friday in the Meekison Arts Student Space, emulates the Swedish tradition of Santa Lucia, where men and women dress up in robes to sing Swedish Christmas carols. One singer plays St. Lucia every year, wearing a red sash and iron crown covered in candles. Swedish buttered treats are served.
“Lucia is the bringer of light in the darkness, and a time to bring in baked goods,” Thompson said, “getting together and singing all about the Christmas traditions. It’s a celebration of the beginning of the Advent season as well.
Thompson, 22, is in her fifth year of natural resources conservation in the Faculty of Forestry. She spent last year on exchange in Uppsala, Sweden, and plans to move back after she finishes her degree.
“I really, really fell in love with the place, the landscape, the culture and the tradition,” she said. “I really felt a connection with that, and I really love the schooling and the way the society works.”
Though a roommate had brought her to the Lucia Celebration at UBC before she went on exchange, seeing the performance in Sweden was a lot different. “They have a much larger group of people who are more interested in singing, and of course most people in Sweden actually speak Swedish, so it’s a lot easier to learn Swedish songs,” she said. “They had a lot of participants … and buttered snacks for everybody, and a lot of people went to watch.”
Though the Scandinavian and Nordic Cultural Celebration has connections in the Scandinavian community, it was a challenge for the group to find time to practice; the UBC Lucia will involve 11 singers. “Finding a time that everyone can get together is also very challenging, because we don’t have people that we can switch out if somebody can’t come,” he said. “We had to find willing participants, of course: people who are both interested in Swedish traditions and Scandinavia in general, and people who are willing to actually put in time to actually come and sing with us.”
The singer who will play Lucia this year is Thompson’s housemate, who has some choral experience. Thompson herself was involved in orchestra since the age of 10, playing the clarinet, but wasn’t able to pick music back up in university until now. “I just couldn’t find the time and it wasn’t so much of a passion that I stuck with it,” she said. “So I miss it.”
Christmas is Thompson’s favourite holiday; she looks forward to starting the festive season with Lucia. “[Lucia] is sort of the beginning of the connection to Christmas celebrations, I would say,” she said. “The way that it’s organized, everybody’s got candles, the lights are all turned down, it’s really cozy.”
For Thompson, the only thing missing at UBC is snow on the ground.
“But I am moving to Sweden, after all, and there’s plenty of it there.”
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