OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Omaha’s newest Santa Lucia Festival queen may be new to wearing the crown, but her family has a long history with the title dating back to the first queen nearly 100 years ago.

They inspired today’s craft: a Santa Lucia crown. Santa Lucia is an Italian saint who helped Christians in hiding during the 4 th Century. As the story goes, Lucia carried candles on her head to ...

She wears a crown of candles at the front of a procession in which everyone wears white and carries a candle. These candles are believed to represent the fire that refused to take Santa Lucia’s life ...

Lucia wears a crown of light in her hair ... While there are many traditional Santa Lucia songs, the most commonly sung is translated as: “The night treads heavily/ around yards and dwellings ...