December 13th

Is the day of St. Lucia. A day which all young Norwegian girls tremble, curl and uncurl in the lust of being that years "Lucia". She will wear a crown with candlelights and walk at the very beginning of a parade. Every school and kindergarten with a sensible amount of self-respect will have one.

Problem is, it is always her, you know her, the silent, uninteresting girl, with all the features of a good-looking young child, but with all the attributes of somebody boring; that ends up becoming the Lucia. It's got to do with the hair, she's got long, straight, blonde hair. God knows who decided that the Lucia has to have long, sleek, silky, blonde hair. Probably the mother of a child with such a crown of golden locks, I tell you, probably that. Of course having stumps of mousy-brown hair will not seem as attractive as having long, blonde hair, but, inevitably, chicks with mousy-brown hair tend to be more interesting than the silent, boring ones.

I guess though, that the amount of interest given to the Lucia, will be because of her looks, and not because of what a fantastically creative and fun girl she is. It is not the inside that counts, because people will not be able to see what she is like on the inside, unless they get to talk to her.

It is through Lucia, Norwegian girls are challenged first with the lust for good-looks -not necessarily for good-looking men-, but for their own look to be good. And it is also a revealing chapter behind the creation of blonde-jokes. There is a lot of hate going on because of this shallow selection of a "chosen one". It's not like blondes will be hated forever, but for a good while they will be both adored and loathed, which is often the price beautiful people have to pay for their appearance.

The Lucia might find her lunch to be eaten, or her coat to have been put in the toilet, there is no end to the wickedness of the jealous young girls around her, because young girls know, they all know so very well;

If you can't beat them - try again.

And they do.