Who...is St. Barbara?

St. Barbara was an early Christian martyr. The daughter of a wealthy pagan, she secretly converted to Christianity. When she confessed this finally to her father, he had her imprisoned and tortured. Stories say the weapons used to torture her miraculously turned against the people using them. She was finally beheaded by her own father. (On his way home, it was said he was struck by lightning and consumed in flame.) A Christian man buried her mutilated body, and it was said that visitors to her tomb were often the witnesses to or the recipients of miraculous events.

Over the years, St. Barbara became the patron saint of folk "who face the danger of sudden and violent death at work. She is the patron of miners, tunnellers, armourers, military engineers, gunsmiths, and anyone else who worked with cannon and explosives. She is invoked against thunder and lightning and all accidents arising from explosions of gunpowder. She became the patron saint of artillerymen."*

Does she have anything to do with Christmas, besides her feast day being on December 4? Well, sort of. In Germany, where winter weather sets in early in November, people who already miss the green leaves and flowers of summer have a charming custom called Barbarazweig, the St. Barbara's branch. According to Catholic Culture: "The original folklore was that unmarried girls cut twigs from cherry trees and forced them into bloom. There is an old belief that if the twig blossoms on Christmas Eve, the girl will be married the following year." The custom came from a legend that said St. Barbara, locked away in her tower, found a dying cherry branch at her window one winter's day. She kept it warm and watered, and it burst into bloom just before she was executed.

Today we can go into many stores and find amaryllis bulbs to be brought home for the Christmas season. Red, white, and red-and-white varieties are sold for a perk of Christmas color and the pleasure of blooming flowers in the house during the Yuletide season.

☙ Celebrating St. Barbara's Day at Catholic Culture 

☙ Barbarazweig and the St. Barbara Legend at The German Way

* from Wikipedia.