St. Lucia Day Star Boy Hats

St. Lucia Day is a Swedish tradition, celebrated each year on December 13. It commemorates the martyr Lucia of Syracuse, who brought food to Christians hiding in Roman catacombs, lighting the way with a wreath of candles on her head. The modern celebration features a procession with Lucia, trailed by handmaidens, star boys, and gingerbread men. In addition to being the bearer of light, Lucia brings treats. These include gingerbread biscuits and S-shaped saffron buns. 

Many Lutheran churches in the United States celebrate St. Lucia Day, either annually or occasionally, on the Sunday closest to the 13th. I remember having celebrated it a handful of times in my childhood. On Sunday, my church will be celebrating St. Lucia Day, for the first time in many years. I was in charge of making the hats for our four star boys. Affiliate links below. 

St. Lucia Day Star Boy Hats

Materials:

• white poster board (one sheet makes two hats, 18" tall)
• scissors
• Treasure Gold paint
• binder clips
• hot glue
• yarn (I used the kind with gold tinsel in it)

Steps:

Tie the end of a piece of string to a pencil, then cut it so that it is 18” long. Hold the loose end of the string at one of the corners of the poster board, then use the pencil to draw an arc extending from one edge of the poster board to the other. If you need more than one star boy hat, repeat the process on the opposite corner of the poster board; it is large enough to make two hats. 

Cut along the arc. Draw or trace stars onto the center of the hat, then draw a 1.5" border along the arc. Fill in the stars and border with Treasure Gold. It will take two coats, but the shine is well-worth the effort. 

When the paint is dry, it is time to coerce your poster board into a cone. It doesn’t want to become a cone, so this is a little tricky. Once you get it into position, use binder clips to prevent it from springing open and trying to un-cone itself. Apply hot glue along the length of the seam, then remove the binder clips. 

Your star boys will keep their hats on with two pieces of yarn tied under their chins. Cut yarn into 12” pieces. Put a 1” line of hot glue on the inside of the side of the cone (where a strap would go) and place a piece of yarn there. Repeat on the process on the other side to make the second strap.