Page "Saint Lucy's Day" Paragraph 28

St. Lucy is also popular among children in some regions of North-Eastern Italy, namely Trentino, East Lombardy ( Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona and Mantua ), parts of Veneto, ( Verona ), parts of Emilia-Romagna, ( Piacenza, Parma and Reggio Emilia ), and all of Friuli, where she is said to bring gifts to good children and coal to bad ones the night between December 12 and 13.

According to tradition, she arrives in the company of a donkey and her escort, Castaldo.

Children are asked to leave some coffee for Lucia, a carrot for the donkey and a glass of wine for Castaldo.

They must not watch Santa Lucia delivering these gifts, or she will throw ashes in their eyes, temporarily blinding them.

In Sicily and among the Sicilian diaspora, cuccìa is eaten in memory of Saint Lucy's miraculous averting of famine.