Today on December 13 Swedes all over the world celebrate the Italian Saint Lucia of Syracuse, also known as Saint Lucy, with boys and girls wearing white dresses, holding candles and singing special Lucia songs. It wouldn’t be a proper Swedish celebration without fika so Lucia comes with a special treat, a traditional Swedish pastry called Lussekatt. This is a sweet bun filled with saffron and raisins that has been baked and enjoyed in Sweden during this season since the 17th century, even though the saffron wasn’t added until the late 1800s. It was probably first introduced by German and Dutch merchants in the 1600s, who brought a sweet Christmas bread they called duivekater to Gothenburg. Duivekater turned into the more Swedish Dövelskatter (katt is cat in Swedish) and when it started getting associated with Lucia celebrations the name changed to Lussekatt. Today this not very cat shaped bun is so popular, every December 13 Swedes eat an estimated 8 million of them, almost one for each Swede.