Saint Barbara's Wheat
4 December 2026 — If the wheat sprouts well, the year will be bountiful!
On 4 December, Christian tradition honours Saint Barbara. In Provence, in southern France, the day is tied to an old folk custom: people soak grains of wheat or lentils and place them in a saucer on damp cotton or soil. The dish is kept somewhere warm and watered. If the green shoots come up thick and strong by Christmas, folk belief says the coming year will be fruitful and prosperous. The sprouts are often tied with a red or other bright ribbon, and the dish decorates the Christmas table. The custom is part of Provençal Christmas traditions. Saint Barbara is also regarded as the patron of miners, firefighters and artillerymen, so the day is their celebration in many countries. It falls in the weeks before the winter solstice, when nights are longest, and the green wheat is a reminder of returning light and the new farming cycle. The exact origin of the custom is explained in different ways and is not fully established.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure made of luminous dots and fine lines, like a constellation drifting across the sky: a small round dish with slender sprouting wheat blades, tied with a red ribbon
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