‘May Santa Llúcia preserve your eyesight!’ is a popular expression said over here when you cannot find something that’s right in front of your very nose. And that’s because, thanks to certain scenes representing her martyrdom, Santa Llúcia is a saint invoked to cure all and sundry ills to do with people’s eyesight. That also makes her, by extension, the patron saint of eye doctors and, by the same token, a good range of professions that can only be performed with good eyesight. Traditionally, these were dress makers, seamstresses, needlewomen etc., but as explained in Festes.org, the list has recently been extended to include writers, photographers, graphic designers and computer programmers, who are also in need of the saint’s protection.

The Santa Llúcia festival was strongly established throughout the country and still involves activities of every kind: the ‘llucietes’ festival, gatherings, fairs, winter annual festivals, etc. It’s a custom to hold a saint’s day devoted to her in Barcelona every 13 December, when you can ask for her protection against eye-related ills at the chapel devoted to her inside the Cathedral. Hundreds of devotees, many of them dress makers, light candles and so the small chapel is flooded with light by the end of the day. What is more, this festival, which took off at the start of the 20th century, takes place at the same of the year when the night is at its longest.